Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Oh, patents! SoaPens

Friday, July 2, 2021

Oh, patents! SoaPens

Before the importance of handwashing became almost a matter of life and death, within the context of the COVID 19 pandemic, Shubham Issar and Amanat Anand, were selected Toyota Mothers of Invention, in 2019, for their invention of the SoaPen®. A pen full of soap, designed to encourage little kids to use soap to wash their hands, while engaging in the fun of scribbling on their hands.

Hailing both from India, and the Parsons School of Design in New York City, the two inventors responded specifically to the hygiene challenge of handwashing, A challenge for the prevention of many diseases, resulting in the preventable death of 1.5 million young children in the Third World (e.g., SoaPen®, 2015, Unicef, 2016, ). Researching the use of soap in Indian schools, for example, the inventors found that even though soap was donated, the donated soap was a precious commodity that had to be stored in cupboards, which made using soap more complicated. As a result, the inventors took soap out of the bathroom, and into the classroom. A move that enabled teachers to integrate use of the SoaPen® into their curriculum, drawing pictures on the children's hands and marking fingers for where to wash, while teaching them both how to wash their hands, and the importance of handwashing.

In fact, the Soapen®was patented, in India, surprisingly enough primarily as a teaching tool, rather than a personal hygiene, or cosmetics, product. The SoaPen®invention was awarded the Indian patent IN3795/DEL2015, titled Soapen®, listed at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In particular, the specification of the invention states:

Purpose - SoaPen is a teaching tool in the form of a.soap-crayon, which promotes the habit of handwashing with soap among school children of the impressionable age.

In sum, for little kids, using the SoaPen® is easy, fun and nice-smelling. The Soapens® are scented berry blast, tangy tangerine and fresh pear. For parents, the SoaPen® is “non-irritating, non-toxic and free from SLS, parabens, EDTA, phthalates and any animal by-product” (SoaPen). For social impact, SoaPens are donated to classrooms in India, for every three-pack of red, blue and green, SoaPens sold.