On Friday, Afro-IP's Darren issued this invitation - Probatter - Any Takers? Several readers wrote in with some excellent suggestions and comments and I have copied the email from our guest writer who will be contributing each Friday on the topic, below.
Stay tuned too for some other interesting facts about cricketers, patent attorneys and inventors over the coming weeks. Find out, for instance, how the creator of the Venn Diagram was responsible for bowling out an Aussie batsman in 1909.
A prelude to our mystery guest writer's contributions each Friday is contained is his opening below:
"So, how would you have fared against the Ball of the Century? Mike Gatting facing (a much trimmer version of) Shane Warne in Manchester in 1993: with his first ball in Ashes cricket, Warne becomes an immediate candidate for greatness, and also revives the (then) dying art of leg spin bowling. If he never took another wicket, the man would have died a legend. As it turned out, he ended up taking 708 test wickets, legendary status achieved well before his retirement.
The question is now – would you have picked the Ball of the Century? And more importantly, will you be able to emulate Gatting’s flabbergasted expression (priceless) if you don’t?
With new(ish) technology from the company ProBatter Sports LLC Ltd you can now face that ball. You can also face a thousand Zaheer Kahn in swingers (if you are Graham Smith) in the hope of avoiding ever getting out to him again, or maybe Shewag can face a few Morkel short balls and see if he can clear third man. If you are brave, you can face Donald’s spell to Atherton at Trentbridge in 1998 or Steyn to Tendulkar in Cape Town in 2011 (pardon my bias, it should be clear which flag I will be waving at the upcoming World Cup)
When offered the opportunity to guest write a few posts on Afro-IP regarding the potential IP issues surrounding this technology I jumped at the chance. After all, IP and cricket are two of my favourite topics!
I shall start by commenting on the registered rights which ProBatter hold for its pitching (bowling) machine. In follow up posts, I shall briefly highlight potential further IP implications for the use of this machine including sponsorship, broadcasting and ownership rights in the images, and any rights which the bowlers themselves may have.
I shall end every post with a plea to CSA (Cricket South Africa) to purchase one of these machines and a reel of Zaheer bowling…"
The question is now – would you have picked the Ball of the Century? And more importantly, will you be able to emulate Gatting’s flabbergasted expression (priceless) if you don’t?
With new(ish) technology from the company ProBatter Sports LLC Ltd you can now face that ball. You can also face a thousand Zaheer Kahn in swingers (if you are Graham Smith) in the hope of avoiding ever getting out to him again, or maybe Shewag can face a few Morkel short balls and see if he can clear third man. If you are brave, you can face Donald’s spell to Atherton at Trentbridge in 1998 or Steyn to Tendulkar in Cape Town in 2011 (pardon my bias, it should be clear which flag I will be waving at the upcoming World Cup)
When offered the opportunity to guest write a few posts on Afro-IP regarding the potential IP issues surrounding this technology I jumped at the chance. After all, IP and cricket are two of my favourite topics!
I shall start by commenting on the registered rights which ProBatter hold for its pitching (bowling) machine. In follow up posts, I shall briefly highlight potential further IP implications for the use of this machine including sponsorship, broadcasting and ownership rights in the images, and any rights which the bowlers themselves may have.
I shall end every post with a plea to CSA (Cricket South Africa) to purchase one of these machines and a reel of Zaheer bowling…"
Find out who this is and all the issues around ProBatter IP each Friday for the guest contributions. In the meantime, Warne's "ball of the century"- enjoy
