Every week, The Competitive Insight lists the Utah patents and trademarks pursued by Utah businesses.  Starting this week, I'll be giving a thumbs up to the most interesting ones that come across our desks.  Here's our favorites from this week.

Patent of the Week

D551,017

Toaster

Brian K. Beesley, Draper, UT; Eric Hales, Ogden, UT; Liao Zhiwen, Foshan, CN

Back to Basics Products, Inc., Bluffdale, UT

Did you know that you could patent a toaster?  Actually, its a toaster design.  This goes to show that sometimes the technology is not the key, but the recognition of the design.  If you can differentiate yourself in an important way, like a protected buzzworthy design, you can get a competitive advantage in a commodity market.

Trademark of the Week

DIALOGUEWORKS

Light Storm Consulting, Inc.

Springville, UT

Talk about a trademark that says something (pun intended).  Actually this is a perfect trademark that links the management consulting company to its service.  We're going to teach you how to do team communication.  It uses two words that have a positive spin and creativity attached.  It's a trademark that your boss will remember.

Remember that you can see what your local competitors are up to through www.thecompetitiveinsight.com.