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118m design from 2010 - photo © Tony Castro Yachts

The Beach Club. Found in everything from 650 feet down to just fifty feet, and the term itself is about as synonymous as Liquid Paper was to the correction fluid market, if you're old enough to remember that era. So when Nauta Design put out their press release, 'The Island': Now fully patent protected , well it certainly raised a few eyebrows around here.

Firstly, they call it 'the island', but it is all about connecting the vessel to the very sea it steams on, which was the exact premise that the beach club was based on. Next it claimed that it all began with Project Light in 2006, and that very much raised the spectre of exactly what, where, and when was the genesis?

So back in the Jurassic era, I worked on a Jon Bannenberg design that featured (amongst other marvels at the time) a huge transom door that served as swim ladder, guest embarkation/disembarkation platform from the covered tender, and had direct access to the gym, sauna, and dive centre.

Now it's true, the release does refer to all three sides of the stern being utilised, but design and utility patents granted from Italy, the European Union, and Turkey (where a huge proportion of these craft are built) protect both the form and function. Yet nearly every render, and pics from Europe's yards has multiple doors in the topsides, massive swim platforms, wellness centres, and pools in the stern. Alas, is it all so unique that a patent can indeed be applied, and are we seeing a huge shift in the onus of proof from the applicant and the patent office, to the market place?

Evidently, we were not the only ones kissing our index finger. Tony Castro was the first to make contact, and said, "It seems very audacious that anyone designer can claim it invented the Beach Club, yet one hears that such a Patent has been give to Nauta in 2020. How is this possible? I am no patent lawyer, but it feels very unreasonable to me given the widespread application of such designs for a very long time by various designers. Aren't the patent people supposed to do some research to check the claims?"

"They claim they first thought about it in 2006. Okay maybe, and so have many of us, although not all had the opportunity to make speculative images at that time and I am not sure they did either. I certainly have, and can quickly find images made as far back as 2010, including the 118m design that has all the attributes claimed in the 2020 patent. It's not difficult to find designs published by Benetti, Sunseeker, and ourselves long before these patents was granted, or the use of the transom swim ladder by Bezenzoni as created some years ago."

"The reason and the purpose are obvious, given the increased use of the stern platform and balconies. My office first drew balconies in the mid-90's. Maybe I should have patented that! It cannot be 'original' either, or require a major effort to develop an existing idea and claim it's the first solution that brings people closer to the water or used in a different way! Really??"

Click here for full article and pics on Powerboat World

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