The 2023 Throwflake®

On a trip to visit a partner in Asia a few years back, some members of the TJB product team were in a conference room for a meeting. Up on the top shelf, in a dusty corner, the product team saw something remarkable: shurikens, or, as they are better known, ninja stars.

There was an immediate desire to make throwing stars. It was innate, and illogical from a business point-of-view, but it also couldn’t be denied. And then the idea struck: we could make them into holiday ornaments. They look like snowflakes, anyway, right? Right!

We called our lawyers to see if this was a good idea. They were unequivocal: no, it was not. But we pressed on anyway, and we asked the lawyers to trademark the thing that we were calling the “Throwflake”, half throwing star, half snowflake. They thought we were joking, but we weren’t. And so, our first trademark was born. Probably could have been something else, but it wasn’t.

1. The Throwflake® is sharp and needs to be handled appropriately. Is it “knife sharp”? Nope, but it’s still sharp enough that it can do some damage to a tree in the front yard.
   
   
2. The Throwflake® is not a weapon, it’s a holiday ornament; please treat it accordingly. Don’t throw it at people (or anything, really). That should go without saying, but the same lawyers who got us the trademark have also made it clear that we should tell you this.