Human ingenuity is the driver of invention ‘ through our superior intelligence we have discovered how to create fire, and invented the wheel, the combustion engine and mass transit. Most inventions are the result of work of a single individual with little business acumen. This has led to big businesses exploiting people without the financial or legal clout to stand up to them. The law is often on the side of these people and here are some examples where businesses thought they could get away with it

1. Who Invented Radio?

Surely one of history’s most wronged scientists, Tesla invented the transistor radio fairly early on. His opponent was the business owner Guglielmo Marconi who several times tried to submit the patents for the invention but other inventors had to be considered first to ensure that his idea was different enough from all the others. However, in the 1904 the US Patient Office awarded the patents to Marconi ‘ Tesla was furious. The injustice was revoked in 1943 when Tesla was re-awarded the patents

2. Friendster

Those who have been in the know regarding the internet since the beginning will remember several business ideas and social networking platforms that were similar to Facebook ‘ and that Facebook was hardly a phenomenon. Mark Zuckerberg took practically the entire platform of a social network called Friendster and created his ‘revolutionary’ new website. He is also said to have stolen ideas from his university friends who had invented a system called ConnectU. Facebook is now one of the biggest and most lucrative websites ever to have been invented ‘ and Zuckerberg’s idea was not original

3. Who Invented Lasers?

Gordon Gould in the 1950s created the first theoretical equipment for creating lasers but wrongly believed that you had to have a working model in order to claim the patent ‘ he was wrong and some of his colleagues filed the patents and sold the rights onto some big businesses. Gould spent the next 30 years fighting the US Patent Office and the businesses that stole his idea, to claim the rights to his invention. Eventually, they ruled in his favour ‘ he was awarded of 40 patents including invention of the term LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

4. The Aqueduck

We are an inventive species and one woman’s simple plastic device to make it easier for her small child to reach the tap. It sold popularly and before the patent was granted, she found that a big business (Prince Lionheart) had stolen her Aqueduck idea. There was seemingly nothing she could do until she found that Prince Lionheart had actually used her own photograph in their promotional material. She took them to court and won her case based on plagiarism of her copyrighted photograph and was granted the patent

5. Quick Release Socket Wrench

Peter Roberts must be kicking himself. As an employee of Sears, he came up with an idea for a business product. Instead of registering the invention and patenting it, he took the advice of a colleague who suggested that he recommend it as a business suggestion. Sears saw it was a great idea and patented it, the idea became a revolutionary idea in DIY and sold all over the world. The case eventually came to a close in 1989 ‘ with neither party wishing to comment.

6. BillPoint

You might think that the story of a revolutionary global payment system being accepted for and assisting international transactions, finally being bought up by eBay might actually be the story of PayPal ‘ but you’d be wrong. Before PayPal there was Billpoint and it was a revolutionary way to make payments, it was snapped up by eBay and when PayPal arrived in the scene, Billpoint found itself with further support. Eventually though, and for reasons that are not clear, eBay chose to go with the emerging system ‘ PayPal had mimicked and then replaced the older system

7. Dip & Squeeze

The revolutionary little packet where you tear the end off of a packet of ketchup and squeeze a little bit out works so much better than the plastic sachets where you tear the end off and potentially waste some of it. This was the thinking of David Wawrzynski who sent the design to Heinz who immediately, despite telling him it wouldn’t work, started using something very similar. Frustrated that they ceased communication and then started using his invention, Wawrzynski sued the food giant and the struggle is ongoing

8. Dead Gal Walking

The music industry is not above plagiarism. Singer Lil Kim released a single in October 2013 called Dead Gal Walking. Though the song itself has not been subject to scrutiny, the original cover was actually a plagiarised photograph belonging to a makeup artist named Samantha Ravndahl. As soon as the artist discovered that her photo had been stolen, she posted the original to her social media. After an audacious display of deliberate promotion in which she also placed a copyright logo, Lil Kim eventually released an alternate cover

9. Pong

Though not the first ever video game, it did go on to become the biggest selling video game in its earliest days. It was not original and its similarity to an earlier version was so remarkable that it led to the makers of the game for the Odyssey system to sue Atari for plagiarism of the game Magnavox. The game makers sued Atari for royalties and eventually won their case. Few people heard of the system or the game at the time yet Atari’s Pong went on to world fame

10. Disney

As one of the biggest producers of fiction for children, they will naturally run out of ideas and look around for obscure stories to ‘borrow’. Disney has been accused of plagiarism on several occasions ‘ The Lion King has a remarkable similarity to little-known children’s story The White Lion. Finding Nemo has also been accused of plagiarising a French story called Pierrot the Clown Fish. Disney has been subject to several more lawsuits throughout its history

Conclusion

Laws are in place to protect inventors against the exploitative nature of big business and time and time again we see the exploitative nature of business trying to bully inventors. In each case, the truth is seen out and the inventor is given due credit for their inventions ‘ but not before a lengthy period of legal wrangling