When the Keurig launched and started to take hold, it revolutionized how people drank coffee. If you wanted just a single cup, you no longer had to make a trip to your closest barista. If you just wanted to pour your own first cup and did not want the rest of your coffee to get stale, brewing an entire pot was taken out of the equation. Solving those consumer needs paid off well for Keurig – in 2018, they merged with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group to create the 7th largest food and beverage company in the United States with a combined net sales of $11 billion in 2017 [1]. Not a bad success story.
Güdpod
In the wake of Keurig has come a company called Güdpod. They have identified a need as well – people not wanting to clean blades every time they want to create blended beverages. Similar in concept to a single-serve coffee system that uses brewer-pods, Güdpod pods have blades that are in the pod itself. When inserted into the Güdpod machine, the pod descends and opens, releasing the ingredients directly into a liquid, like water or juice. Blender blades then mix the ingredients in about 40 seconds. Güdpod takes the mess out of making nutritional beverages because the blending system is self-contained within the pod; there are no blades, blending container or rubber gasket to clean. Güdpod can be used with any liquid – such as water or any kind of milk or juice. Additionally, the pods are 100% recyclable, unlike pods used in other systems [2].
Continued growth from original concept
Additionally, Güdpod is not resting on their laurels – they continue to build upon their initial patent. Recently they announced they will be granted their fifth and sixth U.S. utility patents and its first U.S. design patent on technology housed in the first-of-its-kind “blender in a pod.” The company also holds patents and patents pending on the technology in Australia, Asia and the European Union. [3]
“From the beginning, we invested in developing and protecting our intellectual property because we knew what we had was special and that it would invite replication,” said Gian-Carlo Ochoa, Ph.D., founder and executive chairman, Güdpod Corp. “As a result, we’re several steps ahead of any potential competitors and we will maintain that advantage by actively defending our existing IP while simultaneously investing in ongoing development.” [4]
How IP.com can help your innovation process
As discussed, Güdpod is an excellent example of a company that continued to innovate upon a similar invention. IP.com’s InnovationQ product line can be a useful tool in that regard as well. It makes it easy for everyone on your team to search, find and review crucial patent documentation with minimal training. Simply type in a patent number or invention idea and instantly get a comprehensive ranking of relevant results. Through our proprietary combination of concept-based, common-language semantic search and enhanced Boolean search filters, you also have the potential to come up with your own innovations.
References:
[1] https://www.keurigdrpepper.com/en/our-company/overview
[2] https://www.gudpod.com/
[3] https://iq.ip.com
[4] https://gudpodx.com/gudpod-blender-in-a-pod-technology-receives-two-more-u-s-utility-patents/