Thanksgiving and intellectual property (I.P.) might seem like something other than the most natural pairings. However, with all the family gatherings, fights, and reconciliations, it is the perfect time to exercise one’s creative side regarding culinary treats and party entertainment. Some of the most bizarre inventions and activities are bound to occur when the creative juices run so freely.

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with loved ones while taking stock of all we have to be thankful to you. We pause to enjoy a few of the many protections granted to trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property worldwide because we may all be grateful for them. Enjoy our menu down below!

Technique for making potatoes automatically

 This invention from 2002 has made it easier to make creamy, fluffy mashed potatoes without effort, tedium, or sprained wrists. Add water and potatoes to the heating device to start the cooking process. The water is afterwards automatically drained, and optional seasoning is added as a touch of winter wonder. The machine begins to mash once everything is ready. If you don’t want skins in your mash, you’ll still need to use the peeler and numb your fingers. However, consider the positive: the skins are ideal for you!

Turkey leg support

This creation is as strange as it is obvious. Farewell to the clumsy, ungainly aluminium foil you used to find at amusement parks, rodeos, and your in-laws. You no longer have to take the chance of getting your bone-club hand greasy when faced with a piece of poultry fit for a caveman with this ingenious contraption. The turkey drumstick fits snugly into the opening housing (ideal for snacking on the go), where its container keeps it safe while also allowing it to turn.

This invention has you and your drumsticks covered, whether you want to use it in its original bird-leg shape or one of “the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments,” as the patent description puts it.

Thanksgiving-themed baking pan insert

That says everything. But this is the ideal time to drive home that not all patents cover original works of art. There is also a place for design patents at the (dining) table. Additionally, although Thanksgiving may not exist in Europe, “the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and materials of [a] object itself and its adornment” undoubtedly do. In the E.U., unregistered Community designs (UCDs) and registered Community designs (RCDs) offer many of the same protections as their American counterparts. While an RCD can last up to 25 years with renewal payments made every five years, a U.S. design patent only lasts 15 years and does not require maintenance fees. UCDs cannot be extended after their initial three-year expiration date.

With that in mind, It’s time to take those weird design concepts out of the attic and give them another look.

Preparing an I.P. storm

How can I.P. protect your unique recipe for cranberry sauce from envious eyes and mouths to speak of the more imaginative fruits of one’s imagination? Although you may believe copyrights would solve the problem, the truth is more complicated. The obituary for your kitchen inventions is written in frightening black and white by the U.S. Copyright Office: “Copyright law does not protect a simple list of ingredients.” But there is still hope. If you want to pursue copyrighting, You must justify your recipe’s written form and accompanying images to be considered original creative work.

I’m going now, I.P.!

Parades and Thanksgiving go together like turkey, mash, pie, and whipped cream. Therefore, it should be no surprise that the annual event in New York City, sponsored by the department store company Macey’s, has almost completely replaced the traditional onset of the holiday season. A less greedy group of zoo animals quickly took the place of the menagerie of annoying zoo animals that attended the first event in 1924. but no less threatening platoon of inflatable IP-protected characters that were all duly licenced. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a registered trademark (or, more precisely, a service mark) of Federated Department Stores, Inc. since 1998. We are more interested in the event’s name, though. So search for the large bird wearing a Pilgrim cap beneath the little “R” enclosed in a circle because the necessary I.P. rights are in place to keep the floats floating natural tops off the Thanksgiving parade, despite all the costumes, inflatables, music, and dance.

Now that you’ve seen it, you can make this Thanksgiving one to remember with a full spread of I.P. dishes. We hope this healthy serving of holiday cheer has made you smile, whether enjoying a meal with friends and family or simply relaxing to watch the festivities. Plus, you won’t gain a single inch on your waistline. Happy Thanksgiving from the I.P. specialists at I.P. Docketers to you and your family!