Jon - <font color=blue>How can you get a patent on a normal sports bottle that every wal-mart in the nation sells with a magnet glued to it?</font color=blue> My guess is that you can't. I doubt the use of the phrase on their web site is anything more than a smoke screen to scare off others while they're the only company out there selling one. I'd be very surprised if they've even applied for a patent. I certainly don't think I'd waste my money trying to sucker the patent office with it. On the other hand, if I knew they had applied for one, I'd certainly direct the patent office to this site as evidence that they not only weren't the first to come up with the idea (and neither was I, most likely), but it's highly probable that they didn't come up with it at all. Not that I want to patent the concept - just that I don't think they should be able to, either. Of course, the whole idea of a patent may be that whoever applies for it first has the right to it, in which case the emphasis is on the application rather than the idea, so they'd have more right to it than I would. I dunno - I do know I don't think they should have exclusive rights to market a product based on the concept. Again, not that I intend to do that, either, - I don't - but I sure wouldn't mind someone else doing it. Just so they don't pretend to have invented the concept.
Besides, I like my implementation a lot better, for several reasons: 1) Mine is bigger, and bigger is always better. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif (But if you want smaller, but with the same other advantages, just use the smaller version of the Aladdin cup.) 2) Mine appears to be a lot better insulated, and that's very important to me. 3) Mine doesn't need an anti-scratch "landing-pad decal" because the magnet doesn't touch the fender in the first place. Now, let's see if that leads them to improve theirs. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
