Jerome H. Lemelson

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 warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive used in Sony's Walkman tape players.^[1] 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.^[2] A series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations made him a controversial figure, seen as a champion by the community of independent inventors,^{[by whom?][3]} while criticized by patent attorneys and directors of some of the companies with whom he was involved in litigation.^[4]

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.

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.^[5] He also ran a business in his basement as a teenager, making and selling gas powered model airplanes.^[5] He attended New York University after serving during World War II in the Army Air Corps engineering department.^[2] 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.^[1]

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.^[5]

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.^[1] Parts of these automated warehousing systems he licensed to the Triax Corporation in 1964.^[2]

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.^[1] 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.^[1] IBM offered him a position running one of their research divisions, which Lemelson turned down because he wanted to remain an independent inventor.^[6] He also developed a series of patents on the manufacturing of integrated circuits, which he licensed to Texas Instruments in 1961.^[1] While working during this period on complex industrial products, ranging across the fields of robotics, lasers, 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 games, and improvements on the classic propeller beanie, among others.^[1] 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 semiconductors. 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.^[7]

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 warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders and the magnetic tape drive used in Sony's Walkman tape players.^[1] As an independent inventor, Lemelson wrote, sketched and filed almost all of his patent applications himself, with little help from outside counsel.^[8] 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.^[9] 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".^[10] 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" (U.S. Patent 5,878,746) 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.^[2] 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.^[2] 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.^[1]

Patents and litigation

Jerome H. Lemelson was granted over 600 patents,^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[1] Later that same year, Lemelson won a 17 million dollar judgement against Illinois Tool Works who infringed on a robot tool spraying device.^[13] 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.^[13] 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.^[1]

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 patents 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.^[14] 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."^[15] However, they found no convincing evidence of inequitable conduct.^[16] Indeed, Lemelson always claimed that he followed all the rules and regulations of the United States Patent Office.^[17]

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.^[18][19] 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."^[20][21] 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.^[22] However, the judge also ruled that Cognex and Symbol did not demonstrate that Lemelson had "intentionally stalled" getting the patents.^[23] Lemelson himself always denied intentionally stalling the patent application process,^[24] 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.^[6] 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" (U.S. Patent 6,951,985) 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.^[25]

Controversy

"To his many detractors, (...) Lemelson's patents were in fact worthless. Lemelson, they say, was one of the great frauds of the 20th century".^[26] 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."^[27]

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.^[28][29] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Lemelson Foundation

Main article: Lemelson Foundation

The Lemelson Foundation is a private IRC 501(c)(3) philanthropic 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."^[30]

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.^[31]

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.^[32]

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.^[32]

See also

• Gerald D. Hosier and Steven G. Lisa^[33] who served as the main attorneys for Jerome Lemelson.^[34]
• Independent inventor

References

• Teresa Riordan, Patents; The Lemelson Foundation, named for a prolific inventor, aims to reward inventions that help poor countries develop., New York Times, April 26, 2004
• Lawrence D. Maloney, Lone Wolf of the Sierras, Design News, March 1995
• Henry Petroski, An Independent Inventor, American Scientist, May 1998
• Susan Hansen, Breaking the (Bar) Code. The fabled Lemelson patents won't scan anymore. How Jesse Jenner brought down a billion dollar licensing empire. (PDF), IP Law & Business/March 2004
• William F. Heinze, Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer, and Risley, Dead Patents Walking Loopholes in the patent process exploited by Jerome Lemelson, one of the most prolific inventors of all time, may be finally closing in on him, IEEE Spectrum, May 2002
• Nicholas Varchaver, The Patent King, Fortune Magazine, May 14, 2001
• Lemelson-MIT winner stripped of prize, MIT VooDoo, Spring 2002, page 10 (satire)
• Robert P Siegel "http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/05414?pg=0" Winter 2005 "As Patent Laws Weaken Innovation Suffers"

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Jerome Lemelson, American Inventor. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Innovation and Invention
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} America's Inventor[tm] Online: Jerome Lemelson
3. ^ Powers of invention - US News and World Report
4. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2005-08-21-lemelson-fraud_x.htm Some claim inventor Lemelson a fraud, Adam Goldman, The Associated Press, 2005
5. ^ ^{a b c} Biographical Profile of Jerome Lemelson
6. ^ ^{a b} Amazon.com: The Best American Essays, 1987: Books: Gay Talese
7. ^ "Down But Not Out," Feature Article, October 2004
8. ^ Who We Are: Jerome Lemelson Biography
9. ^ Lemelson Center: Jerome Lemelson biography
10. ^ YouTube - Jerome Lemelson - The Lemelson Foundation
11. ^ The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation web site, Jerome Lemelson's Patents. Retrieved on September 1, 2006.
12. ^ Patents; The Lemelson Foundation, named for a prolific inventor, aims to reward inventions that help poor countries develop. - New York Times
13. ^ ^{a b} COMPANY NEWS; hHED,35p9Rich in the 90's on Ideas Hatched in the 50's - New York Times
14. ^ http://lemelson.org/news/articles_of_interest_detail.php?id=420 American Scientist magazine, May 1998.
15. ^ United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP, September 9, 2005 p.13
16. ^ [1] United States District Court District of Nevada CV-S-01-701-PMP],January 23, 2004 p.28
17. ^ Bloomberg.com: U.S
18. ^ Hansen 2004
19. ^ Heinze 2002
20. ^ United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP, September 9, 2005
21. ^ Appeals Court confirms invalidity of bar code patents, OUT-LAW News, September 12, 2005
22. ^ United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP, November 16, 2005
23. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/bulldog/20050906-9999-invent_part2.html Associated Press article-Adam Goldman, Only WE Could Defeat this Guy
24. ^ Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets - Pierce Law Center IP Mall - Training Intellectual Property, Commerce, & Technology Professionals Skills to Meet Marketplace Needs - Industrial, Trade Mark, Branding, Legal, Electronic, Privacy, Sports, Entertainment, Information, Resources, Research, Inventors, Inventions, Internet, Piracy, Service, Design, Infringement, Licensing, Technology Transfer, Education, School, Networking, Digital Rights Management, IPR's - News: Dr. Robert Rines Founder & Former President: Does Patent Law Sell Out Small Inventors
25. ^ As Patent Laws Weaken, Innovation Suffers, Strategy + Business Winter 2005
26. ^ Adam Goldman, Some Claim Inventor Lemelson a Fraud, ABCNews, August 20, 2005 (archived by the Internet Archive). See also: Adam Goldman, Some Claim Inventor Lemelson a Fraud, USAToday.com, August 21, 2005. Consulted on March 28, 2010.
27. ^ John Hood, How Business Delivers the Good, Policy Review, July–August 1996, Number 78
28. ^ Engineering Achievement Award Design News. March 6, 1995
29. ^ Myrna Oliver, Jerome Lemelson; Inventor Held 500 Patents, Los Angeles Times Obituary, October 3, 1997.
30. ^ "Who we are". Lemelson-MIT Program. http://web.mit.edu/invent/w-main.html. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 
31. ^ Wolfe, Tom. 1986. "Land of wizards." Popular Mechanics (July) pp. 127–137. An essay about the life work and struggles of Jerome Lemelson. Reprinted in The Best American Essays 1987, Gay Talese, ed. New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1987.
32. ^ ^{a b} Harris, L. ed. Biography Today: scientists and Inventors Series, Volume 3. Detroit, Omnigraphics, Inc.
33. ^ http://www.patentit.com/sgl.htm
34. ^ See, e.g., Inventor Takes On the U.S. Auto Industry

External links

• Jerome Lemelson biography on The Lemelson Foundation official web site
• Lemelson-MIT Program
• Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation

Persondata
Name	Lemelson, Jerome H.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 18, 1923
Place of birth
Date of death	October 1, 1997
Place of death