Back in January, we brought you news of a fascinating new technology demonstration at CES from a Taiwan’s Innovision which they called ‘HoloAD‘. Using projectors and mirrors in a pyramidal configuration, they could created full 3D holograms within the chamber, making it perfect for small-site advertising. The product got a great reception, mainly because of the glasses-free stereoscopic nature of it.
Last week I was contacted by Clas Durholm, the CEO of a danish company named RealFiction, who claims that HoloAD is a blatant rip-off of their own patented technology Dreamoc. I dug a bit further, and while I remain as confused as ever, I share the information here for you to draw your own conclusions.
I’m not a patent attorney, but the initial impression does look like they may be onto something when the RealFiction product is protected by:
- Europe: EU Design No. 001066278-0001, 001041289-0001, 000852108-0001 and 000835806-0001
- US: Design Patent Application No. 29/332,917
- Japan: Design Patent Application No. 2009-020417
However, I’m currently unable to actually find any of these patents or patent applications anywhere. Searching USPTO.gov, Google.com/patents, ipdl.inpit.go.jp (Japanese Patent Registry), and the eSpaceNet Intellectual Property Office (the EU Patent Office) all turned up empty.
However, legal aspects aside, it definitely seems the two technologies are based on the same core concept. Check out RealFiction’s product demonstration video for the Dreamoc:
And then check out this video of the HoloAD from CES:
Yep, they both look the same to me. Did one company steal the tech from the other? Is one company simply reselling/rebranding the tech from the other? Or, are both companies reselling/rebranding the tech from a 3rd unknown party? Your guess is as good as mine. If you have some insight, put it in the comments.
I post this here simply to show no clear partisanship to either side.
Good afternoon. My name is Arcady Bakumenko. I wish to ask you a question concerning Dreamoc Holograms and its patent for the display. What exactly is protected by the patent?
Sorry, I do´nt speak english, but I will try to transmite my message.
There are a Portuguese patent nº 81832, of 1992, April. Not only refers to the visualization of an image using a half mirrored glass,on space without screen, like HoloAd and Real fiction are using, but also refers a process to see that image with a very big size using a concave mirror. Many devices are coppying the system of the portuguese patent, even some flight simulators.
Hi!
Sorry, I do´nt speak english, but I will try to transmite my message.
There are a Portuguese patent nº 81832, of 1992, April. Not only refers to the visualization of an image using a half mirrored glass,on space without screen, like HoloAd and Real fiction are using, but also refers a process to see that image with a very big size using a concave mirror. Many devices are coppying the system of the portuguese patent, even some flight simulators.the portuguese patent has 19 years!! so…
Best Regards,
Joaquim Candeias
Both companies copied this from a very old techology called Pepper’s Ghost that has been known for 150 years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper%27s_ghost). No point trying to protect it by patents. In large scale its done by Musion in UK and other companies but since technology was invented in19th century one can only protect the design, i.e. you can make a small change and replicate if you wish 🙂
I’m a Danish student from Copenhagen Business School. I’ve done my Bachelor in 3D technology focussing on Danish companies here among others – RealFiction. RealFiction launched its product the Dreamoc in 2008 http://www.realfiction.com/realfiction/products/dreamoc/ and quickly it became the leader in holographic-like 3D product presentations. Even though RealFiction has patents its innovation can be copied, that was just what Innovision Labs did with its HoloAd. Due to RealFiction’s objection against this copycat Innovision Labs change the design and partially the name from HoloAd to HoloAd Diamond. In my opinion the HoloAd Diamond is definitely a copy of the Dreamoc and the DreamocXL.