The world of patenting is a strange and fascinating place. For all the high-tech, cutting edge innovation, there are millions of ideas that range from the quirky to the downright bizarre. Apple is notorious for their love of intellectual property (both theirs and other people's, if you believe Samsung). To date, they've patented everything from the packaging, to the iTunes identity, to their glass staircases. Even a mysterious 'high tactility glove system'.
But last month their latest trademark really did elicit a raise of my eyebrow: they finally received approval for a trademark for not just another staircase, but their actual store design. A trademark for the minimalist store design that essentially comprises of an oblong room with some oblong tables neatly arranged in rows. As one unimpressed blogger succinctly put it; "What's next? A patent for the lines around the stores?"
However, Apple isn't actually the first to do this. Microsoft (for once) beat them to it in 2011, and more importantly, it's not such a silly idea. The value of the Apple brand is huge, and lest we forget the story of the bootleg shop in China that looked so identical to a real Apple store that even the staff working in the store believed they were working for Apple too. What they were selling was the experience of the Apple brand, and incredibly successfully.
As we believe here at The Brand Union, the experience of the brand is the brand. Regardless of patent pedantry, few are further ahead of the curve than Apple, which has already created a showroom out of its stores and a true destination for shoppers, with no direct pressure to purchase.
So if you can trademark a store design and layout, how long before we see a brand actually patent an experience?
I suppose this question really has two parts: How long before someone tries, and how long before it's taken seriously enough to accept it. The first is easy enough to answer in that it's probably already happened; such is the extent of patent-happy people out there in the world looking to make a quick profit. Various patent requests in recent times have included transmitting media over the internet, voice recognition, sending phone calls over the internet, the method of swinging on a swing and even kissing.
Harlequin Enterprises, a publisher of romance novels attempted to patent kissing in 2011. The Toronto company announced in its seven-page patent application that it would "immediately make the method freely available to all persons everywhere in the interests of enhancing romantic love and generally making the world a better place."
At least that was in seemingly good humour, as opposed to Microsoft who once tried to patent the very essence of humanity itself – ambitiously looking to put a trademark on the transmission of meaning. Thankfully it was rejected, along with a spectacularly evil invention in Germany: a RFID chip equipped with a remotely activated cyanide capsule.
Nonsense aside, the question of when we could see a patent for an experience? Sooner than you think. What is an exception today with store design could be the norm tomorrow – and the next step surely is something even more intangible – the experience.
As more and more brands follow Apple's lead in driving differentiation through a considered, curated brand experience (no doubt sped by the evolving high street and the shift towards ubiquitous concept stores), I would go so far to suggest that it's in fact an inevitability that we'll see a brand look to patent an in-store experience.
Branding has always had the power to marginalise the actual product, but today branding exists within every single interaction a consumer can possibly have with a brand. Subsequently, brands are naturally becoming more service-orientated and it's an evolution that the industry will have to adapt to as well. Thus, if the experience of the brand evolves into the primary distinguishable selling point, then it has to be safeguarded.
Ultimately, such brands would be foolish not to protect their own IP in a hyper-competitive market place (again, something you'll rarely be able to accuse Apple of). In fact, I'm sure Apple and Samsung would be delighted to find something new to argue over.
This copy is provided by Brand Union, sponsors of the brand marketing hub.
