The main purpose of our patent applications is actually to disclose our research findings about how chopsticks actually work. As we stated in our mission page, we want everyone to be able to print these and even sell them without royalty fees. These patent disclosures establish prior arts that preempt anyone from claiming these inventions, so no one can stop enthusiasts from freely reproducing these chopstick training tools. If granted claims in these applications, we will also be able to enforce our Mark-and-Go license where we simply ask that folks attribute produced training tools to marcosticks.org. Lastly, we think our disclosures contain useful original research findings. Some of these findings have already made their way to into articles on this site.
As of Jan 2022, we have filed 3 US utility applications, and 2 US design applications on various training chopsticks. The two design patents have been granted. The first utility application has been granted and issued. The second utility application has been allowed, and will be issued in Feb 2022. The third utility application has not yet been examined.
A web-version of our Ergonomic Nugget for Chopsticks design patent granted by USPTO as US D934,037 S, now with inline illustrations.
A web-version of our Training Chopsticks design patent granted by USPTO as US D933,430 S, now with inline illustrations.