"It means they have created a new product class and have secured monopoly rights for that class in several jurisdictions.
"Cookie Time has targeted the product for the recommended daily intake concept and the patent protection stops competitors using the same daily intake concept for their product," Ms Peart, a partner in Marksandworth, said.
Cookie Time general manager Lincoln Booth said the company's One Square Meal product had been confirmed as a world-class invention with the granting of a New Zealand patent based on the creation of a new class of food and beverage. Patent protection secured the right to sell an original product without competition for a 20-year period.
"While the words 'nutritional balance' have been somewhat hijacked as a marketing term, this is the real deal. It's a revolutionary approach to start with recommended daily intakes and then design a specific food to deliver to these. We now have ownership of a novel, yet universal food and beverage proposition that no-one can touch. For a small, privately owned New Zealand company, this is a huge success story," he said.
Ms Peart said patent protection was worthwhile for some products but for others, the cost of registering it and enforcing its protection could be prohibitive.
Cookie Time had seen the benefit of creating a patent class that gave it protection beyond what it could get from the trademark. It was unusual to see a patent on an invention of a product that created a brand new class of food or beverage product that could cross categories found on supermarket shelves, she said.
At a glance
One Square Meal is a meal replacement that provides exactly one-third of an adult's recommended daily intake of energy, protein, carbohydrates, good fats and dietary fibre. One Square Meal beverage and cereal are under development.
