New IBA Structure Design

I am an architect that designed a new Dual In-Bay-Automatic car wash structure. I am now working on the next generation of this design which will be totally shop-fabricated. This will reduce costs and provide for an onsite assembly that will be days instead of months.

If someone is looking to build a new car wash or replace an existing structure in-bay automatic, please take a moment to review the design.

http://www.coroflot.com/mwilson

Looks beautiful, I have seen curved metal roofs not one made of glass, but I would hate to have to clean all that glass.

It looks like a segmented barrel-vault design sitting on top of a stem wall. This is the design that was adopted for Bubble Wash Buildings. The design is a registered service mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Reg. No. 3,310,161, October 9, 2007.

Bubble Wash Buildings is pre-engineered and totally shop-fabricated.

For more information, please visit;

www.bubblewashbuildings.com

Jimmy -

Actually I have developed a way to automatically clean the interior and exterior as well as a way to keep the structure 'frost free'. I am in the process of securing the intellectual property, so I can't say much more. Obviously keeping the building clean and eliminating the associated labor to do so, is an important issue. Hence the reason to automate the process.

Robert - Bubble Wash is basically a Quonset hut with a polycarbonate skin instead of a corrugated metal skin.

My design is not a segmented barrel vault and doesn't sit on a stem wall. If you look closely you will see it is an elliptical curve connected to columns. The designs have nothing in common other than being transparent. BTW, a registered service mark is also irrelevant to any intellectual property issues regarding design. The only two that cover design issues are

1) Utility Patents
2) Design Patents

Service marks cover names like "Bubblewash", which I believe is cancelled on the USPTO.gov website. Bubblewash even shows they took the design from the Quonset Hut on their website. Since the design is public domain Bubblewash can't secure any intellectual property related to their design. So if one wanted to, they could almost copy it exactly. What they couldn't do is copy their construction documents if they put a copyright on it.

Bubblewash isn't the first company that makes a building and tries to infer that they have intellectual property on the design of the building when they don't. Here is how the USPTO defines a service mark ....

"A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product".

Thanks to both of you for your comments.

That curved glass looks familiar to a car wash in Panama City Beach Florida. ;)

Bubble Wash does borrow from the Q-hut design but it also incorporates engineering that is intellectual property; the structural framing system. The polycarbonate is simply windows that are installed after the frame is assembled.

We are well aware of what a service mark is and what it is not. As you inferred, no one can copy the design (service mark) and call it a Bubble Wash (trademark).

Quite frankly, I don’t believe that I have made any accusation of infringement.

Instead, my comments were made to make people aware that we already offer a similar looking product that is pre-engineered and totally shop fabricated.

Our building frame is thermally broken for better cold climate performance and the still design keeps water inside instead of channeling it outside. Frost is no issue.

E-Z clean coating (inside and out) is available as well as automatic misting system to virtually eliminate the need for maintenance.

Hi Bob - Actually you said my design looked like your design which is protected with intellectual property. That's pretty much a definition of infringement.

You might want to take a moment to re-read your original post. You said, " The design is a registered service mark". Designs simply don't exist as 'service marks' other than a graphic related to your brand. So no one can copy the little graphic image as seen on the USPTO.gov website. It does not protect the building design.

Here's a link to Bubblewash's service mark ...
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4004:ovra0d.5.1

Service Marks provide no patent protection. They are not patents. Perhaps Bubblewash has additional patents, but they certainly wouldn't protect the shape of the building and I don't see any listed on the company's website. Perhaps there is some structural detailing that has patents, but you were implying that the design of the building was protected by intellectual property. It simply isn't. Anyone on earth can design a building that looks like a Quonset hut and detail the construction differently, which is what Bubblewash has done.

I think anyone who looks at the two designs will see that have little or nothing in common other than both use polycarbonate as a clear skin.

BTW .... I think Quonset huts are cool looking!

Perhaps this additional image will help clear up any confusion regarding the design. As you can see, there is nothing in common with a Q-hut.