Jerome H. Lemelson

Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson (July 18, 1923 Staten Island, New York - October 1, 1997) was a prolific and controversial American inventor and patent holder.

Related Topics:
July 18 - 1923 - Staten Island - New York - October 1 - 1997 - American - Inventor - Patent

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He was granted over 550 patents, making him one of the 20th century's five most prolific inventors. Lemelson received an average of one patent a month for more than 40 years, for high-tech concepts that translated into automated warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders and the magnetic tape drive used in Sony's Walkman tape players.

Related Topics:
20th century - Warehouse - Robot - Cordless telephone - Fax machine - Videocassette recorder - Camcorder - Magnetic tape drive - Sony - Walkman - Tape player

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He was also famous for his controversial use of submarine patents to extract over 1.3 billion dollars from major corporations in a variety of industries. Through the filing of a succession of continuation applications, he was able to postpone by years the publication and grant of his patents, to finally take the industry by surprise when one of his patents was published. 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 Lemelson's machine vision patents were unenforceable http://www.ipww.com/texts/lemelson0304.html http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?ArticleId=i050202. The ruling was upheld on September 9, 2005 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under the doctrine of laches, citing "a pattern of unjustifiably delayed prosecution." http://fedcir.gov/opinions/04-1451.pdf http://www.out-law.com/page-6111

Related Topics:
Submarine patent - Continuation application - 2004 - Court - Symbol Technologies - Cognex Corporation - Machine vision - September 9 - 2005 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit - Laches

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"To his many detractors, (...) Lemelson's patents were in fact worthless. Lemelson, they say, was one of the great frauds of the 20th century" http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-the-father-of-invention-i,0,6373544.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines.

Related Topics:
Fraud - 20th century

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