Pardon the rant, but as an audio science oriented forum, I though this might be a fun place to throw this at the wall. While hardly a new phenomenon (ie Carver compact sub patent), to see patents like this granted is mind boggling.
Here's a press release and coverage of the granted patent:
"GOLDENEAR AWARDED A US PATENT FOR ITS SUPERSUBS’ UNIQUE DUAL-PLANE INERTIALLY-BALANCED TECHNOLOGY"
For those interested, here's a direct link to patent No 9,462,391.
rant/
I'm frankly bewildered that Golden Ear was granted this patent which should have been quickly dismissed as an obvious extension of long used designs. I was quite amused with how much verbiage was used to describe a 6 sided enclosure in the patent, I can only guess with the intent of exhausting the examiner.
They basically patented a down firing passive radiator to "couple to the floor" with the opposed passive radiator counterbalancing the shaking that would result from a heavy passive radiator on the bottom. There are many performance reasons we don't see many designers choosing this option, as the biggest benefit is form factor/aesthetic, but to call it novel and grant a utility patent with no facilitating technology is mind boggling.
The patent process has become a joke. More importantly it's become a tool for the legal and marketing departments of larger companies in their respective market, while also being a terribly difficult and expensive to navigate system for those with real inventions. /rant
Here's a press release and coverage of the granted patent:
"GOLDENEAR AWARDED A US PATENT FOR ITS SUPERSUBS’ UNIQUE DUAL-PLANE INERTIALLY-BALANCED TECHNOLOGY"
For those interested, here's a direct link to patent No 9,462,391.
rant/
I'm frankly bewildered that Golden Ear was granted this patent which should have been quickly dismissed as an obvious extension of long used designs. I was quite amused with how much verbiage was used to describe a 6 sided enclosure in the patent, I can only guess with the intent of exhausting the examiner.
They basically patented a down firing passive radiator to "couple to the floor" with the opposed passive radiator counterbalancing the shaking that would result from a heavy passive radiator on the bottom. There are many performance reasons we don't see many designers choosing this option, as the biggest benefit is form factor/aesthetic, but to call it novel and grant a utility patent with no facilitating technology is mind boggling.
The patent process has become a joke. More importantly it's become a tool for the legal and marketing departments of larger companies in their respective market, while also being a terribly difficult and expensive to navigate system for those with real inventions. /rant