USPTO ISSUES NEW DESIGN PATENTS FOR HORSE TACK
Horses and other equine have been domesticated for a long time. In fact, some estimate that the domestication of the horse happened around 4000 BCE. Since then, humans have invested significant efforts developing tack for equipping their horses.
D917,109 was issued on April 20, 2021 for an ornamental design for a western saddle cinch. A perspective view of the cinch is shown below on the left and a front view is shown on the right.
The patented cinch features a middle portion that is offset from the cinch’s longitudinal centerline. The offset is represented by “X” in the figure shown below on the left. The inventors state the centerline offset of the cinch (10) redirects the position of the saddle’s billet line (14), as shown in the image above on the right. Particularly, the offset allows the billet line to be set farther back (relative to existing cinches) from the front of the horse.
The Patent Office issued D919,898 on May 18, 2021, for an ornamental design for a horse racing blinker (sometimes called blinder). Blinkers are a piece of horse tack used to prevent the horse from seeing to the rear and sometimes to the side, which some believe help the horse stay focused on what is out in front of them (e.g., the racetrack) rather than what is in their peripheral view (e.g., the crowd). A perspective view of the patented blinker on a horse and without the horse are shown below.
At Nolan IP Law, we love pets and we love working on patent applications for pet products. If you are developing, or have recently developed, a new pet product, then it is high time for you to schedule a free consultation with Nolan IP Law to discuss whether filing for patent protection should be pursued.