Jerome H. Lemelson

Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson (July 18, 1923 – October 1, 1997) was an American engineer, inventor, and patent holder. Several of his inventions relate to warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive.<ref name= "nat museum"/> 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.<ref name="inventionconvention"/> A series of patent litigations and subsequent licensing negotiations made him a controversial figure, seen as staunch supporter for the rights of independent inventors,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while criticized by patent attorneys and directors of some of the companies with whom he was involved in litigation.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

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 United States and developing countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

Lemelson was born on Staten Island, New York, on July 18, 1923, the oldest of three brothers. His father was a physician of Austrian-Jewish descent.<ref name=":2" /> His first invention, as a child, was for a lighted tongue depressor that his father, a local physician, could use.<ref name=bio>Template:Cite web</ref> He also ran a business in his basement as a teenager, making and selling gas-powered model airplanes.<ref name=bio/>

He attended New York University after serving during World War II in the United States Army Air Corps engineering department.<ref name="inventionconvention">Template:Cite web</ref> His experience with teaching African American engineers, in segregated units in the Army, led to a lifelong interest in civil rights and in particular promoting the education of minority engineering students.<ref name="nat museum"/>

After the war he received two master's degrees: in aeronautical as well as 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 becoming an independent inventor.<ref name=bio/>

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.<ref name="nat museum">Jerome Lemelson, American Inventor. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Innovation and Invention</ref> Parts of these automated warehousing systems he licensed to the Triax Corporation in 1964.<ref name="inventionconvention"/>

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 in 1974 for use in both audio and video cassette players.<ref name="nat museum"/> 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.<ref name="nat museum"/> IBM offered him a position running one of their research divisions, which Lemelson declined because he wanted to remain an independent inventor.<ref name="amazon">Template:Cite book</ref> He also developed a series of patents on the manufacturing of integrated circuits, which he licensed to Texas Instruments in 1961.<ref name="nat museum"/> 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.<ref name="nat museum"/> An exhibit of his toy inventions was shown in 2012 at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

This cross-pollination across disparate fields was typical for Lemelson, and can be seen in how he devised 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 electric current.<ref>"Down But Not Out," Feature Article, October 2004 Template:Webarchive</ref>

From 1957 on, he worked exclusively as an independent inventor. From this period onwards, 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 illuminated highway markers, camcorders and a magnetic tape drive.<ref name="nat museum"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As an independent inventor, Lemelson wrote, sketched, and filed almost all of his patent applications himself, with little help from outside counsel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lemelson was described as a "workaholic", spending 12 to 14 hours a day writing up his ideas, and often as much as 18 hours a day tinkering.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His notebooks holding these ideas numbered in the thousands.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lemelson's younger brother said that when they 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 that previous night. His brother stated, "This happened every night, seven days a week".<ref name=autogenerated1>Template:YouTube</ref>

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" (Template:US patent) and several "Medical devices using electrosensitive gels," all issuing posthumously. In 2009, 12 years after his death, Template:US Patent, for a "Facial-recognition vehicle security system," was issued in Lemelson's name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name="inventionconvention"/> 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.<ref name="inventionconvention"/> 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 as well as failures of the courts to protect the rights of independent inventors, were creating a negative environment for American inventors and US technological ascendancy.<ref name="nat museum"/>

Patents and litigation

Lemelson was granted more than 600 patents, making him one of the 20th century's most prolific patent grantees.<ref>The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation web site, Jerome Lemelson's Patents. Retrieved on September 1, 2006.</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For example, Lemelson claimed he had invented the "flexible track" used in the popular "Hot Wheels" toys manufactured by Mattel. In the 1980s Lemelson sued for willful patent infringement, from which he initially won a substantial judgement in a jury trial. This case was later overturned on appeal.<ref name="nat museum"/> Later that same year, Lemelson won a $17 million judgement against Illinois Tool Works for infringement on a robot tool spraying device, which was upheld on appeal.<ref name=autogenerated2>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Lemelson litigated extensively on the basis of 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 with robotic devices and bar coders, this technology 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.<ref name=autogenerated2/> 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.<ref name="nat museum"/>

Lemelson later utilized this strategy in attempting to reach settlements over alleged patent infringement with American companies. He first sued, then negotiated and received royalties from a variety of corporations. He was controversial for his alleged use of submarine patents<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> to negotiate licenses worth over $1.3 billion from major corporations in a variety of industries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Partially as a 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.<ref name=":0" /> This had the effect of taking the industry by surprise when the patents in question finally issued. Lemelson's tactics effectively resulted in these industries growing and flourishing without being aware of the impending patent-infringement lawsuits. This effectively translated into large, highly profitable lawsuit targets.

Lemelson claimed that the bureaucracy of the US Patent Office was also responsible for the long delays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref>United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP Template:Webarchive, September 9, 2005 p.13</ref> However, they found no convincing evidence of inequitable conduct.<ref name="cognex">Template:Cite web United States District Court District of Nevada CV-S-01-701-PMP], January 23, 2004 p.28</ref> Indeed, Lemelson always claimed that he followed all the rules and regulations of the United States Patent Office.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Hansen 2004</ref><ref>Heinze 2002</ref> The plaintiff companies, with the support of dozens of industry supporters, spent millions on this 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".<ref>United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP Template:Webarchive, September 9, 2005</ref><ref>Appeals Court confirms invalidity of bar code patents, OUT-LAW News, September 12, 2005</ref> 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, and, citing "prejudice to the public as a whole," extended the original unenforceability ruling to all claims under the patents in question.<ref>United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP Template:Webarchive, November 16, 2005</ref> However, the judge also ruled that Cognex and Symbol did not demonstrate that Lemelson had "intentionally stalled" getting the patents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lemelson himself always denied intentionally stalling the patent application process,<ref>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 Template:Webarchive</ref> 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.<ref name="amazon"/> 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" (Template:US patent) which was applied for in May 1995, but only issued in October 2005.

As a result of such cases, US lawmakers were urged to revise patent law to constrain inventors who emerge after an extended period of time demanding large licensing fees.<ref>As Patent Laws Weaken, Innovation Suffers, Strategy + Business Winter 2005</ref> Under current US law (35 U.S.C. 122 and 37 C.F.R. 1.211), revised by Congress in 1999, most patent applications are published 18 months after being received and any resulting patents expire 20 years after the filing date, serving to limit surprise or "submarine" patents. Lemelson's applications were submitted under older rules, which kept the application confidential during patent prosecution.

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.<ref>"Engineering Achievement Award" Template:Webarchive Design News. March 6, 1995</ref><ref>Myrna Oliver, "Jerome Lemelson; Inventor Held 500 Patents", Los Angeles Times, obituary, October 3, 1997. Archived.</ref> In 1995, Lemelson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On Thomas Edison's birthday in 1998, the John Templeton Foundation, which recognizes "the incalculable power of the human mind," made a posthumous award.Template:Citation needed

Lemelson Foundation

The Lemelson Foundation is a private IRC 501(c)(3) philanthropic organization founded in 1993 by Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy."<ref name="MIT">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Gerald D. Hosier<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was the main attorneys for Jerome Lemelson.<ref>See, e.g., "Inventor Takes On the U.S. Auto Industry", Los Angeles Times</ref>
• Independent inventor
• Patent troll

General references

• Hansen, Susan (March 2004). "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
• Heinze, William F. (May 2002). "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. Volume 39, no. 5. pp. 52–54. Template:Doi.
• Maloney, Lawrence D. (March 1995). "Lone Wolf of the Sierras", Design News
• Petroski, Henry "An Independent Inventor", American Scientist, May 1998
• Riordan, Teresa (April 26, 2004). "Patents; The Lemelson Foundation, named for a prolific inventor, aims to reward inventions that help poor countries develop.", The New York Times
• Siegel, Robert P. (Winter 2005). "As Patent Laws Weaken Innovation Suffers", Strategy+Business
• Varchaver, Nicholas (May 14, 2001). "The Patent King", Fortune magazine
• "Lemelson-MIT winner stripped of prize", VooDoo, Spring 2002, MIT, Vol. 5, no. 1, p. 10 (satirical magazine)

External links

• Jerome Lemelson biography on The Lemelson Foundation official web site