Tiki Mug Patents

One of my big questions about tiki mugs has always been copyright-related. How is it we can see the same designs appear not only for different restaurants but from different companies? I figured the most obvious answer is because no one cared; there were no design patents.(?) Maybe. So I've been spending some time at the (on-line) U.S. Patent Office. Surely, this is one of the best uses of my tax dollars I've found so far.

So I started poking around. It's pretty time consuming because all patents given before 1975 aren't searchable by title and the categories are very open to interpretation. But all you need is a mouse, one working finger and nothing to do.

After two zillion mouse clicks, I found very few patents but those I did find were only for a few years. Maybe the simple reason all these mug designs reappeared and continue to appear from places like Dynasty Wholesale is because they're in the public domain. I don't know too much about patent law (nothing, really) and even less about Japanese patent law so I dunno if this means anything.

Anyway, I did find some cool patents. Who designed the first skull mug? 50 bonus points if you guess the year.

Click HERE for the answer.

If there's any interest in this, I'll post more.

"I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver."
Phil Harris

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2005-11-16 07:06 ]

fricken sweet!

that rendering is beautiful too.

keep em coming!

That is really cool! I say keep posting more.

Great detective work Pappy!!!
I second Martiki...post some more

1939 WoW, These guys were so ahead of the "pack" it makes you wonder how bad ass they would be today with all the resources available.

Great work Pappy!!

most places back in the day were content to have any mug with their name on it, not necessarily a custom signature mug...just cause the same looking mug had a different name on it doesn't mean each bar claimed the mug is theirs...for example, suppose tiki farm took one of the mugs they designed and copyrighted, sent out a letter to all tiki bars saying hey, we have this cool mug...if you want some, we can put your bars name on it and you can buy a bunch for your bar....next thing you know, several bars want the mug, they all get their own bars name on it and viola!!..this is exactly what happened years ago with otagiri, daga, orchids, dynasty, etc.....it was cheaper to do it that way, but tiki bars made big bucks back then and it was worth the publicity and the money to shell out to have a custom mug made. the above mentioned companys probably hold the copyrights for their line of mugs, and the individual bars with signature mugs probably hold the copyright for theirs though they may liscense the use of it to the company that produced it...much like tiki farm won't just produce a mug for an artist for that artist to sell on his own as he/she sees fit, without also including a clause in which they can also sell said mug...they are not fools, and know that there is money to made from artists designs....

Nice job Pappy! The online Patent database is amazing - but very difficult to search... It really does take unlimited time to find what you are looking for. I've found some really neat dark ride & amusement park vehicle designs from the turn of the century - but only by shear luck...

Thanks very much for posting this, very, very cool!

Glad you guys are receptive.

Here's what good ol' Trader Vic had to say about his mug:

"To whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, Victor J. Bergeron, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the city of Oakland, county of Alameda, state of California, have invented a new, original, and ornamental Design for a Mug, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part thereof.
Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the mug showing my design.
Figure 2 is a side elevational view.
Figure 3 is a top plan view.
Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4-4 of figure 1.
I claim:
The ornamental design for a mug substantially as shown.
VICTOR J. BERGERON"

Here's two views of Vic's Vicious Virgin mug.

ONE

TWO

These Rock.....

Here's the "martiki" glass on page 95 of the BOT.

See it!

Such an interesting topic. Keep em coming!

tj

Tangaroa: VERY kewl, got a bunch as well for amusement park rides. Found a book listing a ton of ride patents, will have to key them in someday. Are you an ACE member, by any chance?

Holy Smokes! It really is the Mai Kai's decanter.

See it!

Not a tiki mug--more like a lotion bottle.

See it!

these would be cool to print out as a companion for t.v. mugs...you could display your mugs along with the copies of the patents....just a thought

great stuff--love would be good as postcards!!

Ps- have you found the United Airlines menehune decanter?

On 2005-11-16 20:32, Nightmaretony wrote:
Tangaroa: VERY kewl, got a bunch as well for amusement park rides. Found a book listing a ton of ride patents, will have to key them in someday. Are you an ACE member, by any chance?

Nope! I am not so much of a coaster fanatic, as I am a theme / amusement park fan. I like roller coasters OK, just not obsessed with them....

I think this mug is Philipine mahogany. That would explain the Filipino designer.
See it!

Tiki cigarette case
See it!

OK--I saved the best one for last...
See it!

Now the mystifying part--I can't find any more. I expected to find Tiki Bob anyway but nothin'....Maybe he'd be found in the trademark patents. After my finger heals up, I may look for some more. Enjoy!

P.S. Here's the funniest patent I found. I hope the moderators don't find it too political. (Not tiki-related)

See it!

Is it true that a patent is only good for 20 Years???
Moon

These are extremely interesting...

It's relatively easy to get around a design patent; you simply alter the design or look of the item. Now a UTILITY patent is a different matter, and would be much more challenging to get around, as that directs how an item works or functions. A mug in the shape of a skull - design patent, a mug that whistles when you drink from it - utility patent.

If both utility and design are important, you can get both - If the design, say, offers some sort of function - for instance, a kitchen utensil that has a handle that is shaped in a certain way that makes it easier to hold and use.

Wow..this shows how much fun research can be..well, if you do not have to do days of digging like you must have. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor.

I am amazed that you found as obscure an item as the "Tiki Tote" plastic cigarette case, it's on page 241 of the BOT. I have it in black, but for the photo of the back I used a grey version from a friend.

I believe for the Tiki Bob mug they just used the menu drawn by Alec Yuill Thornton and sent it in, maybe if they WOULD have patented it, the Elvis and N.O. Bali Hai versions would not have been made.

A little note on your signature Tiki:
It is one of the earliest "revival" Tikis, made for a Levis Jeans ad in the mid 90s. Later the design was swiped as a logo Tiki by the Luau Polynesian Lounge in Seattle. I got one of the painted plaster casts of it, from a friend who worked in the model shop that made it, it's about 8 inches tall, really neat.

On 2005-12-01 09:13, bigbrotiki wrote:
A little note on your signature Tiki:
It is one of the earliest "revival" Tikis, made for a Levis Jeans ad in the mid 90s. Later the design was swiped as a logo Tiki by the Luau Polynesian Lounge in Seattle. I got one of the painted plaster casts of it, from a friend who worked in the model shop that made it, it's about 8 inches tall, really neat.

Nothing gets by Big Bro! Now I need a new sig...

No no, I didn't wanna be a know-it-all, I think it is a unique and cool design for a Ku, you should keep it!

Rockin research work, Pappy! Your efforts are inspiring.

It's now much easier to search for Tiki Mug Patents with Google Patent Search.

This is a cool thread :)

Just poking around with Google Patent Search and thought I'd see what else ol' Trader Vic had a patent for!

On 2007-01-01 19:21, aloha.taboo wrote:
Just poking around with Google Patent Search and thought I'd see what else ol' Trader Vic had a patent for!

This plate appears in the photograph that accompanies the Curried Lamb Cheeks recipe in Trader Vic's Pacific Island Cookbook.

Weblog: Eye of the Goof

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2007-01-01 19:45 ]

Hokey Smokes. The Trader was a busy, busy guy!

Absolutely fantastic research. Thanks to Pappy. Pappy wrote, "One of my big questions about tiki mugs has always been copyright-related. How is it we can see the same designs appear not only for different restaurants but from different companies?" I've been wondering the same thing. I've recently been really looking into Orchids of Hawaii. Take Orchids R14 Scorpion Bowl as an example. You can get an exact copy of that from Dynasty. Is it a copy? Or did Dynasty get the molds from Orchids? Does anyone know for sure?

Dynasty is orchids, same people answer the phones, same stuff. Heard it was a bankrupt/legal type thing so they just started under a new name....

Stiki Tiki, thanks for the info. I have Orchids mugs that are marked on the bottom Orchids of Hawaii Japan. And then, what I'm assuming are later products, where the Orchids is gone and it just says Japan. If you order something from Dynasty they're in Woodside New York. Was Orchids of Hawaii ever in Hawaii or has it always been on the mainland? The stuff from Dynasty is made in Japan? Thanks!

I'm going by info from Cobain at Tikiland, he's a big Orchids collector, he has a old Orchids catalog and used to buy from them frequently, as far as I remember the office was always in the same place, where they are made probably jumped around just like Tiki Farm went from Mexico to China just to save money...
The catog of todays dynasty is pretty much exact to orchids, save for a few things they don't carry anymore.