Lelo Wins the Red Dot

Swedish sex toy company Lelo has won the prestigious Red Dot award for product design for their toy Tiani. Red Dot is a European design award that is given out for all kinds of products that have demonstrated innovation. Apple has won a ton of them. Lelo is not the first sex toy manufacturer to win a Red Dot. Fun Factory has won several. I think it's very cool that they include sex toys in the products that they consider for the awards. I don't think that would happen in North America. Here, the sex toys have their own awards but I doubt they would ever be considered for mainstream design honors.

So it's very cool that Lelo has won a design award but I do think it's odd that they won it for this toy. I agree that the Tiani is a pretty amazing toy This is the newest of Lelo's products and it is the first to have the motion sensing wireless remote control. It's like a Nintendo Wii but the game is much more fun! It's quite an advance in they way sex toys are used. Ironic though that they decided to enter Tiani into the competition instead of one of the other two toys in the line. Both of those toys also employ the motion sensing technology like Tiani does. But neither of those two toys is the subject of global litigation. The Tiani looks a lot like a little We Vibe and because of that, the people who make the We Vibe, Standard Innovation, are suing them. Standard Innovation holds design and use patents in a number of regions which protect both the design of We Vibe (the way that it looks) and the use (a toy that is both internal and external and can be used during sex). Unlike most sex toy companies, We Vibe actually registered the patent on the toy and they have now launched major legal action against Lelo over Tiani. I wonder how Standard Innovation feels about Lelo getting the Red Dot?