When I was in law school, I was playing with my 6-y-o son one Saturday morning as we often did, sitting on the carpet. The floor was covered with scattered Hot Wheel cars, wooden trains, Lego pieces, and a set of dominoes, among many toys. Suddenly, we came up with the idea of making a dominoes game in which the pieces would connect with each other magnetically, end to end, like a train (and side to side). We soon discovered that fixed magnets on the back of the pieces only worked to connect them to a metallic surface, such as the refrigerator, but in the absence of such surface, the design was useless. When affixing the magnets to the ends and sides of the pieces, we would sometimes have connections and sometimes the pieces would repulse each other. The main challenge was to set the magnets on the pieces in such a way that there would never be repulsion of the magnets.
Over the next year, we figured out a design in which the magnets could be housed within compartments in selected portions of the pieces and allowed to rotate to align themselves to provide a consistent connection. We immediately filed for patent protection via a U.S. Provisional Patent application and began an amazing learning journey.
What started as a game led to two issued U.S. Patents, various plastic injection molds and prototypes for a commercial product, and the Intergalactic Magnetic Dominoes brand. This project was crucial
on my decision to pursue a career in in Intellectual Property law.
As a registered patent lawyer with over 16 years of experience in the
field of Intellectual Property, I can guide you through the process of protecting your invention, transitioning it from a concept to a working prototype, and monetizing the final product. Don't hesitate to contact me for a free initial strategy meeting.
