Patent Pioneer: L A Groth

Patent Pioneer: L A Groth

Lorenz Albrecht Theodor Groth founded Groth & Co in Stockholm in 1869. As Scandinavia’s first patent agency, he offered to ”assist inventors with registering patents”, but also to commercialise the patents and sell the products. The idea came at a good time, coinciding with what is now often called Sweden’s industrial breakthrough. 

But everything began in Värmland

On the 2nd of March 1843, Lorentz Albrecht Theodor Groth (L A Groth) was born in Säterud, in the parish of Köla, in Värmland County, in western Sweden. He was the son of Lorentz Adolf Groth (1798-1856) and Fredrika Justina (1815-1876). His father was born in Stockholm but came to work in Värmland, first as a factory worker and metallurgist at Edsvalla Bruk before leaving to become an inspector and later a bookkeeper at Adolfsfors Bruk. Lorentz Albrecht had six siblings: Justina Carolina Adolfina (1837-1859), Adolph Frederik (1839-1870), Anna Evelina (1846-1926), Emelie (1840-1844), Anders Emil (1844-1860) and Emelia Mathilda (1853-1934).

The engineer marries and has four children

At the age of 16, L A Groth began studying at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm (now known as the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH), graduating in 1863. During his studies he resided in Maria Magdalena and Klara parishes in central Stockholm. After graduating in 1863, he started working as an apprentice for the Swedish state railway company between Arvika and the Norwegian border. In the following year he was appointed as the assistant to the district manager of the Southern Road and Water District. In 1865, L A Groth moved from Säterud to Ängelholm with his future wife Agnes Carolina Nyström (1841-1910). Their first child, Anna Carolina Fredrika, was born on the 5th of August in the same year. On the 25th of August, the family moved again, to Malmö. L A Groth was by now a bookkeeper at Malmö station, remaining there until the family moved to Stockholm on the 17th of August 1869. The couple had three more children: Agnes Helmy Olivia born on the 7th of August 1866, Emil Lorents Arvid born on the 5th of November 1868 and Agnes Maria Justina on the 9th of September 1875. The eldest daughter, Anna Carolina Fredrika, died of scarlet fever at the age of four in 1869.

Scandinavia’s first patent agency, 1869

Before Groth & Co, there were no patent attorneys or agencies in Sweden – or even in the rest of Scandinavia. At this time, Sweden was behind the rest of Europe, both in terms of patent agents and patent applications. The number of patent applications was less than 200 each year, and very few foreign inventors applied for patents in Sweden. Swedish inventors usually handled their own patent applications. In this underdeveloped market, L A Groth saw a business opportunity. A few years earlier, he had begun to take an interest in patents and had seen in other European countries the positive effect patent attorneys had on innovation and technological development. L A Groth wanted to achieve the same effect in Sweden.

Sweden received freedom of trade in 1864. Shortly thereafter, in 1869, at the age of 26, L A Groth founded the company Patent- och Agentur-Byrån (The Patent and Agency Office), together with the engineer Axel Herman Weström (1846-1915). After a few years, the name of the company was changed to Skandinaviska Patent- och Agenturbyrån L. A. Groth & Co. (the Scandinavian Patent and Agency Office L. A. Groth & Co.). The company’s first address was Västerlånggatan 53 in L A Groth’s private residence (in what is now known as the Old Town of Stockholm), but in 1975 it moved to Hamngatan 17. The purpose of the company was to ”assist inventors with registering patents”, but as this was a completely new type of advice for Scandinavia, only ”wholesale and agency activities” are stated in Groth’s company registration.

The early years and the first clients

Our patent book from 1871.

The first patent with L A Groth as the agent was granted on the 30th of March 1871, and referred to as a ”Self-lubricating Gasket” on behalf of the trader Carl Otto Gerckens in Turku, Finland. During this period, L A Groth also filed patent applications on behalf of well-known names such as Nikolaus Otto, Gustaf de Laval, Thomas Alva Edison and Alfred Nobel.

With Groth & Co in business, the number of patent applications in Sweden increased and the company was the dominant patent agency in the 1870s. Although a large proportion of the Swedish applicants handled their own patent applications, Groth & Co handled more than a third of all applications in Sweden during the 1870s. For example, Groth & Co represented 83 of 226 patents granted in 1875. Competition became tougher over time and in 1893 there were six patent agencies with addresses in Stockholm.

Among former employees in 1872 were Celina Schrühe and Carl Fredrik Wahlberg, followed by Hilma Augusta Tenander, Theodor Christoffer Svensson and Lars Gustaf Larsson in 1878. Co-founder Axel Herman Weström left the company in 1874.

Sweden’s representative at the first international patent congresses

In 1873, the fifth world exhibition was held in Vienna. It lasted from the 1st of May to the 2rd of November, with 53,000 exhibitors from 35 countries and had more than 7 million visitors. The first international patent congress was also held here, from the 4th to the 8th of August.

At the congress, the Swedish government was represented by L A Groth. The congress discussed three topics: 1 Inventions in all civilised countries should be protected. 2 Fundamentals for an appropriate patent law. 3 Considering the major differences in the laws of the different countries and the major changes that our period has produced, governments should achieve an international agreement for the protection of patent rights. As a result of his work at the patent congress, L A Groth was named as a Knight of the Order of Vasa in the same year, at just 30 years old.

The second international patent congress was held in Paris from the 5th to the 17th of September 1878. By now, L A Groth was a member of the Permanent International Committee on Industrial Property Rights. At the Paris congress, the issues had been broadened, which, in addition to patents, now also included legal and legislative issues relating to designs, trademarks, stamps and trade names, photographic works and international understandings. Here too, L A Groth was the Swedish government’s representative. On his return from the congress, he wrote a statement to the head of the Royal Civil Department, who described it as ”an report, which we must confess, struck us particularly through its unusually clear and straightforward manner of presentation”.

L A Groth transfers the company and emigrates to the UK

Civil Engineer Carl Oscar Annell (1843-87) took over the company from L A Groth in 1879. In 1880, engineer and inventor John Edberg (1857-1935) became a partner, and in 1882 he became the sole owner of the company.

On the 16th of February 1880, L A Groth moved from Stockholm to London with one of his children; his son Emil Lorens Arvid. He and his wife Agnes Carolina Nyström separated at this time and the divorce was completed on the 8th of June 1880. Just two weeks later, on the 22nd of June, in Camberwell, London, L A Groth married 17-year-old Winiford Groves from Newington, Surrey. They set up home at 20 Tresco Road in Peckham, London. His ex-wife moved with the couple’s two remaining daughters to Nybrogatan 18 in Stockholm.

In 1878, even before moving to there, L A Groth had founded a new patent agency in London under the name, The Scandinavian Patent-Office L. A. Groth & Co, based at 2 Finsbury Pavement. Once in London, he continued to run that company. He later became President of the Universal Inventors and Patenties Financial Co., Ltd and also the proprietor of the Patent Industrial and Financial Agency.

The new family moves to Sweden before L A Groth dies in Brighton

Together with his new wife, he had the twins Gladys and Lilian Loving, in 1888. In 1891, the family moved to a new address: 36 Womersley Road, Hornsey, Middlesex. After that, the family’s possessions were shipped to Sweden and they live in Vänersborg in 1892-1901. They then move to Antwerp in Belgium and lived there from 1901 to 1915.

Lorentz Albrecht Groth lived his last years in a house at 16-19 Regency Square in the centre of Brighton, where the Topps Hotel is now located. He died in Brighton in 1923, and is buried there.

But what happened next to Groth & Co?!

John Edberg had been the sole owner of the company since 1882 when Carl O. Annell had left the business, probably for health reasons. When the new Swedish Patent Regulation arrived in 1884, more demands were placed on Swedish patent agents. Edberg then took the initiative to launch what is today the Swedish Patent Agents Association (SPOF), together with engineers Knut Y. Zacco, Ernst H. Bruhn and Fredrik L Enqvist.

John Edberg at the office at Malmtorgsgatan 6, circa 1920-1930

In 1911, civil engineer Harry Hammar joined Groth & Co. He was the stepson of Edberg and later became a partner in the company, in 1928. When Edberg died in 1935, Harry Hammar became the sole owner of Groth & Co. In 1935, Harry Hammar, employed his son, engineer Stig Hammar, who became a partner in 1944.

Left: Harry Hammar in the office at Malmtorgsgatan 6, circa 1920-1930. Right: Harry Hammar in 1959

Stig Hammar then led Groth & Co right up to his death in 1980. Partner Jarl Forsheden then took over as Managing Director. In 1982, the company was acquired by three employees: Bo Jörneld, Gunnar Sundkvist and Christer Westerlund. Jörneld was appointed MD and was so until 1994 when Westerlund took office. Westerlund, however, died suddenly in 1995, and Sundkvist took over as MD. Gunnar Sundkvist was MD until 2015, when the current MD Mats Lundberg took office. Groth & Co is today owned by Gunnar Sundkvist together with 15 other active partners.

150 years but only 6 addresses in Stockholm

Groth & Co’s first address was Västerlånggatan 53 in the Old Town, followed by Hamngatan 17 (near what is now Sergels Torg) from 1875. In 1893, the company moved to Brunkebergstorg 18 – a very strategic address in the same building as the Royal Patent Office, which was formed in 1885 (and is now the Swedish Patent and Registration Office, PRV). However, the Royal Patent Office grew rapidly and only two years later, Groth & Co was forced to leave these premises. The company then moved to Malmtorgsgatan 6. There, Groth & Co had its premises for 69 years, until the company moved to Västmannagatan 43 in 1964. The company spent 41 years at that address before Groth & Co moved in 2005 to their current premises – the historic former tram halls at Birger Jarlsgatan 57.

Otto Engine

Otto Engine

The four-stroke engine was invented by Nikolaus Otto in 1876. Even today it is the dominant engine in cars, propeller-driven aeroplanes, lawnmowers, mopeds and in outboard motors for boats. Groth & Co filed the patent application for the Otto engine in Sweden.

The four-stroke engine is today the dominant type of engine in most vehicles. But its origins go all the way back to 1876 when it was invented by German engineer Nikolaus August Otto. The engine was the first one with internal combustion in a piston cylinder, where the combustible gas mixture was ignited by an electric spark coming from a spark plug. Otto boldly named the new engine type after himself; the Otto engine.

The Otto engine crowned several years of work for Nikolaus Otto. He had long been experimenting with engines together with his partner Eugen Langen. The company N. A. Otto & Cie, which they founded in 1864, still exists today under the name of Deutz AG. There they had developed an engine which, when it was launched in May 1867, had an efficiency of 11%; a major step forward in engine development.

Five years later, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach joined the company. (Yes, these are indeed the men behind today’s Mercedes-Benz, which you also can read about in this digital museum.) Together with them, Otto developed his four-stroke engine, which they patented in 1876. We at Groth & Co filed the patent application for the Otto engine in Sweden. Initially, different gases were used, but later petrol mixed with air became the most commonly used fuel.

An Otto Engine purchased in England circa 1887.

Otto’s patent describes a four-stroke engine, and the Otto cycle – a synonym for the four cycles of the engine that work like this:

1. Down ”intake stroke”: Petrol and air are sucked into the combustion chamber above the piston.
2. Up ”compression stroke”: The piston compresses the mixture.
3. Down ”combustion stroke”: The mixture is ignited with a spark from spark plugs.
4. Up ”exhaust stroke”: Releases the exhaust gas from the cylinder.

Today, the engine is often called a spark ignition engine and refers both two-stroke and four-stroke engines that work according to the Otto principle. Four-stroke engine benefits include lower fuel consumption, cleaner exhaust emissions and more even running.

The Otto engine was revolutionary when it was launched and in many ways has laid the foundation for other inventions that we consider as obvious today; cars, propeller-driven aircraft, lawnmowers, mopeds and outboard motors for boats. Even today, it is the dominant engine in most power-driven vehicles, and development is striving to make the Otto engine more environmentally friendly by seeking fuels other than traditional petrol, and by making it more efficient.

Nobel’s Extra Dynamite

Nobel’s Extra Dynamite

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and engineer who came to be most famous for dynamite and the Nobel Prize. Groth & Co was the patent agency that filed Nobel’s patent for Extra Dynamit in 1879, and the power of attorney still adorns one of the walls of our headquarters.

Alfred Nobel at a young age

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833. His father Immanuel had a mechanics workshop that went bankrupt, which meant that the Nobel family had to move abroad. In 1842, they ended up in Saint Petersburg, where Immanuel set up a factory that made explosives and became very successful in the mid-1850s. It was in Saint Petersburg that Alfred Nobel obtained his first patents in 1857 and 1859.

Later, back home in Sweden, Alfred Nobel began experimenting with explosives and, in particular, with nitroglycerin. By mixing nitroglycerin with, among other things, diatomaceous earth, he invented the dynamite in 1866. The dynamite’s biggest advantage was that it was safe to transport. Although nitroglycerin is highly susceptible to impacts, dynamite does not detonate during transport or if handled roughly. Nobel continued to develop his dynamite, which later led to the improved ”Extra Dynamit”, patented in 1879. The invention was epoch-making, especially for the rock blasting, but dynamite also made possible, for example, extensive tunnelling and underwater explosions. Dynamite thus played a major part in industrialisation and technological development in the late 1800s.

Power of attorney for Groth & Co regarding Extra Dynamit signed by Alfred Nobel

A few decades ago, at Groth & Co we found a power of attorney from 1879 relating to the patent application for ”Extra Dynamit”, as Nobel called the invention. The power of attorney was made out in our name and signed by Alfred Nobel in Paris. Today, a copy of the power of attorney is framed and displayed in our office in Stockholm. One of our conference rooms in the same office also contains a table from Nobel family’s home in Saint Petersburg. We can also see in our journals from the period that we assisted Alfred Nobel with another five patent applications.

With dynamite as a successful product, Nobel began building an international company. He established factories in most European countries and in North America. But he was also interested in other industries and in his time founded about 30 companies worldwide. All of these companies and factories led to Nobel living in many places and travelling a lot. He therefore came to be called ”Europe’s richest vagabond” – he was one of the richest people in the world at the time. Alfred Nobel had about 350 patents granted during his lifetime and accounted for about 30% of all patents from Sweden during this period.

Our patent book from 1879, regarding our work for Alfred Nobel’ Extra Dynamit.

On the 10th of December 1896, Alfred Nobel died in his home in San Remo, Italy, at the age of 63. He left behind him a global empire and a brief handwritten will. In his will, Nobel donated most of its assets to ”constitute a fund, the interest on which is to be distributed annually as prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. In the will, it was stated that the interest of his fortune should be divided into five parts and reward skilled individuals within physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace work. In 1900, as a result of the will, the Nobel Foundation was created, which has awarded the Nobel Prize on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, 10th of December, every year since 1901.

Nobel’s handwritten testament.

Telephone

Telephone

Lars Magnus Ericsson’s improvements of the telephone led to a clearer and better sound through the so-called spiral microphone where the diaphragm in the handset could be adjusted. Groth & Co filed the patent application for Ericsson’s invention on January 12, 1881, which was then approved on March 18, 1881.

Lars Magnus Ericsson was born in the county Värmland in Sweden on May 5, 1846. At the age of 21, he moved to Stockholm in 1867, where he started working for a telegraph equipment maker named Öllers & Co. After a study tour with a state travel scholarship to Germany and Switzerland, he returned to Stockholm and started his own mechanical workshop in 1876, which business’s would be manufacture and repair of low-voltage electrical appliances.

1876 ​​was also the year when Graham Bell patented the telephone in the United States. Bell’s telephones found their way to Sweden and fairly soon Ericsson received telephones to repair in their workshop. Lars Magnus started importing and selling telephones – at the same time as he made his own and experimented with improvements. He thought Bell’s telephones were clumsy and broke easily. Bell had taken out a patent on his telephone in most countries – but not in the Nordic countries. Ericsson made sure to take advantage of this. His telephones were both better and cheaper than Bell’s and soon the first foreign order came placed from Bergen in Norway. Lars Magnus Ericsson’s wife Hilda was involved in developing the company and together they helped each other in testing telephone sets and other instruments that were manufactured. Hilda also wound coils for electrical appliances and telephones.

Ericsson’s wall telephone, 1881. In the collection of Tomas Söderblom’s Tele Museum

LM Ericsson took his first patent in 1881 in both Sweden and Norway when he manufactured the first complete Swedish telephone. The patent was related to improvements that, among other things, ensured that the sound in the telephone was better so the voices were heard more clearly.

Expectations for Ericsson’s new telephone were high. In a reply to Skånska Cementbolaget (today Skanska) 15 December 1880, Ericsson wrote that: “S.K. telephones are being manufactured. These give a cleaner and clearer articulated sound but are slightly higher in price per set as well as more advanced in terms of maintenance.

But the price did not deter prospective clients and seven telephones were already pre-ordered.

On January 8, 1881, Ericsson felt satisfied with the development of the microphone and authorized Engineer Oskar Annell, then owner of the Scandinavian Patent and Agency Bureau L. A. Groth & C:o, to apply for a Swedish patent for his invention. The receipt shows that the fee for the assignment was 50 Swedish crowns.

The patent was related to the spiral microphone, an improvement on Blake’s microphone with a brass housing instead of a wooden box. Blake’s microphone worked in the same way, both using carbon and platinum electrodes, but Ericsson used two electrodes connected in series while Blake had one. It was also the design that separated them. The American Francis Blake invented a carbon microphone in 1877 and patented it before Thomas Edison invented a similar microphone. Blake was hired by and worked for Alexander Graham Bell.

L. A. Groth & Co’s patent application was filed with the National Board of Trade Sweden on January 12, 1881, and the description of the patent also indicates that improvements have been made to the telephones: “These improvements consist mainly in the construction of the transmitter [microphone], as well as in the arrangement of the special parts on the device.” In particular, the patent relates to the helical microphone. The patent was granted on March 18, 1881 according to the patent letter and announced in the Swedish industrial newspaper Norden.

From when Ericsson started in small premises on Drottninggatan 15, the business expanded rapidly. At the time when Lars Magnus Ericsson gave Groth & Co the assignment, he had his business at Norrmalmsgatan 5, today named Biblioteksgatan. Later, Ericsson had its own factory built with address Tulegatan 5 in Vasastan, Stockholm.

Lars Magnus and his wife Hilda retired in 1903, but not until they had laid the foundation for the world-leading telecommunication company as it has grown to. Ericsson is today one of the world’s largest manufacturers of equipment for building networks for mobile communication.

We are proud to still have Ericsson as a client.

Photograph of our Patent Journal from 1881 with notes of our work for LM Ericsson

Feature image: Lars Magnus Ericsson and his wife Hilda, with their telephone equipment, 1885. Image from Ericsson’s archive at Centre for Business History.

Primus Stove

Primus Stove

1892 saw the invention of the first soot-free paraffin cooker, which was named Primus®. F W Lindqvist’s design revolutionised the opportunities for portable cooking, heating and illumination. Groth & Co filed many patent applications over a long period for Primus, including for the very first portable stove.

In 1892, in a small smithy in central Stockholm, Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist created the world’s first soot-free paraffin stove. Lindqvist joined forces with Johan Victor Svenson and started a company based on the innovation. Because the stove was the first of its kind, they chose to call the company Primus, which means first. The Primus stove was part of the equipment on several first expeditions. These included Roald Amundsen becoming the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911, and Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary becoming the first to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1953. Salomon August Andrée also used the Primus stove when he tried to reach the North Pole in a hot air balloon in 1897. In addition to the paraffin stove, Primus also made blowtorches and paraffin lamps.

Groth & Co filed the patent application for the Primus stove, but our collaboration with Primus continued for several decades into the 20th century, with many more patent applications for the company. We have also filed a large number of trademark applications for the company, including one for Primus® in 1906.

We also continued to work with J V Svenson in companies other than Primus. As early as 1898, Svenson started an automobile factory in Nacka just outside of Stockholm. But in 1907 he instead began manufacturing paraffin motors in the factory, based on Primus technology, under the name of Avance®. The engine was a great success and about 3000 Swedish vessels were equipped with it. We filed a number of trademarks for AB JV Svensons Motorfabrik, including Avance.

Today, over 125 years later, Primus still produces stoves for outdoor enthusiasts. The company is part of the Fenix ​​Outdoor group, together with Fjällräven, Naturkompaniet, Tierra, Brunton, Inc. and Hanwag.

Electric Blast Furnace

Electric Blast Furnace

The blast furnace is a central part of the steel industry. Historically, coal was used to fire furnaces to melt iron ore. But in 1900, the Swedish mill Gysinge Bruk began to use an electrically heated blast furnace and became the first in the world to manufacture steel on a practical scale using this method. Groth & Co assisted with the international patenting of this innovation. 

In a blast furnace, iron ore is melted at high temperatures and cast into pig iron while the slag is separated out. The first known blast furnace in Sweden dates from the 1100s and is located in Olsbenning in northern Västmanland. The most common source of energy for blast furnaces until the 1940s was charcoal. Today, coke is used.

Fredrik Adolf Kjellin

In 1899, Swedish engineer Fredrik Adolf Kjellin launched an attempt to manufacture steel in an electrically heated furnace. The following year, the first furnace was put into operation, resulting in Gysinge Bruk becoming the first in the world to manufacture steel with an electric induction furnace, so-called electrostatic steel. The first viable transformer furnace could be loaded with 80 kilograms of raw material and drew a power of 78 kilowatts; the energy consumption was very high, about 7,000 kilowatt hours per tonne.

The patent applications were drafted and filed by John Edberg, who owned and operated Groth & Co from 1880 until his death in 1935.

Gysinge Bruk is located in Gysinge in Sandviken municipality in Sweden, on the border between Gästrikland and Uppland. The mill, founded in 1668, was allowed to build a blast furnace. The mill also had the right to mine iron ore in Dannemora mines and became one of the leading ironworks in Sweden during the 19th century.

In 1905, the ironworks was taken over by Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags Aktiebolag (now Stora Enso, one of Sweden’s largest companies), and shortly after it was closed down. Gysinge Bruk was then owned by Sandviken municipality but was sold to private owners in 2009.

Gysinge Bruk today

Mercedes

Mercedes

Mercedes-Benz® is a well-known German car manufacturer that dates back to 1884. The name Mercedes® came into being in 1900 when an Austrian businessman ordered 36 cars from the then Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, which he named after his daughter. In 1915, Groth & Co assisted to file the Mercedes trademark in Sweden.

Gottlieb Daimler and his colleague Wilhelm Maybach had worked with Nikolaus Otto and studied his four-stroke engine, the Otto engine (that you also can read about in this digital museum). In 1884 Daimler and Maybach succeeded in constructing an internal combustion engine powered only by petrol. In addition, the engine was smaller and lighter than previous versions and could therefore be installed in cars. With the engine as a starting point and together with two more business partners, Max Duttenhofer and Wilhelm Lorenz, the company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) was founded in 1890.

In parallel with this, Carl Benz was working on a two-stroke engine for cars with a gas engine as a starting point. In October 1883, together with Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger, he founded the company ”Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim” (later known simply as Benz & Cie) and launched the two-stroke ”System Benz” engine.

During the 1880s, the pace of innovation was fast for competitors Daimler and Benz – after the first car engine was constructed (Daimler), the world’s first motorcycle (Daimler) and the world’s first car (Benz) were introduced shortly thereafter. During the 1890s, the world’s first bus with a petrol engine (Benz) and the world’s first truck (Daimler) followed.

Emil Jellinek was an Austrian businessman who in 1900 specially ordered 36 cars from DMG, naming them after his daughter Mercédès Jellinek. In 1899, Jellinek had participated in a car race in Nice under the pseudonym ”Monsieur Mercédès”, and the cars with his daughter’s name went on to win a series of racing competitions in the early 20th century. DMG applied for trademark registration for Mercédès for the first time in 1901, and in the same year Maybach designed the first Mercédès car for DMG. We at Groth & Co filed the trademark application for Mercédès in Sweden in 1915.

Left: Mercedes race around 1910-1915. Right: Car from Mercedes about 1914-1915.

Although the trademark was registered in 1901, a logo was not initially included. It took until 1909 before DMG applied for trademark protection for the now iconic logo. From 1910 the star was present in relief on the car radiator. Today, the three-pointed star is in a circle and is one of the world’s ten most recognised logos.

The period around the First World War was characterised by a weak economy in Europe, and many car manufacturers went out of business. DMG and Benz & Cie were also forced into efficiency measures. Together, the two competitors formed an association in 1924 in order to coordinate manufacturing and sales. Shortly thereafter, in 1926, the companies joined forces and formed Daimler-Benz AG. In the new company, the former competitors launched the first car models under the name Mercedes-Benz. The cars carried the star as a logo. The same star that today adorns Mercedes-Benz branded cars.

Today, Mercedes-Benz is one of the world’s 15 most valuable brands – valued at $44 billion.

classic mercedes benz detail

Bullet-Proof Vest

Bullet-Proof Vest

The period between the First and Second World Wars was characterised by a high rate of innovation in military equipment. In Groth & Co’s archive from that time there are many examples of this. Among other things, Groth & Co assisted the American company Bullet Proof Vest Corporation to patent its bulletproof vest in Sweden in 1924.

Armour has been worn by knights since the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. But as the firearm became more powerful in the 17th century, the armour had to be so thick that the weight made it difficult to move in it. Since then, efforts have been made to create lightweight protective equipment for combat.

Brewster Body Shield circa 1917-1918

When the First World War broke out in 1914, soldiers still had no protection for their heads and bodies. But during the war, development happened quickly. First came the helmet, worn by French, British and German troops in 1915, closely followed by Belgians and Italians in 1916. From 1915, small scale experiments were also launched with protective vests. Very few soldiers used protective vests but they appeared in occasional cases during the war. The problem was that either the vest was too light and therefore didn’t provide good enough protection or that it was so heavy the soldier took it off as soon as they had to move quickly. A clear example of this is the most well-known World War II protective gear – the American Brewster Body Shield. Guy Otis Brewster from New Jersey designed a chest shield with a helmet, which provided protection from shelling but weighed 18 kg and was bulky to wear.

During the interwar period, a great deal of innovation took place in the field of military equipment. This is something clearly visible in our archives from the period. During the Roaring Twenties, there was an economic boom and the rate of innovation was high. In 1924, Groth & Co assisted the Bullet Proof Vest Corporation in New York to file a patent application for their bulletproof vest in Sweden.

On 29 October 1929, the stock market crashed in the USA and the world entered a recession that came to be called the Great Depression. Due to the threat from Nazi Germany, countries started massive rearmament, which contributed to economic recovery in the years 1937-1939. Even in the 1930s, we see a lot of war material among patented inventions in our archives. Despite the high rate of innovation in the area, the bulletproof vest hadn’t yet become standard equipment when World War II broke out. During the war, an increasing number of soldiers started to wear different types of protective equipment.

Today, protective vests are standard equipment that provide protection to professional groups such as policemen, security officers and military personnel. Through many years of innovation and product development, the vests of today rarely weigh more than a few pounds and protect against things like grenade splinters and shots from small arms. Some protective vests also protect against sharp weapons or blunt force.

Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

Hoover Dustette Model 100 was introduced in 1930 and was the world’s first handheld vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner manufacturer Hoover dominated the market for most of the 20th century. Groth & Co filed numerous patent applications for Hoover in Sweden during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, including the handheld vacuum cleaner in 1930.

The first vacuum cleaner was invented in the United States in 1868. But it was not until the turn of the century in 1900 that useful home vacuum cleaners reached the American consumer. In Sweden, AB Lux (now Electrolux) was the first to manufacture vacuum cleaners, in around 1912.

American James Murray Spangler invented the first upright vacuum cleaner in 1907 and was granted a patent for his ”Carpet Sweeper and Cleaner” the following year. In 1908 he sold the patent to the Hoover family, who started the Electric Suction Sweeper Company. When Spangler died in 1915, the company changed its name to the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company.

Hoover dominated the American market for most of the 20th century. The company also had a successful business in the UK during the same period. In fact, in the UK, the company was so dominant that the word Hoover was used, and is largely still used, as the general term for a vacuum cleaner, regardless of the manufacturer. But Hoover also produced other types of appliances.

In 1930, the British Hoover introduced the world’s first handheld vacuum cleaner, the Hoover Dustette, ”for dust-free dusting”. This new premium product was intended to remove dust from things above floor level, such as furniture and clothes. The Hoover Dustette Model 100 was produced until 1955. Due to the high design quality, many of these appliances still work today, over 80 years after they were manufactured.

Groth & Co filed a large number of patent applications for Hoover in Sweden during the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s – not only for the handheld vacuum cleaner – but also for innovations like vacuum cleaner bags and dust removal tools for vacuum cleaners.

Hoover’s showroom 1929.

Today, both the Hoover company and the brand remain. But in other forms. The Hoover family sold the company in 1986, and the American and British parts have since gone separate ways. In the US, the brand is exclusively used for floor cleaning appliances, while in Europe it is also used for appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and refrigerators.

Cable Tie

Cable Tie

The cable tie is an innovation that, in its simplest form, is used to keep cables and wires together. This clever product was launched in 1958 by the American company Thomas & Betts under the trademark Ty-Rap^®. Groth & Co filed a patent application in Sweden for an update to their cable tie in the early 1970s.

This everyday product is as ingenious as it is simple. The cable tie is a band with teeth on one side, with at one end a loop that the band is inserted into. When the band is tightened, a barrier flap prevents the band from opening. Normally, they are used to keep cables or wires in place.

Engineer Maurus C. Logan at Thomas & Betts Corporation saw how workers in Boeing’s aircraft factory tied different cables together with waxed nylon lines. The process wasn’t just a lengthy one; the factory workers also tore their fingers on the sharp thread. In 1956 Logan began to wonder whether there was a better way to solve this, and in 1958 he introduced his innovation – the cable tie. The band was named Ty-Rap and was the world’s first self-locking cable tie.

Drawings from the patent 7314754-8 which we filed in 1973.

Groth & Co filed a patent in Sweden for an updated version of the cable tie, for Thomas & Betts in 1973. Since the early 1970s, Groth & Co has filed more than 100 patent applications for Thomas & Betts. In addition, Groth & Co also filed the trademark application for Ty-Rap in Sweden in 1978. (We believe we also filed the patent application for the first cable tie in Sweden. But we have not yet found enough evidence to confirm this.)

Today, Thomas & Betts is a part of the ABB Group and has so far produced 28 billion cable ties – which would be enough for seven laps around the sun. Today’s ties are available in different lengths, colours and materials. Among other things there are cable ties that are heat resistant, UV resistant and cold resistant. There are also cable ties specially designed to cope with radiation and vacuum in space.

Individually Packed Plasters

Individually Packed Plasters

In 1953, Cederroth introduced the Salvekvick plaster. This was Europe’s first individually packaged plaster, and the packaging protected the plaster against dirt, dust and bacteria. Groth & Co filed the patent application in 1961. 

The Salvequick® plaster is largely a result of World War II, but the story began in 1895. That was the year that Christian Cederroth founded the company Cederroth, to produce hygiene and health products. Christian led the company until his death in 1937, when his son Sture Cederroth took over. When World War II broke out, it created challenges for Cederroth – primarily in importing the necessary raw materials to produce its best-seller Samarin. The problem led the company to broaden its product portfolio, and one of the new products would be plasters. There were few players in the market, and plasters could also be considered as a necessity for war, which would facilitate the manufacture and import of material during periods of war. Cederroth bought machines through a Swiss company, and after much experimentation production of the first plasters began in 1947.

The first plaster was manufactured in 1947 in Stockholm and was named Salveplast. In 1953, the plaster market was revolutionised through the launch of Europe’s first individually packaged plaster – Salvekvick. The new plaster was individually packaged in heat-sealed material that protected it against dirt, dust and bacteria, while the package simultaneously made the plaster easy to apply. Salvekvick quickly became a success, even far beyond Sweden’s borders.

A drawing in the patent from 1972

Groth & Co filed a patent application for Cederroth for individually packaged plasters in 1961. The collaboration continued and Groth & Co later filed another 20 patents for Cedderroth in the 1970s and 1980s, including a plaster package in 1972.

Over that time, Salvekvick has become Salvequick and the range has been renewed and developed. But the individually packaged plaster still remains. Salvequick is today the market leader and sells around 20 million packaged plasters around the world each year. In many European countries, Salvequick is almost synonymous with plasters. The head office is located in Stockholm and many of the products are produced in the company’s own factory in Barcelona.

Pocket Calculator

Pocket Calculator

The prototype for the handheld electronic calculator was presented in 1967. Jack Kilby, the inventor of the microchip and later Nobel laureate in Physics, was a project manager at Texas Instruments when the company was looking for an application of their microchip for the consumer market. Groth & Co filed more than 50 patent applications for Texas Instruments from 1970 onwards.

All honour to the slide rule, pinwheel calculator and abacus. But the electronic calculator developed in the late 1960s is a much better tool for calculations. The semiconductor industry was looking for an application for its microchips in the consumer market. The project manager at Texas Instruments was none other than Jack Kilby, one of the inventors behind the integrated circuit, the so-called microchip. Kilby’s work for Texas Instruments led to the prototype of the first handheld calculator, Cal-tech, in 1967.

Texas Instrument’s model SR-10

This led to enormous technical development and fierce competition. In the early 1970s, battery-powered, handheld calculators were launched by a variety of companies such as Canon, Sharp, HP, Sanyo and Toshiba. Texas Instruments launched its first calculator in 1972. The TI-2500 ”Datamath” model had a red LED display with 8 digits and could calculate with all four mathematical functions. Later that year, Texas Instruments launched the SR-10. SR is an abbreviation for ”Slide Rule”, which the researchers and technicians of the past mostly used for their calculations. The SR-10 had features comparable with a slide rule, which meant that the slide rule was relegated to history within just a few years. This was despite the fact that the SR-10 initially cost about ten times as much as a slide rule.

Texas Instruments’ story began in 1930 with the company Geophysical Service Inc (GSI). GSI was an early supplier of seismic exploration services to the oil industry and later expanded its business to selling electronics to the US Army. In 1951, the company changed its name to Texas Instruments, and restructured GSI as a wholly owned subsidiary. Subsequently, operations were focused on semiconductors and the transistor radio, followed by integrated circuits and applications such as microprocessors, calculators, digital clocks and computers.

Groth & Co filed more than 50 patent applications in Sweden for Texas Instruments from 1970 onwards, including patents regarding the calculator and microchip.

Kilby’s participation in the invention and development of the integrated circuit have revolutionised modern microelectronics. Without the integrated circuit, modern computers would not be possible, and these circuits are now included in everything from washing machines and cars to space probes and medical equipment. In 1969, Kilby was awarded the American National Medal of Science, and in 1982 he was elected to the American National Inventor’s Hall of Fame. Kilby also won the Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.

Even today, Texas Instruments is the world’s third largest semiconductor manufacturer and is the leading manufacturer of processors and components for the mobile phone industry.

ABBA

ABBA

In 1970 a pop group was formed that would become Sweden’s most successful music export ever. Their initials gave the group the name ABBA® – the same name as a well-known Swedish food manufacturer. Groth & Co assisted the parties to reach an agreement, and afterwards registered ABBA as a trademark on 15 of the group’s key markets. 

ABBA in Dutch television in 1974.

ABBA consists of the two former married couples Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid ”Frida” Lyngstad. They performed together on stage for the first time in 1970, and in 1972 the quartet’s first singles were released, then under the group name ”Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida”.

With the initials of the members’ first names, the group took on the new name of ABBA in 1974. In that same year they had a major breakthrough when they performed the song Waterloo in the Eurovision Song Contest. That win in Brighton paved the way for the group’s successful international career and Waterloo topped the charts in many European countries. In the United States, it reached sixth place on the Billboard charts.

ABBA at Schiphol 1976.

Between 1974 and 1980, ABBA had nine number one records in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. Hits like ”Knowing Me, Knowing You”, ”Money, Money, Money” and ”Dancing Queen” succeeded each other and during this period, ABBA was one of the world’s most popular pop groups with the biggest international record sales.

In 1975, we at Groth & Co assisted ABBA to register the group name as a trademark. Band manager Stikkan Andersson had been advised to contact us, and did so with a challenging question. The name ABBA certainly created some legal problems in its home market of Sweden. Here there was, and still is, a food producer named Abba. We initiated discussions with the food manufacturer, which led us to first establish a co-existence agreement between the parties, and then also a formal consent from the food producer. With this in place, we could file the trademark application for the pop group. The name ABBA was thus registered in Sweden and after that we continued with international applications. As a thank you for our work, we received a photo signed by the members of ABBA, which we have at our Stockholm office.

A signed photograph from ABBA as thanks for the assistance with the trademark.

Today, ABBA is one of few Swedish groups with international cult status. The group is also one of the most successful groups in the history of music, with over 400 million records sold, and one of the few artists to have achieved success on every continent. Although ABBA hasn’t been active since 1981, the group has been sampled by Madonna, received a tribute group in the form of A-Teens, become a successful musical and later a film, as well as having an entire museum dedicated to it in Stockholm.

ABBA has been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2010 and the Swedish Music Hall of Fame since 2014.

Antiretroviral Drug for AIDS

Antiretroviral Drug for AIDS

AZT® was the name of the breakthrough medication in the treatment of AIDS. The medicine was the first antiretroviral medicine, reducing the reproduction of the virus and thus inhibiting the development of the disease. In 1986, Groth & Co filed the trademark application for AZT in Sweden.

Between 1981 and 1987, the number of people infected and killed by HIV/AIDS doubled each year. In the United States alone, in just 1987, nearly 50,000 people were infected and there were 40,000 deaths. Globally, millions of people were infected during the 1980s. But at the time there was no medication to treat the disease.

A 3D-model of Azidothymidine also known as Zidovudine

It took seven years after the discovery of HIV before the first medicine was available.

The first antiretroviral medicine available to those affected was AZT. AZT, or azidothymidine, was originally developed in the 1960s by an American scientist with the goal of treating cancer. Azidothymidine was intended enter a cancer cell and prevent the production of more tumour cells. But tests on mice showed no effect and the project was set aside. 20 years later, in the medical attempts to find a cure for HIV, a large number of different active substances and compounds were tested. Researchers discovered that when AZT was added to animal cells infected with HIV, the compound appeared to block virus activity.

Demand for a medication to combat the disease was high, and the pressure from both those infected and the public was significant. AZT was therefore approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at record speed. It took only 25 months from the first laboratory demonstration until approval – a process that would normally take up to ten years. AZT was approved on 19 March 1987, becoming a breakthrough in the treatment of AIDS.

During the ongoing approval process, we filed the trademark application for AZT in Sweden on behalf of the US company that had developed AZT, Burroughs Wellcome, and its parent company GlaxoSmithKline.

Although there is still no cure for HIV, there are now more than 40 medications used to fight the disease. Today, a combination of medications is often used to inhibit the virus in its various stages. Thanks to these medicines, an HIV-infected person can today expect a relatively normal life with a normal life span. For most of these people, the treatment still includes AZT.

J.Lindeberg

J.Lindeberg

The Swedish fashion designer Johan Lindeberg started his clothing brand J.Lindeberg® in 1996. The brand became a major international success and has played a major role in what is internationally called ”the Swedish denim miracle”. In 1997, Groth & Co filed trademark applications for J.Lindeberg.

Johan Lindeberg. Photo: Drew Jarrett

Johan Lindeberg was born in Lund in 1957 and graduated from the School of Economics at the University of Gothenburg in 1988. After a few years in the advertising industry, his career in the fashion industry began in 1990 when Lindeberg became the Swedish distributor for the Italian jeans brand Diesel. Thanks to a number of well-received advertising campaigns, the Swedish company achieved success and in 1994/95, Lindeberg sold the company to Diesel, for whom he then became the marketing director. As the marketing director for Diesel, the aim was to take the successful Swedish campaigns to the United States. But Lindberg didn’t remain long in the position, leaving after just a few months.

Instead, he started his own clothing label, J.Lindeberg, in Stockholm in 1996. The first collection was shown at New York Fashion Week and featured fashion and golfwear for men. The Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik was associated with the golfwear from the outset and the brand focused on combining fashion with sportswear. Groth & Co registered the first trademarks for J.Lindeberg in 1997.

Success came quickly. Lindeberg won several prominent prizes as designer and in 2000 the first flagship store opened in Stockholm. In 2002, the first women’s collection was introduced, and the following year saw the first ski collection, for which Swedish skier Jon Olsson became the face. During this period, J.Lindeberg gained attention from the international fashion press and exports increased. Clothing from the brand was worn for official events by celebrities such as Bono, Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Ashton Kutcher and many others.

In 2007, the company was struggling with decreasing profitability. Friction between the major shareholders and the founder led Lindeberg to leave the company in the same year. Lindeberg then lived in New York, starting the clothing brand BLK DNM a few years later.

Today, J.Lindeberg has over 200 stores around the world and annual sales of around €16o million. The range includes fashion, golf, ski and sports clothes for both men and women. Johan Lindeberg has been back at J.Lindeberg since January 2016, in the role of creative consultant.

Wave Power

Wave Power

The company Seabased extracts energy from sea waves. Wave power has many advantages in terms of high energy availability, low costs and minimal impact on the environment. Since 2001, Groth & Co has assisted Seabased with patents and other IP matters.

Wave power means utilising the energy contained in waves to produce electricity. Just like the wind and the sun, waves are a free energy source that is constantly renewed. Trying to extract energy from waves is nothing new – attempts have been made since 1790 and the first patent in the field is from 1799. But wave power is not yet a widely used commercial technology.

The potential of wave power is enormous. Two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, and waves are the Earth’s last untapped source of natural renewable energy. Wave energy is also the most concentrated form of renewable energy on Earth, with a power density that is much higher than wind and solar energy. It’s also more predictable and consistent than wind or sun. The main challenges in extracting wave energy are being able to construct wave power plants that are capable of coping with the stresses occurring at sea, for example as a result of storms, and managing the variations in the waves.

Seabased AB was founded in 2001 by Mats Leijon, Professor of Electrical Science at Uppsala University. Leijon studied engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and his studies in Electrical Engineering progressed quickly and he graduated with an MSc in less than three years. In 1984, he received the John Ericsson medal. After that he became a doctoral student at the Institute of High Voltage Engineering. Immediately after he had completed his dissertation, Leijon began working at ABB in Västerås, where he invented and developed products within power generation – including Powerformer, a generator with what was at that time a revolutionary design. In 2000, he took up the position as a subject professor in electrical science at Uppsala University. Research at the university has led to the creation of several companies, including Seabased.

Seabased develops, builds and installs complete wave power plant parks. Today, the company is among the world leaders in the field and its patented technologies deliver renewable energy from ocean waves. In Lysekil in Sweden there are already a number of wave power buoys that were supplying electricity to the local grid as early as 2016. Seabased has also sold solutions to countries like Bermuda, Sri Lanka and Ghana.

Since its founding in 2001, we have assisted Seabased with IP advice. The focus has been on building the patent portfolio that today covers several key parts of the company’s technology and systems in a global market. We have also assisted Leijon’s other companies, Vertical Wind, Current Power and Electric Line with IP advice.

Wave power has the potential to produce more electricity than we produce in total on Earth today. Properly designed, this can also be done without affecting the environment or wildlife, without batteries and without using any land area – all day, every day.

Klarna

Klarna

Klarna was founded in 2005 as Kreditor Europe AB to simplify the payment process in e-commerce. Today, Klarna is a global IT company and bank, and is considered to be one of Sweden’s unicorn companies. The name Klarna® was created by Groth & Co’s sister company in 2009 and we filed the company’s first trademark applications.

In 2005, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson participated in the annual entrepreneurial competition held by the Stockholm School of Economics.  The three students wanted to make e-commerce safer and easier for both buyers and sellers. In the competition, things didn’t go well – the idea ended up with one of the lowest scores. Nevertheless, Siemiatkowski, Adalberth and Jacobsson decided  to set up the company under the name Kreditor Europe AB in mid-2005, with the help of the Stockholm School of Economics incubator SSE Business Lab AB.

Our sister company, the naming agency Skriptor Zigila, was commissioned to find a new name for Kreditor in 2009. The three founders were convinced of their forthcoming success and saw the company becoming international in the future. So the founders were determined to have a name in English. Skriptor Zigila worked primarily with English names but also suggested names in other languages ​​in parallel. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be English? As long as a name doesn’t contain the letters å, ä or ö, it can be pronounced in English. The choice eventually fell on the name Klarna – a Swedish verb corresponding to the English expressions to brighten up, clarify and (make) clear. And that was exactly what Klarna wanted to do with e-commerce payments. We at Groth & Co also assisted with Klarna’s first trademark applications.

In 2017, Skriptor Zigila was in a completely different meeting with a completely different client. One of the decision makers in the naming process was American. He was worried about whether Skriptor Zigila could really create international names in English. So he asked the question ”Do you do American names, like Google and Klarna?”.

Today, in 2018, Klarna is a listed company with approximately 2000 employees, and operations in 14 countries. Over 90,000 e-merchants and 60 million consumers have used Klarna’s payment solutions. The company’s turnover in 2017 amounted to €450 million.

Urban Agriculture

Urban Agriculture

Plantagon International AB operates in the sector of urban agriculture and has won a number of global awards for its innovation. Their vertical greenhouses are located in cities to grow fresh crops close to the consumer with minimal negative environmental impact. Since 2012, Plantagon has engaged Groth & Co for strategic advisory services related to IP.

A 3D model of Plantagon’s urban greenhouse

By 2050, the population of the Earth is expected to increase by about 3 billion people. We already use more than 80% of the planet’s cultivable land for agriculture. In order to meet the growing need for food, we need more cultivable land – an area roughly the same size as Brazil. To produce food with minimal negative environmental impact, we should also grow it as close to the consumer as possible, and by 2050, up to 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in metropolitan areas. In a dense urban environment, access to land is very difficult and the price is very high. In order to create sustainable food production in cities, we need to produce the maximum amount of food in a minimal area, while using minimal resources and minimising waste.

A 3D model of Plantagon’s urban greenhouse

With the intention of solving these global problems, the Swedish innovation company Plantagon International AB was founded in 2008. Plantagon has developed a patented concept for growing food in greenhouses in urban environments. Their technology aims to reduce the need for energy, water and pesticides as well as emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and waste heat from housing and industry. By growing food in metropolitan areas, transport needs can also be reduced.

Groth & Co has been working with Plantagon’s IP matters since 2012. We have created a global IP strategy and handled operational issues and applications for patents, designs and trademarks. You can read more about our strategic work for Plantagon here. We have also played a big part in Plantagon’s funding. Prior to their international expansion, we first carried out a patent valuation and later a trademark valuation. This information was then used as investment information during talks with potential financiers. Here you can read about the work on Plantagon’s patent valuation and brand valuation.

Today, Plantagon is a world-leading pioneer within the areas of food safety and CSR, combining urban agriculture, innovative technological solutions and architecture to meet the demand for efficient food production in cities. Plantagon has won numerous awards and has been awarded the Red Herring Top 100 Global Award as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

Uber

Uber

Uber is a global technology company best known for its app-based taxi business. In less than a decade, the company has been launched in 785 major cities worldwide and reached a valuation of $72 billion. In 2016, Groth & Co assisted Uber in an opposition in Sweden regarding its main trademark, Uber®. 

Uber was founded under the name Ubercab in 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp. The name Uber comes from the German word ”über” which means over or above. The German word has long been used as slang in the United States, where it has taken on the meaning ”super” or ”the best”.

The company’s first service was launched in 2011. With a smartphone app, San Francisco residents could book a black luxury car, but at a more expensive price than a regular taxi. In the following year, a more traditional taxi-like service was launched. But it was in April 2013 that the service the company would later become most famous for was launched. Through the Uber app, users could now book cars and drivers for transport, like a taxi service. But the drivers, who had only to meet low requirements, could use their own cars and therefore the price was often lower than a regular taxi. The app used GPS to match the client with the driver, and for the driver to find the client. In 2013, Uber was launched in Sweden.

In 2016, Groth & Co assisted Uber with a trademark opposition in Sweden. The Swedish company Red Core had submitted a trademark application for UBERSKILLS for goods and services similar to those for which Uber had registrations. Our task was to limit the scope of Red Core’s registration so that it did not infringe and damage Uber’s trademarks. You can read more about our work here.

Today, Uber is a global company whose services are available in 785 cities worldwide. The business has extended from taxi operations to now also include food deliveries, as well as bicycle and car hire. In the summer in Croatia you can also use UberBOAT to take a racing boat between the beautiful islands.

Uber is currently valued at approximately $72 billion (August 2018), and the company is planning an IPO in 2019.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a fast-growing technology area with the goal of creating intelligent machines. Most often, these are machines that can imitate human cognitive functions, such as learning and problem solving. Groth & Co has been assisting the Swedish MedTech company ContextVision, carrying out strategic and operational patent work relating to AI and its application in medical images.

Artificial Intelligence or simply AI – what was once viewed as futuristic science fiction is now a natural part of our lives. AI is used in areas such as healthcare, education and translation, and application areas are increasing at the same rapid rate that technology is improving.

American researcher John McCarthy coined the expression Artificial Intelligence in 1956. Since then, much research and technical progress has been made in the area. However, it wasn’t until the late 1990s and early 2000s before increased computing power meant that application of AI could take off in many areas. 1997 was the first year in which a computer defeated the ruling world chess champion, and in 2011, the Watson supercomputer won a game of the quiz show Jeopardy against two ruling champions.

The rapid technological development has consequently led to a sharp increase in the number of patent applications linked to AI. Between 2011 and 2016, artificial intelligence was one of the fastest growing technology areas for new patent applications, with an annual average increase of 43%.

ContextVision applies AI to medical images

In 2017, Groth & Co initiated strategic patent work within AI for the Swedish MedTech company ContextVision. The company is a global market leader in image enhancement and delivers image processing to OEM manufacturers within ultrasound, MRI, X-ray and mammography worldwide. With their new innovation, ContextVision would use artificial intelligence, especially deep learning, to automatically optimize image quality of medical images. Our work began with mapping out the fast-growing patent landscape based based on a Freedom to Operate analysis. Following this analysis, we were able to provide the client with strategic advice, and later to write and file patent applications. You can read more about our work for ContextVision here.

What will happen with AI in the future?

Only the future will show how far we can go with artificial intelligence. There are many advantages of the technology, including time and cost savings when a task is moved from a person to a computer. In some cases, AI ​​can also do tasks that are too complicated or too big for people. We have already seen exciting applications of AI, such as writing hit songs, creating recipes and driving cars.

But technology also raises concern about ethics and morals. The sceptics paint dystopic future scenarios in which AI has become so clever that it has become the dominant form of intelligence on Earth. However, AI has already become an important part of the technology industry, which often performs difficult tasks that involve large amounts of data.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality is an interactive experience in a computer-generated world. Through computer technology, the user can experience and interact with the world. Most often this is done using a pair of VR goggles. Groth & Co has assisted the Swedish innovation company Tobii with patent work relating to Virtual Reality within Eye Tracking.

Most of us will never travel to the moon, stand on stage with the Rolling Stones or fly a fighter plane. But with Virtual Reality, many of us can at least simulate such experiences. Virtual Reality (VR) is technology that creates a credible and interactive computerised world in 3D that the user can experience as real. This is usually done using VR goggles, but also sometimes other equipment such as gloves or other control instruments.

Morton Heilig’s Sensorama

Although Virtual Reality is perceived as a modern technology, it has a long history. Depending on the definition, the story starts as far back as 1838 when Charles Wheatstone invented the first stereoscope, or 1929 when Edward Link invented the first flight simulator. A more modern milestone was 1956 when filmmaker Morton Heilig invented the Sensorama – a cinema-like cabinet with speakers, 3D screens, fans, odours and a vibrating chair. In the Sensorama, one person at a time could experience riding a motorcycle or flying a helicopter.

In the 1980s, the concept of Virtual Reality became widely known as Jaron Lanier founded the company VPL Research and began developing equipment like goggles and gloves for VR. Technological development has been constant and in the 1990s, VR goggles started to become more common among consumers. The recent decades of VR development, coupled with the development of software and computer technology in the 21st century, has made VR a fast-growing technology area in the 2010s.

In 2017 Groth & Co assisted the Swedish innovation company Tobii with patent work connected to VR. Tobii is the world leader in Eye Tracking; eye control technology. Applying Tobii’s technology to VR enables new forms of interactions in the virtual world. Tobii has VR applications within computer games and entertainment, productivity and behavioural analysis.

Barack Obama testing VR

Today, the prevalence of VR is still most common in entertainment. Here the technology can be found in everything from computer games and films to concerts and rollercoasters. But also in education, the use of VR is widespread. Here people can practice carrying out complicated operations, flying aeroplanes or preparing to be astronauts for a mission in space. VR is a growing technology, but today there are already applications in robotics, marketing, psychology, healthcare, IT and more.

Despite rapid growth and a wide range of applications, many experts believe that the VR industry is still in its infancy. The same experts also believe that the technology could change our lives significantly, just like computers and smartphones have previously done. As early as 2020, the VR market is expected to have a turnover of €70 billion. At the same time, global sales of VR goggles are expected to reach nearly 100 million units in 2021.