[00:00:01] Speaker A: Want to protect your business. The time is near. You've given it heart. Now get it in gear. It's passage to profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm Richard Gerhardt, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart. Not an attorney, but I work at Gearhart Law doing the marketing, and I have my own startups.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Welcome to passage to profit, everyone. The road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with startups, small businesses, and discuss the intellectual property that helps them flourish. It's time for IP in the news. And so what are we talking about today?
[00:00:40] Speaker C: Well, Ford has come up with an ingenious invention and filed a patent application on it, and I really hope that they can make this work. It's a little bit strange.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: It's a bumper that is like your car airbag. So it inflates if you hit someone or something. And I guess it's designed to protect them in case of impact.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: So the way it looks in the patent application is your car is driving along with its bumper. Normal. You hit somebody, and this airbag flies out of your bumper, inflates, and the person doesn't get hurt. And then another one goes down lower so they don't get sucked under the car either.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:20] Speaker D: It looks like your car has, like.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Two really big lips on it. When these things inflate, you're not getting hit, you're getting a big kiss.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: And I assume it could be used anywhere on the car. They showed in the initial figures that it was in the front.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: I really think, though, that putting them on the back bumper makes a lot of sense because lots of times people are backing out of their driveway and there's that kid on the bicycle or not paying attention, and you're not going too fast. Right. And so if you hit them, maybe it'll prevent some accidents that way. I don't know.
[00:01:54] Speaker D: Now it's time for Richard's roundtable, and I'm going to ask our phenomenal guests what they think about this situation.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Julie Livingston, what do you think about this crazy idea from Ford?
[00:02:05] Speaker E: Well, it sounds interesting, but it also sounds very complicated. And so I'm wondering if it will be sort of easily understandable by consumers.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: We were all kind of skeptical when we heard about inflatable car bags on the driver's side, and then they added them for the rear passengers, and now they're on the side, and who knows? Maybe they're coming out of the ceiling.
[00:02:28] Speaker E: But I guess over time, it's been engineered and reengineered so that they work. This being on the outside of the car, I don't know.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess we'll have to see. I mean, maybe if you just tap somebody else's bumper, do they go off? And then what happens? Who knows?
[00:02:46] Speaker E: Yeah, it's not like they can tuck in unless they have a place to.
[00:02:48] Speaker F: Tuck them back in. I'm not sure how that would actually function.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Kenya, what do you think?
[00:02:53] Speaker G: I have the same sediments. It's like, how do you know if you're hitting a person or you're hitting another car? Like, what's the level of impact that makes the sensor?
[00:03:00] Speaker B: That's a great question. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
[00:03:04] Speaker H: Barbara, I'm all for safety, so if this is the start for something to come about, maybe there's a lot of questions, but hopefully it will lead to a safer car.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: You can't disagree with that, even if it does look a little funny. Like, your car has lips.
[00:03:20] Speaker D: If it saves a life or two.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: It'S probably worth it, right? So how can you disagree with that? Lee, what do you think?
[00:03:28] Speaker F: A couple of things. One, are the bumpers going to match the color of my car?
And then what happens if the bumper gets a flat? Like, is there a patch kit that comes with it? I've often wondered when airbags. And then what happens then?
[00:03:44] Speaker B: These are really important questions. We wouldn't want to be out there with uncolored, coordinated bumpers. So, yeah, we have to definitely query forward on that. So that's a really good point. Before we go, I'd like to thank the passage to profit team, Noah Fleischmann, our producer Alicia Morrissey, our program director. Our podcast can be found tomorrow anywhere you find your podcast. Just look for the passage to profit.
[00:04:10] Speaker D: Show and you can find us on Instagram and threads at passage to profit show and Twitter. Or if you're even more up to date, x at passage to profit and on our YouTube channel, please also join us on our new Facebook group, search for passage to profit show listener community. A new community space for our listeners and guests where you can post questions that you would like answered on the show and interact with the passage to profit team.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark and copyright needs. You can find
[email protected] and contact us for a free consultation. Take care, everybody. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.
