Tammy Pintor: The pocket bra is mine, all mine
Ah, Wisconsin, home to great inventors. William Sylvester Harley, co-founder of Harley-Davidson, Seymour Cray, designer of supercomputers. And now, Tammy Pintor, inventor of the pocket bra.
TJ Secret Every body needs a pocketbra
In 2008, Pintor patented a sports bra with interior pockets for stashing Kleenex, money, and cell phones. It was such a good idea, Pintor claims, that someone stole it.
This week Pintor, owner of TJ Secret in Menomenee Falls, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in federal court against Leslie Van Dorf. The defendant lives 20 miles away from Pintor, in Nashotah, and is the creator of the Purse-Les pocketed bra and tank.
According to the lawsuit, Pintor began working on her product in 2007, and filed patent applications for the pocket bra late that year. She received her patent in 2008.
Meanwhile, Van Dorf was apparently working on a similar product line. She even managed to get hers into gift bags at the Golden Globes.
When Pintor found out about Van Dorf in October, she sent her a cease and desist letter. Van Dorf ignored it. Now, Pintor's lawyer is asking for a jury trial.
What would you say, if you were on that jury? Below, we present the competing bras:
Left, Purse-Les. Right, TJ Secret Both have pockets. See the similarity?
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