There have been so many episodes of Dragons' Den that I often see one that's new to me in the endless run of repeats.
"Chris" was demonstrating his toilet training aid for children. It looked like a ping pong ball with a funny face on it which bobbed about in the water. The idea was that children would concentrate on hitting it. It wouldn't get flushed away, I think (I wasn't paying full attention, I'm sorry to say). More details can be found at Max.
I did notice that nobody asked if competition was ready to jump in, as it were. None of the dragons ever ask if a patent search has been carried out to see if the concept is new, which surely is fundamental when trying to fend off competition. Besides trying to gain a monopoly, looking at similar concepts is vital.
That episode went out in October 2007. I had a little look for anything similar and came across the Toilet training target, by Andrew Chapman, an Australian living in Dubai. A pressurised gas filled archery target bobs about in the water. It was applied for on the 25 May 2007, which is its "priority date".
The concept of priority means that provided it was new at the time it will take precedence over similar inventions (even if filed in other countries) in trying to obtain a patent -- "first to file". Only the USA keeps to the concept of "first to invent". That means that if similar inventions are applied for, the applicants have to show proof of when they came up with the idea. So if Max was publicised earlier than the Chapman invention, it may perhaps not get a patent, or its rights will be restricted. A patent attorney would be able to advise on how similar the two ideas were.
Other inventions on the subject are Target built into a toilet or urinal (illustrated)
and the somewhat similar Toilet training target. The Toilet training device and method of use involves a paper target that gets flushed away.
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