International Translation Day 2023

 Copyright ® Françoise Herrmann

September 30th, the Day of the Feast of Saint Jerome (1), is International Translation Day. A day to celebrate translation and raise awareness of the key role that professional translation plays  “in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development”, according to the United Nations Resolution 71/288, proclaiming September 30th International Translation Day, on May 24, 2017. 

Below, the International Federation of Translators’ poster for this year’s celebration, illustrating the 2023 theme Translation unveils the many faces of humanity. 

Poster designed by Marta Saavedra

Note
(1) Saint Jerome, listed in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, is known to have translated the Old Testament of the Bible from Hebrew to Latin, during the Fourth century AD. His Latin version of the Bible became known as the Vulgate, meaning the “commonly used” version. At the time, a Greek version of the Old Testament also existed, called the Septuagint, which the Pope Damascus I also commissioned Saint Jerome to revise. 

References
Féderation internationale des Traducteurs (FIT)
https://en.fit-ift.org/
United Nations - International Translation Day
https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-translation-day
United Nations Resolution 71/288
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N17/149/29/PDF/N1714929.pdf?OpenElement

Oh, patents! Dunny™ x Hello Kitty® Kidrobot® collectibles (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Below, just a few of the super-cute Sanrio® Hello Kitty® – Kidrobot® limited edition vinyl designer collectibles, using the blank Dunny™ 3D maker platform.   

Reference
Kidrobot® (website) 

https://www.kidrobot.com/

Oh, patents! Kidrobot® Dunny™ collectibles (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in 2002 by the serial entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, designer, and programmer, Paul Budnitz, Kidrobot® is a custom, limited edition, collectible-designer-toy company that also produces signature apparel and lifestyle accessories. Dunny™, launched in 2004, is a blank platform toy, that was originally given to street artists to customize, and then sold as limited edition collectibles, ushering in the world 3D designer maker toys.

The name Dunny™ is a portmanteau term that combines “Devil + Bunny”, used in street art. The rest is history, because Kidrobot® Dunny™ collectable designer toys have sold worldwide, in partnership with mega toymakers such as Sanrio, Disney, and Hasbro,; as well as museums, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for whom more than 150 Dunny™ art designer toys were produced. Additional blank designer collectible toys were made in partnership with famous fashion designers such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Hermes, and Karl Lagerfeld. In fact, the original Kidrobot® company was acquired in 2014 by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association Inc., after having written the book on designer collectible toys in the adult world.  

Kidrobot® Dunny™ brings together art, creativity, 3-D printing and maker entrepreneurship, which means that such opposites are no longer conflicting forces for the founder of Kidrobot® and his friends. The artists commissioned to make the collectibles, and everyone else who has followed suit, making designer toys for personal or more lucrative purposes, or who have worked to customize the original blank Dunny™.

Below, the patented doll, with the head that rotates 360-degrees, and mobile arms, infinitely customisable, with big bunny ears for Dunny™, softer vinyl movable parts like Munny™, and lately the Superplastic®, superlimited, designer figures that are 3D rendered, becoming animated in videos. 

The recently expired US design patent  USD569454S, titled Doll, was originally awarded on May 20, 2008.   Below, the patent Figure 1 drawing, together with eight collector Dunny™ toys.  the dotted lines are not part of the claimed design. 

References

Kidrobot® website

www.kidrobot.com

Kidrobot® – About us

https://www.kidrobot.com/pages/about-us 

Kidbobot® blog

https://www.kidrobot.com/blogs/kidrobot-blog 

Paul Budnitz

https://budnitz.com/

What is a Dunny™?

https://www.kidrobot.com/pages/what-is-a-dunny 

Kidrobot® Dunny™ collections

https://www.kidrobot.com/collections/dunny

Superplastic®

https://superplastic.co/

International Day of Sign Languages 2023

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

September 23 is International Day of Sign Languages, according to the United Nations calendar of commemorations and mobilization.

In fact, the UN General Assembly declared September 23 as the International Day of Sign Languages  in recognition of:

-  the crucial roles that sign languages play in “leaving no one behind”, per the UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 10; 

- the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the UN General Assembly Dec. 13, 2006, 

- the Deaf Communities’ principle of “nothing about us without us”, and

- the fact that sign languages are “fully fledged natural languages, structurally distinct from spoken languages, alongside which they coexist” 

 and more. [UN Res. 61/73],

  

Below, a message focused on  “leaving no one behind”, on the occasion of the International Day of Sign Languages from Nyle DiMarco, Disability Advocate, famous Deaf model, dancer and educator.

References

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/crpd/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-crpd 

UN Sustainable Development Goals ((SDG)

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ 
UN International Day of Sign Languages September 23, 2023.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/sign-languages-day 

UN Resolution 72/161 International Day of Sign Languages - Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on December 19th 2017.
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FRES%2F72%2F161&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=False  

World Federation of the Deaf

https://wfdeaf.org/

Oh, patents! Carolina Herrera Good Girl stiletto perfume bottle

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

In the fashion House of Herrera, lightning-bolt Bad Boy perfume is the perfect match for the stiletto heel Good Girl perfume. Indeed, the beautiful Carolina Herrera Good Girl perfume bottles are exquisitely made of Italian-designed glass, in a tradition that dates back to the glass artisan Guilds of the Middle Ages, when glass was first discovered and manufactured, in the Republic of Venice.

The Carolina Herrera Good Girl stiletto glass bottles are designed and manufactured using several patented glass manufacturing processes, belonging to the famous Italian glassmaker Luigi Bormioli. Whether it is the opal/stone effect of some of the glass stiletto bottles, or the internal coating of the glass, ensuring that the vibrant color of the glass is uniformly applied to every part of the stiletto-shoe-shaped bottle, each Carolina Herrera Good Girl glass stiletto bottle, also subsumes several Bormioli glass-manufacturing inventions.

Among the inventions invoked to produce the Bormioli-manufactured, Carolina Herrera glass stiletto bottle, the following World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and US utility patents:

- WO2007006328A1 - Opacifying composition and process for the production of glass with an opal/stone effect or with a snow effect. (Granted January 18, 2007)

- US10118857B2 - Method for internally coating a hollow glass body. (Granted November 6, 2018)

- US10427967B2 - Process for the manufacture of a glass container, glass container and related uses. (Granted October 1, 2019)

The many existing editions of the Carolina Herrera Good Girl (and Very Good Girl) perfume were each designed by renowned perfumers, such as Quentin Bisch, Louise Turner, Shyamala Maisondieu, and Christophe Raynaud. Below, ten editions of the Carolina Herrera Good Girl perfume, each shown contained in its own variation of the Italian-glass stiletto perfume bottle, and accompanying conditioning.

- CH Good Girl (2016) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Légère (2018) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Suprême (2020) Eau de Parfum
- CH Very Good Girl (2021) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Superstars (2021) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Midnight (2022) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Gold Fantasy (2022) Eau de Parfum
- CH Very Good Girl Glam (2022) Eau de Parfum
- CG Good Girl Blush (2023) Eau de Parfum
- CH Good Girl Dazzling Garden (2023) Eau de Parfum

 

Also included, a Youtube video presenting the new Carolina Herrera Very Good Girl Glam fragrance for women. 

References

Carolina Herrera (website)
https://www.carolinaherrera.com/
Luigi Bormioli
https://luigibormioliusa.com/
Redding, M. (Jan. 20, 2021). A Lacquering Technique Makes Very Good Girl by Carolina Herrera Shine. Beauty Packaging. 
https://www.beautypackaging.com/contents/view_breaking-news/2021-01-20/a-lacquering-technique-makes-very-good-girl-by-carolina-herrera-shine/
Staff (Feb. 1, 2021). Carolina Herrera’s Good Girl goes red with Bormioli Luigi. Premium Beauty News. 
https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/carolina-herrera-s-good-girl-goes,17896

Oh, patents! Carolina Herrera Bad Boy lightning bolt perfume bottle

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The far-out, lightning bolt, Bad Boy perfume bottle is another signature Caroline Herrera perfume bottle, created by Jean-Marc Galvez. A stunning perfume bottle,  containing no less extraordinary eau de parfum or eau de toilette, whose various editions were designed by several renowned perfumers, including Quentin Bisch, Louise Turner, Fanny Bal, Bruno Jovanovic, Nicolas Beaulieu, Domitille Michalon Bertier, and Yann Vastier.

The lightning bolt bottle was awarded the US design patent USD927984, titled Perfume bottle on August 17, 2021. As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or the way an invention looks. This is in contrast with US utility patents, which cover the way an invention works, or is produced. 

Below, the Figures 1 and 2, extracted from the design patent, together with images of six editions of the Carolina Herrera Bad Boy perfume, in its lightning bolt bottle, next to the packaging: 

- CH Bad Boy (2019) Eau de Toilette

- CH Bad Boy Superstars (2021) Eau de Toilette

- CH Bad Boy (2021) Eau de Parfum

- CH Bad Boy Gold Fantasy (2022) Eau de Toilette

- CH Bad Boy Cobalt (2022) Eau de Parfum

- CH Bad Boy Extreme (2022) Eau de Parfum 

The electrifying YouTube video, officially introducing the Bad Boy Carolina Herrera perfume line, is also included below. 

Reference
Caroline Herrera (website)
https://www.carolinaherrera.com/us/en/

Oh, patents! Lego® Braille

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

On September 1, 2023, The Lego® Group launched Lego® Braille sets in English and French, with Spanish, German, and Italian sets available in early 2024 (1). Lego® Braille ushers in a new learning and teaching ecosystem. An ecosystem intended to include all blind or sight-impaired children and their teachers, into the world of Lego® bricks, and through the re-designed Lego® Braille bricks access to the symbolic world of literacy and numeracy.

The development of the Lego® Braille sets brought together a vast network of consultants, special education practitioners, sighted, blind or visually-impaired, in collaboration with The Lego® Foundation, members of the UK, Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), the French National Institute for Blind Youth, and equivalents throughout Europe. Indeed, developing the Lego® Braille sets was also an opportunity to foster vibrant dialogue and collaboration for training and sharing lesson plans. An opportunity to create a teaching and learning community, to ensure the successful implementation and use of the new Lego® Braille sets, for the development of literacy and numeracy, using braille.

Launching of the new Lego® Braille sets thus also comes with the support of the Legobraillebricks.com website. A website that offers lesson plans, shared across the globe, with training videos available via YouTube.

As a result, the new 2023 Lego® Braille sets remain faithful to the original ideas of the 1932 Danish founder of Legos®, Ole Kirk Kristiansen. Original ideas of learning through play, which gave Legos® their name, derived from the portemanteau terms “Leg + Godt”, meaning “play well” in Danish. A magical world of play bricks, which has enchanted children for almost a century, now also finally re-designed for blind children to learn through play. Re-designed bricks for learning braille through play, the tactile language for the blind, developed in France by Louis Braille, in 1824. A tactile language that enables the blind or sight-impaired to read and write.   

National Braille Press © 2000

Lego® Braille bricks are 2 x 4 Lego® bricks, according to the specifications of the original Kristiansen toy brick invention. An invention recited in US3005282, titled Toy building brick, granted on October 24, 1961. However, Lego® Braille bricks have one row of studs completely or partially removed to allow for the remaining studs to be positioned, according to the raised dot formation of the braille code. The braille code comprises 63 combinations for letters, numbers and punctuation marks, in English. Lego® Braille bricks also indicate the braille code in print, on each block, for sighted users. (See images above of the Lego® Braille bricks, and the National Braille Press Engish braille alphabet code.)

Lego® Braille bricks are deemed especially advantageous for children six years of age plus, and children with additional disabilities, because the re-designed bricks are large, and easily manipulated braille letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Indeed, the size and pleasurable manipulation of the bricks offer the possibility of easily combining and recognizing whole words (not only letters), and eventually structuring whole sentences, or computing mathematical operations, directly on the provided Lego® boards. Conversely, special education teachers and practitioners can easily prepare quite sturdy materials, which are also removable and permutable, on the boards. Manipulatives with which children can play, create and learn, without the frustrations, difficulty or limitations of fixed, and much smaller, braille-embossed print.

For anyone (big and small), who has enjoyed endlessly building and re-building with Legos®, this creative pleasure, together with a huge learning bonus, are now accessible to the blind or sight-impaired, unlimited.

  

Note 

(1) Lego® Braille sets are offered to qualified special education teachers and institutions.  

References
Lego® Braille Bricks (website)
https://legobraillebricks.com/
Lego® (website)
www.lego.com
Musée Louis Braille - National Institute for Blind Youth (Est. 1785).
https://museelouisbraille.com/en/institut-des-jeunes-aveugles

National Braille Press

https://www.nbp.org/

Ole Kirk Kristiansen

https://www.lego.com/en-us/history/articles/ole-kirk-kristiansen-s-childhood-and-youth/
The Lego® Foundation – Learning through play.
https://learningthroughplay.com/
The Lego® Group
https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group
United Kingdom Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB)
https://www.rnib.org.uk/