World Intellectual Property Day is held each year on the 26th April to celebrate and remind us about how IP encourages innovation and creativity. This year the theme for World IP Day is: “Reach for Gold – IP and Sports”.
IP and Sports
Sports plays a significant role in forming a nation’s culture and lifestyle. The underlying values such as fairness, discipline, perseverance, and respect is what makes sports so universally appealing, not to mention the community, health and fitness it fosters. While IP is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when we bring up sports and fitness, they are interconnected in many ways.
IP serves as one of the driving forces in this multi-billion dollar industry. According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) the impact of IP can be found from securing economic value in business relationships built on IP rights, to developing new sports, fitness and training technologies protected by patents and designs, to maximising commercial revenue from sponsorship, merchandising and licensing agreements through branding and trademarks.
To celebrate World IP Day and this years sports theme, we would like to share an Australian success story: F45 gyms.
F45 and its technologies
F45 gyms are everywhere and are a real Australian success story. With over 1,300 studios in 30+ countries, they are the fastest growing franchise in the world and their success is fuelled by innovation and technology. Co-founder Rob Deutsch told Forbes “Tech is really important to us: the world is changing, everyone is a lot more tech-savvy, and we want to reflect that in terms of the training.” Deutsch said, “We want the tech to be all-compassing, a virtue from the time that you walk into the studios to the time that you go to bed.”
Spruson & Ferguson has been working with F45 since January 2014 and have drafted and prosecuted 47 patents and designs in Australia and throughout the world. These included a diverse range, from fitness equipment and fitness assemblies, studio layouts, exercise methods and software systems.
Today we would like to showcase some of F45’s inventions.
- Remote configuration and operation of fitness studios from a central server
- Exercise equipment container
- A fitness tower
- Fitness station movements
Recently, part of the company was sold to private investors who highlighted the importance of F45’s technology and innovation. We are pleased to be part of the journey.