Oh, patents! The ClipStic

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

You will love the ClipStic if you are an alpine skier, and especially if you are also the dedicated family member, carrying poles and skis for your kids. Invented by a professional Dutch ski instructor, the ClipStic is a patented gadget that enables you to attach both skis and poles together for easy lugging to the slopes. Marketed in a variety of colors, the ClipStic is a perfectly practical clip-on-pole carrying solution, for which the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent, WO2024167406A, titled Connection element for connecting skis and ski poles, was awarded on August 15, 2024, to Ruben Boelhouwers.

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Included above, the patent Figure 2a, together with an image of the marketed gadget, attaching skis and poles. Figure 2a depicts an isometric view of the connection element 102 for connecting skis and poles. Specifically, the Figure 2a depicts a ski connection member 114, comprising a strap and a buckle 118. The strap has one or more perforations 120, with which the buckle 118 cooperates to attach the skis together. The Figure 2a also depicts a connecting body 104 comprising two ski pole connection modules 106 and 108. The ski pole modules 106 and 108 are snap-fit sections, comprising deformable spaces 107 and 109, into which the two poles are positionned for easy carrying together with the skis.

Reference

Clipstic

https://www.clipstic.com/collections/plus

Oh, patents! Toyota's WalkMe chair

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Introduced at the Japan Mobility Show in 2025, and winner of the Red Dot Luminary Award in 2026, the Toyota WalkMe chair replaces the wheels on a wheelchair with robotic legs. As a result, the WalkMe chair climbs stairs and moves around easily inside homes where medical wheelchairs need a five-foot clearance diameter for turning. The WalkMe chair also raises the seated person to eye-level with a person standing, using its telescopic hydraulics. And, when activated the WalkMe chair uncurls its four legs from the floor, like a Buddhist monk rising from zazen*.

Most radically different from conventional (medical) wheelchairs, the WalkMe chair is also aesthetically pleasing with its biomimetic, spider-like gait and furniture appearance. Indeed, the WalkMe chair’s robotic legs are padded, and covered with brightly-colored 3D-knitted fabric, so that none of the hardware can be seen, or cause pinching accidents. Likewise, the WalkMe chair’s motion is AI-driven, using more than 10,000 movement simulations to train the robotic legs. This training gives the chair greater adaptability, and a much wider range of motion than any preset coordinates.

No single patent specifically covers the WalkMe chair design, which is a protoype. However, the chair builds on decades of Toyota’s patented research. For example, research into terrain and step-elevation mapping, using proximity sensors and LIDAR, within the context of automated vehicles and collision-avoidance logic. Such research appears to inform how the front chair legs test for elevation, when negotiating steps or stairs, while adjusting the inclination of the seat to maintain user stability. Smart seating stabilization that also works when the chair is lowered for Japanese-style socialization on a tatami mat, or raised to assist the user with transfer to a car. Similarly, the chair makes use of sensors and LIDAR systems to scan the environment for obstacles, such as rugs and furniture, or to stop the chair to avoid potential collisions with people and pets.

The WalkMe chair accepts voice commands for users with limited upper-body mobility, and is otherwise operated using integrated, direction-control push buttons. Battery status is visible to the user, and the chair recharges overnight for next-day, 12-hour service.

In the spirit of the Red Dot Awards, which are designed to ‘see the future’, by rewarding designs before they become market leaders, the WalkMe chair is transforming Toyota into a game-changing, universal mobility company.

Note

* zazen = Japanese term for seated meditation. 

References
Japan Mobility Show 2025
https://oica.net/events/japan-mobility-show/
Red Dot Design Awards
https://www.red-dot.org
Toyota Mobility
https://www.toyotamobility.com/
Toyota Mobility Center
https://toyotamobility.toyota.com/

Interlude - Pierre Dubreuil's Éléphantaisie (1908).

  Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Pierre Dubreuil  – Éléphantaisie (1908). 

Photo, acquired in 2009 by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Pierre Dubreuil's [1872-1944] photograph depicts Emmanuel Frémiet's [1824-1910] life-size bronze sculpture of a young elephant caught in a trap (Éléphant pris au piège). Originally commissioned for the Paris World Fair (Exposition Universelle), in 1878, the piece stood on a pedestal in front of the original Trocadero Palace, as part of a tetraptych, comprising a horse, a bull, and a rhinoceros. The sculptures were moved to the Paris Musée d’Orsay's front court, in 1986, when the museum was inaugurated.*

Dubreuil's photograph, using a telephoto lens, foregrounds the Éléphant pris au piège statue against the Eiffel Tower. The photograph engulfs the viewer in horror before the pain of a gentle giant, trapped by the cruel cupidity of cunning predators. 

Note

The Frémiet sculptures are currently being renovated as part of a larger museum-access remodeling project. The Frémiet sculptures, including the trapped elephant, are scheduled to return to the Paris Musée d'Orsay's front court at the end of 2027.  

References

Pierre Dubreuil's Éléphantaisie (1908) – De Young Museum/Legion of Honor - The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

https://www.famsf.org/artworks/elephantaisie

Mais où partent les statues du parvis du Musée d'Orsay? [Now, where are the statues of the Orsay Museum?] - Musée d'Orsay.

https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/node/329747 

Oh, patents! Gucci® fabric design

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The widely recognizable monogrammed fabric design, comprising two facing ‘g’s, one of which is inverted, represents the founder’s initials, Guccio Gucci. This monogrammed fabric design is patented. The US design patent, USD400360, titled Top surface of a fabric, was awarded to Domenico De Sole, on November 3rd, 1998, and assigned to Guccio Gucci S.p.A., in Florence, Italy.

Below, the sole patent Figure image depicting a front elevation view of the top surface of a fabric, showing the monogrammed design. Beneath the patent Figure, the image of one of the large Guccio Gucci Totes, unveiled during the Gucci® Cruise 2026 fashion show in Florence, Italy. The Guccio Gucci Tote shown here is made of beige canvas with the patented facing-and-inverted GG monogram. This Guccio Gucci Tote also has a black leather trim and gold-tone hardware that includes a small interlocking GG, on the equally iconic green-and-red Gucci® web stripe. The Cruise 2026 Guccio Gucci Tote comes in 17 different styles. The monogrammed canvas is otherwise used for countless Gucci® accessories. 

Reference 
Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/

Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (3)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The vintage Gucci® Dionysus bag is a patented design. The US design patent, USD798046S, titled, Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michel on  September 26, 2017, and assigned to  Guccio Gucci S.p.A., in  Florence, Italy. 

The below patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the inventive design.  The chain appears with a symbolic break to indicate that the patent does not cover any part that might appear between the break, considering that the chain might slide as a single shoulder strap or double-up as a handle. 

The small emerald-green marketed Gucci® Dionysus bag, shown next to the patent Figure 1, is made of pebbled calfskin leather. The shoulder strap drop is 14.75 inches. The handle drop is 8.5 inches. The two-tone palladium-and-gold hardware, with inlaid green crystals, depicts the “twice-born” Greek God of wine Dionysus.  

Reference

Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/

Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The vintage Gucci® Padlock bag is a patented design. The US design patent, USD772564S, titled, Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michel on November 29, 2016, and assigned to Guccio Gucci S.p.A., in Florence, Italy.

The below patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the inventive design. The chain appears symbolically sectioned to indicate that the patent does not cover any part that might appear above the break, considering that the chain might slide as a single shoulder strap or double-up as a handle. 

The marketed Gucci® Padlock bag shown below the patent Figure 1, is made of black calfskin. The shoulder strap drop is 18.75 inches, the handle drop is 11.25 inches.

Reference

Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/

Oh, patents! Vintage Gucci® bag (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in 1921 by Guccio Gucci in Florence, Italy, as a luggage and leather accessory store, Guccio Gucci S.p.A., backed by foreign investment, now operates 635 luxury stores worldwide, employing 20,000 employees, selling ready-to-wear apparel, footwear, handbags, furnishings, and perfume, with an annual revenue of 7.65 billion euros (in 2024). Rocked by internal feuds and scandals, fictionalized in the Hollywood motion picture House of Gucci, starring Lady Gaga, the prestigious luxury brand endures, with more than 1000 design patents awarded and assigned.

The following US design patent*, USD770175S, titled Handbag, was awarded to Alessandro Michele, on November 1, 2016, and assigned to Guccio Gucci S.p.A. in Florence, Italy. The patented design was marketed as the Gucci® Animalier Tiger flap purse.

 

Below, the patent figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the handbag, together with an image of a marketed embodiment. The marketed product is crafted in black leather, with dramatic antique gold-tone tiger-head hardware.

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Note
As a reminder, a US design patent protects the ornamental aspects of an invention, or what the inventive design looks like. US design patents are different from US utility patents, which protect how an invention works or is manufactured.

References
Gucci® (website)
https://www.gucci.com/
House of Gucci (trailer). Director: Ridley Scott, 158 minutes, 2021.
https://youtu.be/pGi3Bgn7U5U?si=Us7CiRtFcQsWfOpK