Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Chrysler, LLC., Ford
Ford reminds world that it didn't "willfully" violate wiper patent
Engineer Bob Kearns had been granted a patent for a design of intermittent windshield wipers in 1967, two years before Ford introduced them in production. Unfortunately for Kearns, Ford had "developed" its own system rather than licensing Kearns' design. Needless to say, litigation ensued and it took until 1995 for the U.S. Supreme Court to finally rule against Ford and Chrysler and award Kearns $30 million. That story has now been turned into a major motion picture being released this week called Flash of Genius, and Ford wants you to know that the facts of the matter are much less dramatic than what the movie portrays.
While reminding people that the facts have been dramatized, Ford also mentions that a jury ruled it did not "willfully" infringe on Kearns' patent. That's not to say Ford and Chrysler didn't infringe – juries ruled that they did. It just wasn't "willful." Did Kearns ultimately win? That's hard to say considering how his life turned out, but he was vindicated. On the other hand, many owners of older English cars would argue that Joseph Lucas invented the intermittent windshield wiper, although again not willfully.
[Source: Ford]
PRESS RELEASE
The film "Flash of Genius" chronicles the life story of Bob Kearns, who asserted that he invented the intermittent windshield wiper and sued Ford, Chrysler and other automakers for patent infringement. While films like "Flash of Genius" are made for entertainment purposes, the facts are often less dramatic.
Bob Kearns as well as hundreds of engineers from many companies, including Ford, helped develop the intermittent wiper as part of an evolution of existing automotive and electronic components.
While there are inaccuracies in the film, Ford sees no value in re-hashing the history of a legal case that was resolved in court almost 20 years ago, when a jury ruled that Ford did not willfully violate Mr. Kearns' patent.
Today, Ford continues to make engineering and design breakthroughs in areas such as fuel efficiency, safety and smart technology, and is proud of its 100-year legacy of innovation in automotive technology.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Caz 6:08PM (9/30/2008)
Is Oliver Stone directing? ha
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Rocketboy 6:38PM (9/30/2008)
As you can see, the automatic wiper goes right, and to the left.
Right, and to the left.
Right, and to the left.
Right, and to the left.
Right, and to the left.
Right, and to the left.
Right,
and to the left.
dave 9:27PM (9/30/2008)
Ford stupid or something? They expect the American public to believe the truth - rather than trust in a movie instead?
Xcountryflyer 6:19PM (9/30/2008)
Spin spin spin go the PR folks.
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sunnycyclist 6:26PM (9/30/2008)
Nice quip about the so-called prince of darkness.
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Tsunami Racer 6:26PM (9/30/2008)
"...owners of older English cars would argue that Joseph Lucas invented the intermittent windshield wiper, although again not willfully."
THAT is the funniest GD thing i have ever heard!!!!!! HA!!!!
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JIMBO 6:30PM (9/30/2008)
Just another example of corporate greed .
Just step over the little guy & steal his design.Kinda like what GM did to Preston Tucker !
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cheezwiz 7:09PM (9/30/2008)
Um. No. That's what willful infringement is. Plain ol' vanilla infringement often means you invented it...just not first.
WetheSheeple 6:30PM (9/30/2008)
The bottom line is that any improvement or technological advancement that was invented by the 'little guy' like Robert Kearns, who try and sell it to a large corporation find themselves many times fighting a David vs. Goliath battle. Ford has a whole staff of online attorneys and to them dragging it out for decades doesn't mean anything to them. I believe the attitude of a lot of large companies like Ford who engage in blatant patent infringement, is they know exactly what they are doing. When the company finds out their pockets are much deeper than the little guy inventor, blatently rub it in the faces of the inventor as they steal their intellectual property with the 'hey if you don't like it, sue us' attitude. I give Kearns credit for him sticking up and fighting for what he believed was right from wrong.
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jgp 6:39PM (9/30/2008)
The answer is to get rid of the patent system.
Patents are anathema to freedom.
Judy Zik 7:35PM (9/30/2008)
The US patent system is so flawed these days it's the other way around. People putting patents on mice and plants and Internet technologies. Patents on interface designs. It is so absurd. Entire leach companies have sprouted up that specialize in getting huge settlements out of corporations for obscure patents.
I wonder if any of this has anything to do with why most vehicles these days use a wiper switch with a really large number of set points instead of a completely variable switch.
The Luigiian 11:53AM (10/01/2008)
@JGP: No, see, if we didn't have a patent system Kearns wouldn't have had any legal recourse to demand credit for his invention at all.
Oh wait, you say that's a good thing. I don't have time to argue this, so I'll only say that's ridiculous and move on with my time.
tankd0g 6:36PM (9/30/2008)
$30 million, on all cars solr since 1967? Shouldn't that be $30 Quadrillian?
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Curt Chambers 6:38PM (9/30/2008)
Except of course in the case of the Lucas version it would run off a positive ground 6 volt circuit that would require a relay that was completely unique to that particular car and wiper assembly for that month of production.
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Rocketboy 6:41PM (9/30/2008)
That, and the intermittent part was really dependent on how much the bullet connectors rattled, and how much water got into the whole system.
jgp 6:39PM (9/30/2008)
"Flash of Genius" sounds like it would be horrible; it's about a guy who stole 30 million from corporations because the corporations by exploting a system that is complete anathema to freedom.
Patents disgust me.
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Big Rocket 7:09PM (9/30/2008)
@jgp: Yeah, sure. The People's Republic of China, being the great bastion of freedom that it is, doesn't believe in patents, either. I'm sure there will be plenty of inventors rushing to invent a better mousetrap (and a lot of pharmaceutical corporations rushing to develop a cure for cancer) the moment we abolish patents and everyone can copy everyone else's inventions for free.
Taylor 8:12PM (9/30/2008)
Don't confuse patents with patent abuse. Patents are great when you really did come up with something novel and new. What sucks is when someone patents "a method of browsing files on a handheld device" that is identical to how people have been doing it on non-handheld devices, or something similarly obvious, yet somehow they are granted a patent and then go and sue everyone who has ever made a cell phone or whatever.
Patent abuse is lame, but patents aren't the enemy directly, it's a lax system that lets people patent anything they want, even with obvious prior art.
-Taylor
MajorGeek 6:49PM (9/30/2008)
Most movies are make believe and all real life stories are not entirely accurate. Real life is usually boring. No suprise.
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CH 5:50AM (10/01/2008)
The difference between reality and fiction, is that fiction has to make sense.