A Radlett mother has successfully sued a company after claiming it copied her invention of the world's first spill-proof cup for babies.

Former graphic designer, Mandy Haberman, 44, took children's accessories manufacturer Jackel International to the High Court after she claimed it used identical technology for their cup.

Mrs Haberman, who named the award-winning beaker the Anywayup Cup, believed Jackel International copied her simple valve-shutting design.

The valve, which is fitted to the cup lid, is made of a soft membrane which lets babies drink when they suck on the cup and closes tightly after they have finished.

Mrs Haberman, who has three children, twins Nadia and Ben, 20 and Emily, 19, put everything on the line in the complex legal battle over the copycat beaker.

Mrs Haberman said: "It is an enormous relief the case is over and I am over the moon it went in my favour. But the fact we have won is only just starting to sink in.

"Naturally, I am delighted with the result. The ruling has safeguarded the Anywayup Cup patent."

The idea for the cup came after Mrs Haberman watched countless friends' children ending up drenched after their drink leaked all over them.

It was during a visit to a friend with her youngest child in 1990 that the brainwave occurred to her.

Mrs Haberman said: "The other visitor there was with her toddler and was in constant danger of staining the carpet through her child shaking her beaker around.

"Having previously been involved in inventing a feeder for babies with sucking problems, I applied the same sort of thinking to develop a spill-proof cup and came up with the idea of a valve fitted to the cup lid."

Mrs Haberman and her husband, Steve, dean of the school of mathematics at London's City University, missed out on luxuries and holidays while the cup, which took five years and between £30,000 and £50,000 to develop, was being perfected.

However, the sacrifices paid off because the spill-free cup, which hit the shops in March 1996, was selling at a rate of 60,000 a week nationally and internationally.

But, sales were hit in July with the arrival of the copycat cup.

Mrs Haberman's representative, Margaret Tofalides, said: "At a time when the Government is stressing the importance of innovation and individual enterprise, it is vital the resulting creativity is adequately safeguarded if an inventive culture is to be maintained in the UK.

"This case demonstrates how small companies can successfully protect their creativity, however, powerful their competitor."

Mr Justice Laddie ordered Jackel International to remove its copycat cups from the shelves and pay damages, which will be decided later.

However, Mrs Haberman and her family aren't celebrating just yet because the firm still has the opportunity to appeal against the decision.

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