Hi all,
It is Friday! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Seattle, and lets get the weekly updates underway!
The Gem Updates:Initial Australian Patent ruling = bad news Lets hit the bad news first. As noted earlier, we filed in Australia to attempt to have the Charles and Colvard patent overturned. As you may also recall, I noted that per our patent attorneys, Australia had the least chance of success because that's apparently the way Australia IP (their patent office) works - namely, they rarely overturn existing patents.
But, we do have a very strong case so we proceeded…and unfortunately, we've received word that they have decided the Charles and Colvard patent is 'innovative' and so have declined our re-exam.
Now, if they had provided a reasonable explanation for this decision, that would be one thing…but what we got was 'innovation' based on an item *not even in the patent*. Basically, an absurd explanation.
We've thus filed an appeal pointing out this travesty to a hopefully more experienced commissioner…whether that gets us anywhere is unknown, but when an examiner decides something based on information that is not part of the patent, it really disappoints and violates the fundamentals of patent law.
So, I will update if we get any traction in the appeal, but for now, we have to assume that Australia is a no-go until 2016. Obviously, we do expect that the US and Canadian patent examiners will have a better understanding of patent law, and apply that in their decisions.
While we cannot say if we will get the patent removed or not, at least we expect we'll have a grounded explanation behind any decision and not just have them render a decision, and then try and cobble together a justification that is not part of the patent to begin with.
That's the bad news though, and thus, Australia's reputation as an extremely patent-holder friendly environment did live up to its billing.
Asscher cut is now patent-pending: The Amora gem patent application for our Asscher cut has been filed, US 13/467,037.
Which of course leads us into a first preview of the Amora gem in Asscher cut.
Thus, let me introduce the Amora gem Asscher:
And a video is below as well.
Important note - we're not happy at all with how this video came out. There is a large black window effect when the stone is shown in front, that is not there in real life (or in the photo above as you can see). As best we can tell - the camera was too close during filming and this is actually the black camera body being reflected back in the center, but it makes it look like the black background is showing through (windowing).
We will be having a new video done closer to production as a result, using a production cut stone…so bearing that in mind, the first video:
That leaves only the Krupps cut left to show! The patent application for that is still in progress so may be another two weeks before we can preview the final cut of the Scintillating Six.
General BTD updates:Takara lab grown white diamonds coming: We're hoping to have our first Takara lab grown white available for sale next week - .54ct,
F color, VVS2 clarity and Excellent cut round.
Pricing? Well, pretty close to natural so it won't be a 'bargain', but it will be a beautiful lab grown Diamond. More details coming shortly.
Ring Explorer updates: We're making a ton of progress and Ring Explorer is really turning into a joy to use.
Still lots of work underway, but this week there was a great chance to put it to use on a user posted question and I wanted to share the walkthrough on that so you can see how RingExplorer works.
...
My girlfriend's ideal ring would be the Tiffany setting with 4-prongs instead of 6. I have been trying to find a good imitation of the Tiffany ring for weeks but all the good ones have 6-prongs.
I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I am looking at both platinum and white-gold (but would prefer platinum if the price is right).
Thanks!
Thus, since this is exactly why we are building RingExplorer (so you can find your ring in seconds and not weeks of laboring through site after site), I did the search on RingExplorer and this is how it went:
1 - Enter Search:
2 - 2 results (tooltips don't show in the screenshot, but basically two rings returned, one is 2mm thickness, the other is 2.5mm thick which is clarified when you mouse over):
Also, note the left panel - RE has automatically filled out how it interpreted your query, so you can then modify it if you like based on results (i.e. if you wanted to add in 6 prongs as well, you can just check that and hit search again to refilter).
Continuing:
3 - Click on details of the ring (in this case, the 2.5mm thick one)
4 - Check reviews (still in progress, titles are missing for example)
5 - Click on order info to get more info or purchase!
(and for reference, here's the link to the actual ring found:
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/18k-White-Gold-2-5mm-Knife-Edge-Solitaire.html )
We have already made a number of improvements this week from the screenshots shown above, but hopefully you get the idea of how it will work.
Note, that D.NeaDiamonds (the lab blue diamond makers) will be joining RingExplorer shortly and so you'll be able to search for blue diamond rings
More info shortly, but it is progressing very nicely.
Misc:I've unfortunately run out of time this week to write up the next section for the continuing 'fundamentals of matter' series, but I hope to continue that next week with a first look at some actual atoms (boron and nitrogen, imaged for the first time ever in 2010) and then we can get into explaining a whole host of things starting with why are blue sapphires blue.
Have a great weekend!
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Bad video or not, it's beautiful!
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