While maintaining their core values and traditions, most sports have undergone serious modernization efforts over the years. Thousands of patents have been filed for inventions made to find new and better ways of training and competition in various disciplines. Golf – regarded by many as one of the more traditional sports – has been the most innovative in terms of patents filed since the turn of the new millennium.
According to data from Sagius IP, a global intellectual property research and consulting firm, 83,267 golf-related patents have been filed between 2000 and 2019. Football ranks second in this regard with 22,397 and tennis third (20,195). Cricket, meanwhile, has filed 1,916 patents in that period.
Understanding ‘Patent’
A patent, once granted, protects the inventor’s intellectual property for a specified period in exchange for monetary compensation.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), “a patent is an exclusive right granted to an invention, a product of a process that normally provides a new way of doing something, or a new technical solution”. does. A Problem.”
However, there is a difference between ‘published’ and ‘granted’ patents.
According to Subcouncil, a website that provides legal services, “Just because a patent application is published, it will not always be granted. Patent applications are published to make the public sector aware of the demand for patent protection.” ” This means that, if the patent is not actually granted to the work, the public can learn from the work anyway.”
A patent ‘grant’, meanwhile, means what the term suggests – that the patent has been approved and is protected by intellectual property rights.
golf is progressing
The first golf-related patent was filed in 1891 when Frances Archibald Fairley introduced improvements to metal-headed golf clubs.
The game has filed over 83,000 patents between 2000 and 2019. However, so far only 26,541 of them have been ‘granted’.
Some of the patents granted relate to the collection of data, whether it is the storage and analysis of data – such as a golf swing or a player’s scoring chart.
interchangeable club head
Quite simply, this patent, published in July 2014, pertains to a single golf club shaft being fitted with interchangeable heads. Typically, a golf bag will have several clubs with different heads at the top – a putter and a driver, for example. With this new invention, however, the size of the golf bag is reduced because a separate club head can be mounted on or off the shaft.
golf glove holder
Another published patent – dating back to 2002 – is a golf glove holder mounted on a golf cart. It was specifically designed to provide players with a quick way to dry their gloves that may have become damp due to sweat.
modernization of football
Between 2000 and 2019, 22,397 patents were filed in football and 7,392 were approved. According to Sagius Ip, the first patent filed in football dates back to 1907, when Maria Henriette Goode made an outer cover or envelope for soccer balls.
The online gaming industry has developed several football games, which have also been patented.
portable football goal
Perhaps one of the most important inventions to aid the current trend of multipurpose sporting venues around the world is the 1986 invention of the portable football goal. Essentially, the frame of a football goal post can be easily dismantled and stored when not needed, and can be easily erected when a football match is played.
motion graphics on the ball
Visual designs on football don’t just serve as a cosmetic effect. In 2017, Nike was granted a patent for motion graphics on a ball. This essentially means that football covers have designs in one or more contrasting colors that allow estimation of data – for example, the number of rotations per minute of a ball in flight after a free-kick has been hit. , e.t.c
chirping cricket on patent
Cricket has seen only 332 patents out of 1,916 filed between 2000 and 2019. The game’s first patent came in 1894, when William David Cameron invented an improvement to the bat.
A significant number of Cricket’s modern patents have been about apps that collect and transmit data. But there have been a good number that relate to on-field changes as well.
rain cricket
In 2011, George William Beldum invented a cricket ball that does not lose its shape when moist, and can be used for play during rain. However, several other factors affected the implementation of this patent, such as reduced visibility and damage to bats.
mongoose cricket bat
As the 2021 IPL season nears its completion, it is worth remembering that in the second season of the T20 league in 2009, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden decided to play with the mongoose bat. The handle of the bat was long and had a small wooden face at the bottom. However, the face was much thicker – almost three times that of a conventional bat. It provided more power when faced with yorkers or low-full tosses.
Despite Hayden’s success with that bat, he was not caught.
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