The legendary Munich’s annual Oktoberfest is approaching: an outstanding event able to bring over 6 million visitors in just a couple of weeks.
Since we are always looking for links between IP and the most various fields, it may be interesting to talk about an aspect that hardly anybody knows, that is the relation between Oktoberfest and patents and the pioneering role that this celebration plays in new technology.
So, for our “Patents world” section this week we took inspiration from this very interesting and amusing video developed by the EPO (European Patent Office):
As the video points out, the Oktoberfest is kind of a “marketplace” for patents, as it said by Oswald SchrOder, principal director of Communications at the Patent Office “even people probably mainly think of beer when it comes to the Oktoberfest, it is also a festival of patents: wherever you look, you can see patents everywhere”.
And it is certainly true the growing investments in improvements and new technologies: we can see this from the 285 patents for chicken rotisseries, to the 43 patents on Ferris-wheel technology until the ones related to security, thrill-packed rides and beer consumption.
