Jay Sorensen

Jay Sorensen is an American inventor, real estate broker, and entrepreneur best known for inventing the coffee cup sleeve in 1991, and founding Java Jacket, a company manufacturing coffee cup sleeves, in 1993.

Previous work
Sorensen managed a "family business" gas station in Portland, Oregon until Shell Oil ceased operations there. He then worked in real estate, but by his own account "wasn't very good at it".

Inventing the coffee cup sleeve
Sorensen had the idea first in 1989, when he was taking his daughter to school and burnt his fingers due to his drive-thru restaurant coffee, dropping the full 12 ounces into his lap. He later invented it in 1991, and patented it in 1995.

Java Jacket
Sorensen formed Java Jacket in 1993 and it was an instant hit. His wife Colleen also worked for the business.

Today, Java Jacket sells over one billion coffee cup sleeves a year.

Troubles with Starbucks
Sorensen offered the product to Starbucks, which had interest in the product, but Sorensen did not accept the conditions of operating- Starbucks demanded exclusive rights and spent eight months "dragging its feet" about the product, wanting alterations and trying to "play hardball on price".

A patent war began between Java Jacket and Starbucks; Sorensen called the Starbucks version "a direct infringement of ours" and filed a cease-and-desist order. Designing around Sorensen's patents, Starbucks was eventually able to create the Coffee Clutch, a product like the Java Jacket.