Jerome H. Lemelson
Encyclopedia
Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson (July 18, 1923 Staten Island
, New York
- October 1, 1997) was a prolific American engineer
, inventor, and patent
holder. Inventions in the fields in which he patented make possible, wholly or in part, innovations like automated warehouse
s, industrial robot
s, cordless telephone
s, fax machines, videocassette recorder
s, camcorder
s, and the magnetic tape drive
used in Sony
's Walkman
tape players. Lemelson's 605 patents made him one of the most prolific inventors in American history.
Lemelson was an advocate for the rights of independent inventors; he served on a federal advisory committee on patent issues from 1976 to 1979. A series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations made him a controversial figure, seen as a champion by the community of independent inventors, while criticized by patent attorneys and directors of some of the companies with whom he was involved in litigation.
In 1993, Lemelson and his family established the Lemelson Foundation
, a philanthropy with the mission to support invention and innovation to improve lives in the US and developing countries.
after serving during World War II in the Army Air Corps engineering department. His experience with teaching African American engineers, in segregated units in the Army, led to a life long interest in civil rights and in particular promoting the education of minority engineering students.
After the war he received two master's degrees: in aeronautical and industrial engineering
. He worked for the Office of Naval Research on Project SQUID
, a postwar effort to develop pulse jet and rocket engines and then Republic Aviation, designing guided missiles. After taking a job as a safety engineer at a smelting plant in New Jersey
, he quit because he claimed the company would not implement safety improvements Lemelson believed could save lives. This was his last job before striking out on his own as an independent inventor.
Lemelson's first major invention involved utilizing a universal robot, for use in a variety of industrial systems, that could do numerous actions such as welding
, moving and measuring products, and utilized optical image technology to scan for flaws in the production line. He wrote a 150 page application which he submitted for his first patent, on what he termed "machine vision
", in 1954. Parts of these automated warehousing systems he licensed to the Triax Corporation in 1964.
During the 1950s he also worked on systems for video filing of data utilizing magnetic or videotape
to record documents, which could be read either on a monitor or from stop frame images. This process, along with mechanisms to control and manipulate the tape, were later licensed to Sony corporation in 1974 for use in both audio and video cassette players. During this period he also worked on a series of patents developing aspects of data and word processing
technologies. He licensed twenty of these patents to IBM
in 1981. IBM offered him a position running one of their research divisions, which Lemelson turned down because he wanted to remain an independent inventor. He also developed a series of patents on the manufacturing of integrated circuit
s, which he licensed to Texas Instruments
in 1961. While working during this period on complex industrial products, ranging across the fields of robotics
, laser
s, computers, and electronics, Lemelson utilized some of the concepts in these more "high tech areas" and applied them to a variety of toy concepts, receiving patents for velcro
target games, wheeled toys, board game
s, and improvements on the classic propeller beanie, among others. This cross fertilization across disparate fields was typical for Lemelson, and can be seen in how he came up with ideas and patents for new ways of making semiconductor
s. While watching and reading about the problems with the heating and subsequent oxidation on heat shields of rockets re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, Lemelson realized that this same process could operate on the molecular level when electrical resistance
in a silicon wafer creates an insulative barrier and thus provides for more efficient conduction of electrical current.
From 1957 on he worked exclusively as an independent inventor. From this period on Lemelson received an average of one patent a month for more than 40 years, in technological fields related to automated warehouse
s, industrial robot
s, cordless telephone
s, fax machines, videocassette recorder
s, camcorder
s and the magnetic tape drive
used in Sony
's Walkman
tape players. As an independent inventor, Lemelson wrote, sketched and filed almost all of his patent applications himself, with little help from outside counsel. Lemelson was described as a "workaholic", and he spent 12–14 hours a day writing up his ideas. His notebooks, in which he wrote these ideas down, numbered in the thousands. Lemelson's younger brother described that when he and Lemelson were roommates in college, after they would go to sleep, the light would go on several times during the night and Lemelson would write something down. In the morning Lemelson's brother would read and witness the several inventions that Lemelson had conceived of that previous night. His brother stated "This happened every night, seven days a week". Lemelson died in 1997, after a one year battle with liver cancer. In the final year of his life, he applied for over 40 patents, many of them in the biomedical field related to cancer detection and treatment, including a "Computerized medical diagnostic system" and several "Medical devices using electrosensitive gels" all issuing posthumously.
Lemelson was a staunch advocate for the rights of independent inventors. He served on a federal advisory committee on patent issues from 1976 to 1979. In this capacity he advocated for a variety of issues, including protecting the secrecy of patent applications and advocating for the "first to invent" patent system. In his testimony before the Patent Trademark Office Advisory Committee he decried what he believed as an "innovation crisis", and that the barriers, such as high legal and filing costs to failures of the courts to protect independent inventors rights, was creating a negative environment for American inventors and US technological ascendancy.
Through much of his later career, Lemelson was involved in a series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations. As a result, he was both excoriated by his legal opponents and hailed as a hero by many independent inventors. For example, Lemelson claimed he had invented the "flexible track" used in the popular "Hot Wheels" toys manufactured by Mattel Co. In the 1980s Lemelson sued for willful infringement, from which he initially won, in a jury trial, a substantial judgement. This case was later overturned on appeal. Later that same year, Lemelson won a 17 million dollar judgement against Illinois Tool Works who infringed on a robot tool spraying device. In relation to other litigation, Lemelson is most well known for what he termed his "machine vision" patents, the earliest of which dates from the mid-1950s. These patents described scanning visual data from a camera, which are then stored in a computer. Combining this with robotic devices and bar coders this could be used to check, manipulate or evaluate the products moving down an assembly line. Items or products could then be adjusted or sent on to different parts of a factory for further procedures. Lemelson also sued a variety of Japanese and European automotive and electronics manufacturers for infringing on his machine vision
patents. Lemelson and these companies reached a settlement, with the companies taking a license to the patents, in 1990-1991.
Lemelson later utilized this strategy in attempting to reach settlements over alleged patent infringement with American companies. Before his death he first sued, then negotiated and received licenses from a variety of corporations. He was controversial for his alleged use of submarine patent
s to negotiate licenses worth over 1.3 billion dollars from major corporations in a variety of industries. Partially as the result of his filing a succession of continuation applications, a number of his patents, particularly those in the field of industrial machine vision, were delayed, in some cases by several decades. This had the effect of taking the industry by surprise when the patents in question finally issued; hence the term submarine patent. Lemelson's supporters have claimed that the bureaucracy of the Patent Office was also responsible for the long delays. The courts, in the Symbol and Cognex case discussed below, however found that Lemelson had engaged in “culpable neglect” and noted that "Lemelson patents occupied the top thirteen positions for the longest prosecutions from 1914 to 2001." However, they found no convincing evidence of inequitable conduct. Indeed, Lemelson always claimed that he followed all the rules and regulations of the United States Patent Office.
In 2004, Lemelson's estate was defeated in a notable court
case involving Symbol Technologies
and Cognex Corporation
, which sought (and received) a ruling that 76 claims under Lemelson's machine vision patents were unenforceable. The plaintiff companies, with the support of dozens of industry supporters spent millions on this landmark case. The ruling was upheld on September 9, 2005 by a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
under the doctrine of laches
, citing "unreasonably long … delays in prosecution." Lemelson's estate appealed for a review by the full circuit en banc
. On November 16, 2005, the full court declined to review the case, but, citing "prejudice to the public as a whole," extended the original unenforceability ruling to all claims under the patents in question. However, the judge also ruled that Cognex and Symbol did not demonstrate that Lemelson had "intentionally stalled" getting the patents. Lemelson himself always denied intentionally stalling the patent application process, and asserted that he attempted for many years to get companies interested in his ideas, only to be rejected by what he termed the "not invented here
" response. Indeed, although Lemelson died in 1997, uncontested patents he had applied for were still being issued as late as 2005-2006, such as his patent titled "Superconducting electrical cable" which was applied for in May 1995, but only issued in October 2005. To this day, the battle wages on in Congress as supporters of a more narrowly defined patent law seek shelter from independent inventors like Lemelson who emerge after an extended period of time demanding large licensing fees.
s of the 20th century". To his proponents, "(...), Jerome Lemelson [was] a great philanthropist, [but] the value of his charitable work could not possibly match the value of his contributions to American society as an innovator and entrepreneur."
organization founded in 1993 by the late American inventor Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy.
The Lemelson-MIT Program "is dedicated to honoring the acclaimed and unsung heroes who have helped improve our lives through invention. We inspire and encourage great inventors through various outreach programs such as Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams, a non-competitive, team-based national grants initiative for high school students. [Its] cornerstone . . . is a prestigious awards program that includes the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. The Program was established in 1994 at the nation's premier technological university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by one of the world's most prolific inventors." Administered by MIT's School of Engineering and founded by the Lemelson Fouindation, the program "recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention."
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
- October 1, 1997) was a prolific American engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, inventor, and patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
holder. Inventions in the fields in which he patented make possible, wholly or in part, innovations like automated warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s, industrial robot
Industrial robot
An industrial robot is defined by ISO as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes...
s, cordless telephone
Cordless telephone
A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset that communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, usually within a limited range of its base station...
s, fax machines, videocassette recorder
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...
s, camcorder
Camcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
s, and the magnetic tape drive
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
used in Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's Walkman
Walkman
Walkman is a Sony brand tradename originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones...
tape players. Lemelson's 605 patents made him one of the most prolific inventors in American history.
Lemelson was an advocate for the rights of independent inventors; he served on a federal advisory committee on patent issues from 1976 to 1979. A series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations made him a controversial figure, seen as a champion by the community of independent inventors, while criticized by patent attorneys and directors of some of the companies with whom he was involved in litigation.
In 1993, Lemelson and his family established the Lemelson Foundation
Lemelson Foundation
The Lemelson Foundation is a private 501 philanthropy founded in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy.-Origins:Lemelson believed invention and innovation were key to American economic success and dynamism, yet he was also deeply concerned that American businesses and society were...
, a philanthropy with the mission to support invention and innovation to improve lives in the US and developing countries.
Biography
Lemelson was born on Staten Island, New York, on July 18, 1923, the oldest of three brothers. His first invention, as a child, was for a lighted tongue depressor that his father, a local physician, could use. He also ran a business in his basement as a teenager, making and selling gas powered model airplanes. He attended New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
after serving during World War II in the Army Air Corps engineering department. His experience with teaching African American engineers, in segregated units in the Army, led to a life long interest in civil rights and in particular promoting the education of minority engineering students.
After the war he received two master's degrees: in aeronautical and industrial engineering
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
. He worked for the Office of Naval Research on Project SQUID
Project squid
Project SQUID was a United States defense effort post-WWII effort to develop and improve pulsejet and rocket engines, run by the Office of Naval Research....
, a postwar effort to develop pulse jet and rocket engines and then Republic Aviation, designing guided missiles. After taking a job as a safety engineer at a smelting plant in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, he quit because he claimed the company would not implement safety improvements Lemelson believed could save lives. This was his last job before striking out on his own as an independent inventor.
Lemelson's first major invention involved utilizing a universal robot, for use in a variety of industrial systems, that could do numerous actions such as welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
, moving and measuring products, and utilized optical image technology to scan for flaws in the production line. He wrote a 150 page application which he submitted for his first patent, on what he termed "machine vision
Machine vision
Machine vision is the process of applying a range of technologies and methods to provide imaging-based automatic inspection, process control and robot guidance in industrial applications. While the scope of MV is broad and a comprehensive definition is difficult to distil, a "generally accepted...
", in 1954. Parts of these automated warehousing systems he licensed to the Triax Corporation in 1964.
During the 1950s he also worked on systems for video filing of data utilizing magnetic or videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
to record documents, which could be read either on a monitor or from stop frame images. This process, along with mechanisms to control and manipulate the tape, were later licensed to Sony corporation in 1974 for use in both audio and video cassette players. During this period he also worked on a series of patents developing aspects of data and word processing
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
technologies. He licensed twenty of these patents to IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in 1981. IBM offered him a position running one of their research divisions, which Lemelson turned down because he wanted to remain an independent inventor. He also developed a series of patents on the manufacturing of integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s, which he licensed to Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
in 1961. While working during this period on complex industrial products, ranging across the fields of robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
, laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s, computers, and electronics, Lemelson utilized some of the concepts in these more "high tech areas" and applied them to a variety of toy concepts, receiving patents for velcro
Velcro
Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...
target games, wheeled toys, board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
s, and improvements on the classic propeller beanie, among others. This cross fertilization across disparate fields was typical for Lemelson, and can be seen in how he came up with ideas and patents for new ways of making semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
s. While watching and reading about the problems with the heating and subsequent oxidation on heat shields of rockets re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, Lemelson realized that this same process could operate on the molecular level when electrical resistance
Electrical resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical...
in a silicon wafer creates an insulative barrier and thus provides for more efficient conduction of electrical current.
From 1957 on he worked exclusively as an independent inventor. From this period on Lemelson received an average of one patent a month for more than 40 years, in technological fields related to automated warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s, industrial robot
Industrial robot
An industrial robot is defined by ISO as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes...
s, cordless telephone
Cordless telephone
A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset that communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, usually within a limited range of its base station...
s, fax machines, videocassette recorder
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...
s, camcorder
Camcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
s and the magnetic tape drive
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
used in Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's Walkman
Walkman
Walkman is a Sony brand tradename originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones...
tape players. As an independent inventor, Lemelson wrote, sketched and filed almost all of his patent applications himself, with little help from outside counsel. Lemelson was described as a "workaholic", and he spent 12–14 hours a day writing up his ideas. His notebooks, in which he wrote these ideas down, numbered in the thousands. Lemelson's younger brother described that when he and Lemelson were roommates in college, after they would go to sleep, the light would go on several times during the night and Lemelson would write something down. In the morning Lemelson's brother would read and witness the several inventions that Lemelson had conceived of that previous night. His brother stated "This happened every night, seven days a week". Lemelson died in 1997, after a one year battle with liver cancer. In the final year of his life, he applied for over 40 patents, many of them in the biomedical field related to cancer detection and treatment, including a "Computerized medical diagnostic system" and several "Medical devices using electrosensitive gels" all issuing posthumously.
Lemelson was a staunch advocate for the rights of independent inventors. He served on a federal advisory committee on patent issues from 1976 to 1979. In this capacity he advocated for a variety of issues, including protecting the secrecy of patent applications and advocating for the "first to invent" patent system. In his testimony before the Patent Trademark Office Advisory Committee he decried what he believed as an "innovation crisis", and that the barriers, such as high legal and filing costs to failures of the courts to protect independent inventors rights, was creating a negative environment for American inventors and US technological ascendancy.
Patents and litigation
Jerome H. Lemelson was granted over 600 patents, making him one of the 20th century's most prolific patent grantees.Through much of his later career, Lemelson was involved in a series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations. As a result, he was both excoriated by his legal opponents and hailed as a hero by many independent inventors. For example, Lemelson claimed he had invented the "flexible track" used in the popular "Hot Wheels" toys manufactured by Mattel Co. In the 1980s Lemelson sued for willful infringement, from which he initially won, in a jury trial, a substantial judgement. This case was later overturned on appeal. Later that same year, Lemelson won a 17 million dollar judgement against Illinois Tool Works who infringed on a robot tool spraying device. In relation to other litigation, Lemelson is most well known for what he termed his "machine vision" patents, the earliest of which dates from the mid-1950s. These patents described scanning visual data from a camera, which are then stored in a computer. Combining this with robotic devices and bar coders this could be used to check, manipulate or evaluate the products moving down an assembly line. Items or products could then be adjusted or sent on to different parts of a factory for further procedures. Lemelson also sued a variety of Japanese and European automotive and electronics manufacturers for infringing on his machine vision
Machine vision
Machine vision is the process of applying a range of technologies and methods to provide imaging-based automatic inspection, process control and robot guidance in industrial applications. While the scope of MV is broad and a comprehensive definition is difficult to distil, a "generally accepted...
patents. Lemelson and these companies reached a settlement, with the companies taking a license to the patents, in 1990-1991.
Lemelson later utilized this strategy in attempting to reach settlements over alleged patent infringement with American companies. Before his death he first sued, then negotiated and received licenses from a variety of corporations. He was controversial for his alleged use of submarine patent
Submarine patent
A submarine patent is a patent whose issuance and publication are intentionally delayed by the applicant for a long time, such as several years. This strategy requires a patent system where patent applications are not published. In the United States, patent applications filed before November 2000...
s to negotiate licenses worth over 1.3 billion dollars from major corporations in a variety of industries. Partially as the result of his filing a succession of continuation applications, a number of his patents, particularly those in the field of industrial machine vision, were delayed, in some cases by several decades. This had the effect of taking the industry by surprise when the patents in question finally issued; hence the term submarine patent. Lemelson's supporters have claimed that the bureaucracy of the Patent Office was also responsible for the long delays. The courts, in the Symbol and Cognex case discussed below, however found that Lemelson had engaged in “culpable neglect” and noted that "Lemelson patents occupied the top thirteen positions for the longest prosecutions from 1914 to 2001." However, they found no convincing evidence of inequitable conduct. Indeed, Lemelson always claimed that he followed all the rules and regulations of the United States Patent Office.
In 2004, Lemelson's estate was defeated in a notable court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
case involving Symbol Technologies
Symbol Technologies
Symbol Technologies is a manufacturer and worldwide supplier of mobile data capture and delivery equipment. The company specializes in barcode scanners, mobile computers, RFID systems and Wireless LAN infrastructure. Symbol Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola, and headquartered in...
and Cognex Corporation
Cognex Corporation
Cognex Corporation is a manufacturer of machine vision systems, software and sensors used in automated manufacturing to inspect and identify parts, detect defects, verify product assembly, and guide assembly robots. Cognex is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA...
, which sought (and received) a ruling that 76 claims under Lemelson's machine vision patents were unenforceable. The plaintiff companies, with the support of dozens of industry supporters spent millions on this landmark case. The ruling was upheld on September 9, 2005 by a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
-Vacancies and pending nominations:-List of former judges:-Chief judges:Notwithstanding the foregoing, when the court was initially created, Congress had to resolve which chief judge of the predecessor courts would become the first chief judge...
under the doctrine of laches
Laches (equity)
Laches is an "unreasonable delay pursuing a right or claim...in a way that prejudices the [opposing] party" When asserted in litigation, it is an equitable defense, or doctrine...
, citing "unreasonably long … delays in prosecution." Lemelson's estate appealed for a review by the full circuit en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
. On November 16, 2005, the full court declined to review the case, but, citing "prejudice to the public as a whole," extended the original unenforceability ruling to all claims under the patents in question. However, the judge also ruled that Cognex and Symbol did not demonstrate that Lemelson had "intentionally stalled" getting the patents. Lemelson himself always denied intentionally stalling the patent application process, and asserted that he attempted for many years to get companies interested in his ideas, only to be rejected by what he termed the "not invented here
Not Invented Here
Not invented here is a term used to describe persistent social, corporate, or institutional culture that avoids using or buying already existing products, research, standards, or knowledge because of their external origins. It is normally used in a pejorative sense, and may be considered an...
" response. Indeed, although Lemelson died in 1997, uncontested patents he had applied for were still being issued as late as 2005-2006, such as his patent titled "Superconducting electrical cable" which was applied for in May 1995, but only issued in October 2005. To this day, the battle wages on in Congress as supporters of a more narrowly defined patent law seek shelter from independent inventors like Lemelson who emerge after an extended period of time demanding large licensing fees.
Controversy
"To his many detractors, (...) Lemelson's patents were in fact worthless. Lemelson, they say, was one of the great fraudFraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
s of the 20th century". To his proponents, "(...), Jerome Lemelson [was] a great philanthropist, [but] the value of his charitable work could not possibly match the value of his contributions to American society as an innovator and entrepreneur."
Honors
Lemelson, named Engineer of the Year by readers of Design News in 1995, made many millions in uncontested licenses with a number of the world’s most successful companies including IBM and Sony, among others. Lemelson was also honored with, among other awards, induction into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the New Jersey Pride Award for science and technology; the Odyssey of the Mind Creativity Award, the Automation Hall of Fame Prometheus Award, and on Thomas Edison's birthday in 1998, the John Templeton Foundation, which recognizes "the incalculable power of the human mind," made a posthumous award.Lemelson Foundation
The Lemelson Foundation is a private IRC 501(c)(3) philanthropicPhilanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
organization founded in 1993 by the late American inventor Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy.
The Lemelson-MIT Program "is dedicated to honoring the acclaimed and unsung heroes who have helped improve our lives through invention. We inspire and encourage great inventors through various outreach programs such as Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams, a non-competitive, team-based national grants initiative for high school students. [Its] cornerstone . . . is a prestigious awards program that includes the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. The Program was established in 1994 at the nation's premier technological university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by one of the world's most prolific inventors." Administered by MIT's School of Engineering and founded by the Lemelson Fouindation, the program "recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention."
Quotes
- Company managers know that the odds of an inventor being able to afford the costly litigation are less than one in ten; and even if the suit is brought, four times out of five the courts will hold the patent invalid. When the royalties are expected to exceed the legal expense, it makes good business sense to attack the patent... we don't recognize that the consequence of the legal destruction of patents is a decline in innovation...
- -Lemelson, 1975, in a Senate hearing investigating the innovation crisis.
- The American dream is that if the average American invents something novel and worthy of patenting, he'll find someone to license it. However, for most contemporary inventors , it hasn't worked out that way. The independent inventor today still has an extremely difficult time convincing corporations that he has a product which deserves to be on the market. Most companies have a tremendous resistance to ideas and technology developed on the outside.
- You cannot develop a reputation for somebody who gives up. You have to be known as a fighter for your rights. Otherwise, you'll never license anything...Even Thomas Edison had a tough time supporting and protecting his patents. He spent about $1.4 million [to defend his inventions], and this was around the turn of the century, when beer was a nickel.
See also
- Gerald D. HosierGerald D. HosierGerald D. Hosier of Aspen, Colorado is an intellectual property attorney and a patent litigator. In 2000, Forbes magazine declared him the highest-paid lawyer in America with an income of $40 Million.-Career & clients:...
and Steven G. Lisa who served as the main attorneys for Jerome Lemelson. - Independent inventorIndependent inventorAn independent inventor is an inventor who creates inventions by himself. They often earn their income from selling or licensing the patents they get on their inventions.Independent inventors are distinguished from inventors who work for corporations...