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| BFIIN
2000 Award Winner |
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Inspired by her own
child suffering from Stickler’s syndrome, graphic
designer Mandy Haberman designed a feeder for
babies with sucking difficulties.
The Haberman feeder was patented in the UK in
1984 and Mandy Haberman initially set up her own
company to commercialize the product worldwide
before granting manufacturing and distribution
licenses.
The product’s success was significant, though
the nature of the product limited its distribution
to a very narrow market. |
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Mandy Hamberman
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A few years later,
Mandy Haberman, inspired this time by a friend’s
child spilling blackcurrent juice over a cream
coloured carpet, decided to set out to design
a leak-proof cup that seals between sips and created
the Anywayup® cup. In 1992, the first of many
patents was filed (patent no. GB-B-2266045). The
patent protected her idea that uses a slit valve
to control the flow of liquid through the spout
of trainer cup. Additional patents both for the
UK and overseas were later filed and granted.
Prototypes of the innovative product were offered
for licensing to 18 companies concerned with the
manufacture of products for infants. Although
the response was enthusiastic, for various reasons,
no license was issued. Therefore, in 1996, Mandy
Haberman decided to join forces with a Cardiff-based
marketing company that specialized in marketing
innovative products and the Anywayup® cup started
to sell in unprecedented numbers (a rate of 60,000
a week). Shortly after, a US company signed an
exclusive USA licensing agreement to manufacture
and sell the product under the Tumble Mates brand.
Over 10 million cups are now sold each year worldwide.
As is often the case, the Anywayup® cup risked
of being a victim of its own success. Just 18
months after the product was launched, Mandy Haberman
discovered that one of the UK companies she had
initially approached for licensing was making
a very similar product to the Anywayup® cup. Mandy
Haberman decided to sue the other company and
won the legal battle. An injunction preventing
further infringement of the patent was ordered
and the appeal was abandoned shortly thereafter
as an out of court settlement was reached.
Over the years, Mandy Haberman and the Anywayup®
cup have won numerous invention awards including
the British Female Inventor of the Year award
in 2000 a Gold Medal at the Salon International
des Inventions in Geneva as well as the UK’s top
design industry awards. Today Mandy Haberman is
a successful entrepreneur and has taken an active
role in policy-making acting as adviser to the
UK government and the Patent Office on intellectual
property matters.
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