Utility, Novelty, and Nonobviousness

The three basic concepts of patent law are utility, novelty, and nonobviousness. Of course, like other terms of art, the meaning of those words are not . . . well, immediately obvious.

Today, however, I will describe a useful item with those words. Remember my ongoing search for the everyday bag? That search has finally ended when I walked into Loehmann's last week with store credit in my pocket. It was a surprisingly easy choice--the moment I saw the Kenneth Cole "Twice is Right" bag, I knew that was "it." It fulfills all of my criteria, and to some extent, surpasses them.

Utility: The main zippered compartment is really roomy. The slouchy shape makes it easy to carry, whether by hand or on the shoulder. The hardware adds some excess weight, but they do make the bag look a little more edgy and equally appealing for work or play (below is a "play" look). Although the front flap appears to be excessive given the zipper, it is actually quite functional. More on that later.

[my own necklace, Trina Turk sweater, Earnest Sewn jeans, Kenneth Cole bag, blue plaid Converse sneakers]

Novelty: The shape of the bag itself isn't all that new or exciting (it even bears a slight resemblance to the Fendy Spy bag), but that might not be such a bad thing. One can't go wrong with a black bag--it's classic and ageless.

Nonobviousness: What I really love about this bag are the easy-to-access outer compartments. As I mentioned before, I hate fumbling for the phones when I really need to get to them quickly. I wanted outer zippered compartments because I didn't want things to fall out, but this bag's cleverly concealed outer compartments, which are huge and secured with strong magnetic clasps, make things easily accessible without compromising security. Now you see it:



And now you don't. Isn't it nifty?

The front flap conceals another of these big outer compartments: embellishment meets function.

On another note, I shortened my first pair of jeans--the pair I wore in the picture above. While I keep a lot of my nicer jeans at longer lengths to go with heels, I did want a few good pairs shortened to go with flats. I chose this particular pair of jeans, which I got during the last weekend of the Barney's warehouse sale, as my first hack at shortening. Since the fabric is not quite so heavy, and because the legs are relatively straight, it was easier to work with them. It took a considerable amount of time to work on this first project, since I had to make tension adjustments, clear out constant jams, and redo some crooked seams. The end result isn't perfect, but it is certainly serviceable and saved me $10.