Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

General water gun discussion.
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SSCBen
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Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by SSCBen » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:32 pm

Hasbro sues other toy makers over patents

PAWTUCKET, R.I.

Toy maker Hasbro Inc. is suing two competitors, Buzz Bee Toys and Lanard Toys, claiming they infringed on its patent for the Nerf and Super Soaker brands, Hasbro said Wednesday.

At issue in both cases are two U.S. patents for Hasbro's Nerf N-Strike Disc Shot Blaster shooting toy. Hasbro also claims Buzz Bee Toys infringed on a patent related to its Nerf Super Soaker water toy.

Buzz Bee Toys, in Mt. Laurel, N.J., declined to comment.

Lanard Toys Inc., which is based in Hong Kong with U.S. offices in Sugar Creek, Mo., could not immediately be reached.

Hasbro said it wants both companies to stop making the toys at issue and pay unspecified monetary damages. It filed the complaints in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass.

"The action we have taken today is part of Hasbro's plans to vigorously pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own profit," Wayne Charness, senior vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement.

Hasbro shares rose 49 cents to $39.85 in midday trading.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... 3900O2.htm

I didn't see any discussion of this yet. What do you think?

Hasbro lost the last time they sued over Super Soaker patents. While I don't know the details of this case, I'm very skeptical that there are any valid claims of infringement here as I think the BBT guys (many of whom are former Hasbro employees) avoided any patent claims well.

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zeda.beta
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by zeda.beta » Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:42 pm

Hmm, it looks like Hasbro is angry that people are competing with them again. :p It's probably going to be the same result, with Hasbro losing money for guns that aren't even worth it.
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C-A_99
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by C-A_99 » Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:06 pm

Insane as this is, what credibility do they have at all? BBT made water guns with a pump and pressure chamber, let's sue them guys! Heck, why don't they come after the DIY community next for loosing a few sales to those who would rather have a proper water blaster?

Hasbro sues Ohio Art when they hardly use their CPS patent but now they don't need their CPS patent at all and are probably using it against BBT. On the other hand, if I recall correctly, patents expire after 10 years so CPS should be fair game. It's not like Hasbro even needs seperate air pressure blasters anyway.

But of course, I haven't kept up much on the technical details of those patents. If I recall correctly though, they were for specific water gun layouts. You can't claim that the Renegade is a rip off of the XP270 just because it has a bulb-shaped PC that feeds downwards. Hasbro hasn't even made their air pressure PC's feed in the proper direction after the Max-D 6000. (Oops, MD6k was actually from Larami.)

I'd say zeda's analysis is fairly spot on.

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Silence
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by Silence » Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:07 am

I think I've said this before: the only patent on CPS that I could find specified a bulb area, probably to make sure the bladder expands from the front.

Regardless, I don't know much about the Nerf patents, and unless/until Ben creates an executive summary of them, I probably never will. :rolleyes:

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martianshark
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by martianshark » Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:37 am

Somehow I knew this was going to happen. BB is getting way popular and I'll bet Hasbro was getting mad about it. Which Blaster were they complaining about? Please don't be the Vindicator... It might be the Pulse Force since it works like the Shot Blast.

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Silence
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by Silence » Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:20 pm

I think the claims only had to do with Nerf guns - I think the "Nerf Super Soaker" is a pack of two guns, and if the lawsuits are related, I'll bet they only has to do with Nerf.

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CROC
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by CROC » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:06 am

Well now that Nerf and Super Soaker are one and the same, I have a feeling they just combined the two companies, and they are probably suing over some patent throughout the umbrella of Super Soaker and Nerf. That would make it so that they can sue everyone for using their suction tip darts and water spraying mechanisms, because now they have almost done everything soaker and dart gun related.
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C-A_99
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Re: Hasbro sues Buzz Bee Toys

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:34 am

BBT isn't the only non-Hasbro company that makes suction tipped foam darts and something that simple can't be patented. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried though.

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