The Super Soaker® has been a staple toy in the summertime arsenal of families for decades. Inventor Lonnie Johnson famously invented the water gun after many years of working in the aerospace and defense industry. The Super Soaker® is protected by many underlying intellectual property rights.
We briefly investigated the publically available information on the Super Soaker® IP. This post summarizes our findings.
Patents
There are at least 19 granted patents covering a water gun that list Lonnie G. Johnson as the inventor. Many of the patents cover discrete functions of the claimed water gun, such as a fluid selection control valve.
There are likely many more patents covering the Super Soaker® as Hasbro continues to offer new water gun products under the same Nerf branding as their foam dart toy weaponry.
Trademarks
There are two active, registered U.S. Trademarks for"Super Soaker." One basic word mark and one typed character mark. Both of these marks cover water guns or water squirting toys.
Designs
It appears that Hasbro has not developed an exhaustive registered design portfolio for their water guns. A quick search of designs for water guns assigned to Hasbro only returns 4 design patent applications. 3 of the 4 applications appear to cover one water gun design.
Conclusion
The story of the Super Soaker® is a great example of a product covered by many types of intellectual property. The story demonstrates the strategy employed by the inventor and business to protect ideas and obtain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.