Posted: Sunday 1 April 2012
Wake up and smell the coffee…on the screen in front of you.
By Austin Flynn
I’ve been fortunate in my career as I’ve been involved in a number of deals that have been reported in the press, either because of the sheer size of the deal, the profile of one (or both) of the parties, or the fact that the deal itself is innovative or ground-breaking. For example, way back in 2000, I managed to get my mug-shot in various learned newspapers and trade journals after advising on the creation of Morrison Edison Investments, a JV company set up to create an investment portfolio of equities in major PFI projects. In the life of a commercial lawyer, that’s quite a coup: my 15 minutes of Warhol fame.
However, the latest project on which my team has advised will, I imagine, eclipse the amount of press coverage that the PFI deal got. AromaVision® is coming to a screen near you, and my team at Morton Fraser has been working on this for the last few weeks to secure equity funding, robust IP protection, and a pyramid master franchise structure/route to market. Those of you who studied physics at school may remember (with dread), the conundrum of ‘wave-particle duality’. Finer minds than mine, from Aristotle to Einstein and beyond (and including Edinburgh’s very own James Clerk Maxwell whose statue stands on George Street) have wrestled with the question of whether light is made up of waves or particles. Because light exhibits characteristics of both, the ‘duality’ question has remained vexed.
However, a team working in secret in a laboratory on a science park just outside Edinburgh has now harnessed this duality to allow photons of light to be ‘excited’ so that they carry a signal that generates aroma when the light is emitted from the screen of a PC monitor, handheld device or flatscreen TV. This was never possible using cathode ray tubes (CRTs). CRTs are the old-style screens that have the large bulge at the back and which have been replaced by flat, modern liquid crystal, plasma or electroluminescent screens that can hang on a wall. The board of AromaVision® also believes that with the increasing numbers of 3D televisions in use, the potential for its new technology will be even greater, as 3D TV gives a wider ‘aroma bandwidth’ than conventional 2D TV. The board is predicting AromaVision® revenues of in excess of £1 billion by 2015.
Within the next 6 months you can expect to be tempted by the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee on Nescafe ads, freshly-baked croissants on French Tourist Bureau ads, and blood, sweat and tears on your 2012 London Olympics coverage.
The AromaVision® website (www.aromavision.com) is still under construction, but if you think that AromaVision® technology could enhance your product or service offering, please contact me at austin.flynn@morton-fraser.com or on Twitter @austinlegalUK. I can then put you in touch with the team, who would be delighted to demonstrate the potential of the technology.
Austin Flynn – 1 April 2012
1 Comment
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Raymond Ross replied on 2 Apr 2012 at 09:10
Hmmmm.....April 1st!?
Nice try Austin!
