Leading Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys Dehns have offered to file a European Community Design Registration on a pro bono basis for A Level student Amy Lowe’s award-winning  design and technology project.

Dehns are working together with regular client Strix Limited, an engineering firm based in the Isle of Man, to ensure that Amy’s innovative ‘A-Maze’ pill dispenser, designed for children who have to take pills on a daily basis, is protected and ripe for commercialisation.

A-Maze, which won this year’s ACE (Awareness of Careers in Engineering) project, is a novel pill dispenser designed for children. The dispenser is a 50 mm tube containing three acrylic tubing sections which each holds a maze. The child must manoeuvre a pill through the maze in order for it to be dispensed and the three maze tubes can be changed around to keep it interesting.

Thanks to the financial support of Strix and assistance by Dehns, Amy’s design will be protected for up to 25 years - allowing her plenty of time to reach her goal of getting the product into commercial production.

Amy Lowe said she was “completely shocked” to win the ACE project award and explained:

“A-Maze is basically for children that have diseases such as cystic fibrosis who have to take pills on a daily basis. It’s about making that a little easier by making it more enjoyable.”

Adrian Samuels, a Partner at Dehns said:

“We are delighted to have been able to help a young innovator and look forward to seeing her product in use in the future. It is always exciting to be able to work with new designs, especially those aimed at improving the quality of people’s everyday lives.  Dehns realises the importance of engineering careers for young people, and we were happy to be able to support the winner of this year’s ACE project and hope that Amy will be an inspiration for other young engineers.”

Laura Ramsay, an Associate at Dehns, has worked with Strix to coordinate filing of the Design Registration.  "It is often not straightforward to register a design, especially for a complex product like this having multiple configurations.  However we have been able to advise Strix on a cost-effective route to protection", she said.