Flash of Genius
I went and saw the movie this weekend. It is about Bob Kerns. He invented the intermittent windshield wiper only to have his design stolen and patents ignored by the big three automotive companies. MYywife enjoyed the movie and would ocassionally nudge me when Bob did something nerdy.
It got me thinking. I know of several inventor verse the corporate machine cases.
Gordon Gould
Consider the inventor of the LASER it took him years to get credit and more years to get the corporations to compensate him.
Edwin Armstrong
Edwin invented the FM radio. , RCA also claimed invention of FM radio and won its own patent on the technology. His attempts to prove his point left him depressed and he committed suicide in1954. His widow renewed the patent fight against RCA and finally prevailed.
Peter Roberts
Peter was a clerk at Sear when he came up with the quick release ratchet wrench. He brought to his employer. The Sear executives told him that they didn't see much of a market but willing willing to give him $10,000, because he was an employee and they wanted to encourage innovation. Secretly they ended up adding the feature to most of their ratchet wrench the next year. In December 1976 a federal jury decided that Sears had obtained Roberts' patent fraudulently. The jury awarded him $1 million.
Does anyone else have any examples. I know a couple of people that their companies got screwed over by Microsoft. But they just rolled over and never went to court.
So let's get s list together. Maybe it happened to you!
Tuesday, October 7 at 15:57 (GMT -8:00)
My name is Bob Kerns! But no, not THAT Bob Kerns -- Bob Kearns, actually. We're probably VERY distantly related.
Years ago, I used to get phone calls from various people looking for the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper, so I've been aware of the story for decades, and was pleased to hear of his win in the US Supreme Court.
Glad to see it made into a movie!
Saturday, October 18 at 12:48 (GMT -8:00)
There are many ways corporations screw people. Patents are just one way. The U.S patent process has become more compromised as politics has worded their way deeper into the system. The process isn't new as it has been in use in the UK for almost 300 years. The UK suspended all patent issuing and enforcement when things got out of control in the 1800's. Patents bring up the question if someone can unintentionally give away their legal rights. Many big companies have clauses in their employment agreements today that give them automatic rights to anything developed by an employee that relates to a work related topic or subject. Software patents have complicated things more by allowing algorithms to be patented, which are specifically excluded from being patentable under any other category. And software patents were originally denied. In time the system will work out but the Supreme Court will decide this year if software patents are enforceable. All patents require a search by the applicant or applicant's patent representative. Any similar type of patent needs to be disclosed to the patent examiner to see if it may affect the ability to patent the item. A patent doesn't guarantee a profit, statistically only 1% of all patents ever granted produce a profit. And getting a patent doesn't guarantee it will stand up in a court room. Big corporations take advantage because they can outspend the private inventor. But if a judge believes there has been funny-business, they can revoke additional patents as a penalty. Xerox had 11 patents revoked several years ago when a patent judge ruled they intentionally tried to cheat a private inventor. And they still had to pay punitive damages. The judge picked 10 of their most valuable patents in addition to the one they lost and paid for.