Bubbles frozen in Chocolate – how Patents and Trade Marks can work together

In 1935 John William Todd working, with the Rowntree Company, discovered the secret of freezing air bubbles into chocolate.

They applied for two patents, GB459582 covering the chocolate itself, and GB459583 covering the process of manufacturing it. The chocolate soon became a success – and Rowntree applied for a registered trade mark to protect its name the same year - AERO®, the well known chocolate with bubbles of air frozen in it, had been born.

Patents had a term of 16 years at that time and the two patents protecting the technology behind AERO would have expired no later than 1952. By then the brand had become popular and continued to be protected by the registered trade mark, AERO; for many years AERO remained almost without competing products through the strength of its brand name. This illustrates the synergy between different forms of intellectual property, here patents and registered trade marks.

Below are shown some of the drawings from the patent covering the chocolate product, GB459582 – perhaps they look familiar.

® AERO is a registered trade mark belonging to Nestlé SA.

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Q.The patent number on an object has the letters RD, Reg No or Reg Des. What does this mean?

The letters RD, Reg No or Reg Des (or similar) stand for registered design. These are not patents (which protect the features and processes that make work); registered designs protect the physical look or visual appeal of an object. Tymel Patents (and the Intellectual Property Office) is unable to help with pre 1990 registered designs. You can get an idea of the date from Great Glass; this site lists registered design numbers for glassware but will give you an idea of the date for non-glassware designs.

For full information on a registered design you will need to go to the National Archives. They are able to supply copies of the representation (line drawings or photographs) and more usefully the register entry (giving details of the designer and dates, maybe licences) of a registered design. They publish a good research guide on registered designs.

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