PHNX Boards are now Patented!

It's Official...PHNX Boards Rip-Cord Binding/Brake system is patented!

Yes, 23 months after filing a provisional patent (which is kind of a patent reservation), and 17 months after filing the actual utility patent, on December 8 the US Patent Office awarded PHNX Boards utility patent 9,205,321 for the Rip-Cord Binding/Brake System. In fact, this is our second patent, our first being a design patent for the Board-2-Ski platform, awarded way back in November of 2011 when we first started developing the concept. A utility patent application is far more technical and rigorous -and defensible- since it covers function versus design. Whereas a design might be tweaked to avoid infringement, the actual function of an invention would override any cosmetic design differences. Thus, as we work to refine the manufacturing of the system, replacing multiple parts with fewer machined parts, the essential function remains unchanged, and protected.

We may not have cured cancer or landed on the moon, but we think we've made snurfing - the original sport of snowboarding- just a bit better! To see the complete patent at the USPTO, click here.

News Flash: a PHNX Board is a snurfer...with more!

While being considered for Shark Tank, we were advised to define our product in one sentence. Sounds easy enough, but it was NOT! How do you incorporate all the features and functions of a product into one sentence so that someone who knows nothing of the product instantly has an idea of what it is...and isn't? Is a PHNX Board a snowboard? Well, yes, but not the kind you use at a resort. Is it a backyard snowboard or a hill snowboard or a woods snowboard? Actually, its all of those things...but in one sentence? Is it a snow surfer...a snurfer? Yes, for sure, but not the original "Snurfer" branded board, and if you didn't grow up in the 60s and 70s are you even familiar with the term? What about the binding, isn't that what makes it unique? You see how tricky this is? Our result was "A backyard, back woods snowboard with a unique Rip-Cord Binding/Brake System that can be used anywhere there's a few inches of snow". Not bad, but as more people rediscover "snurfing" and understand how it's a type of snowboarding, we decided to incorporate both "snowboard" and "snurfer" on our new website, and also suggest that our snurfer is different. So (for now!) , PHNX Boards is "The backyard snowboard with the Rip-Cord Binding/Brake System. It's a snurfer with more!".

For a more thorough description of what exactly a snurfer is, click here.