Hasbro Soaks Competition For Patent Infringement

By Daniel Davidson

Time to get nostalgic and think back to those blistering hot summers (this part is for our Florida readers) when the air was mixed with the fragrances of “Bullfrog” sunscreen sticks, I preferred the green, and the smell of skin slowly melting on the bottoms of our feet.  Ahhh, the sweet, sweet summertime.  Go ahead, do the eyes closed, nose in the air while taking a deep breath thing you just thought about doing.  Now that we have ourselves in the correct state of mind considering the current weather situation, I am pleased to convey that our beloved “SUPER SOAKER” has successfully defended itself in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.

In a suit filed this last June for patent infringement against competitor toy maker, Buzz Bee Toys, Inc., Hasbro, Inc. alleged that their competitor was willfully infringing their patents that they hold relating to the Nerf Super Soaker water products.  As I hope you know, the Super Soaker has revolutionized the manual squirt gun.  No longer was it necessary to continually pull your trigger finger to shoot a lousy stream of aqua.  No, you could now unleash an unforgiving stream of water after vigorously pumping and adding pressure to the holding tank that would then be released by your trigger finger leaving your fellow boy of summer drenched.

The procedure above was patented by Dr. Lonnie Johnson, a nuclear engineer, who first came up with the idea while working on a heat pump that used water instead of freon.  Dr. Johnson’s invention eventually became the product of Hasbro, Inc. and as they say, the rest is history. Hasbro, Inc. was awarded a permanent injunction by the District Court and we can now enjoy Super Soaker fun only from the rightful inventors.