Plano Inventor's $200M Idea Sets Off 2-year Fight With Telemarketing Giant

A Plano man's water-balloon invention has blown up to the tune of $200 million, even as he alleges another company copied his product. Josh Malone, creator of Bunch O Balloons, a product that can fill 100 water balloons in 60 seconds, has been fighting TeleBrands Corp. in court for the past two years.And this month testing by two inspection companies showed that the alleged copy-cat product contains a toxin that has been linked to cancer.According to a June 12 report from SGS North America Inc., TeleBrands' latest iteration of its own water-balloon cluster, Easy Einstein Balloons, contains 19 percent phthalate, a plasticizer and suspected carcinogen.Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, it is illegal to sell any children's toy in the United States that contains more than 0.1 percent phthalate. TeleBrands said they "took corrective action back in March 2017 when it received test reports of the product, and has been selling an improved version of the product since then."But last Friday, after submitting an Easy Einstein product purchased in Arlington to Armstrong Forensic Laboratory, Malone received results that said the product contains 16 percent phthalate.  Continue reading...