http://www.inc.com/magazine/19971201/1374.html
Robert W. Kearns v. the Ford Motor Co.
Newlywed Bob Kearns was grooming himself for other things back in 1953,
when he popped open a bottle of champagne in his honeymoon suite, only to
have an airborne cork cause permanent damage to one of his eyes. That
injury--which made it difficult for him to see through two-speed windshield
wipers--inspired him to work at developing an intermittent wiper that would
imitate the movement of a blinking eye.
Not surprisingly, engineers at Ford, Chrysler, and GM (not to mention
Ferrari, Mercedes, and a host of carmakers around the world) were working
on similar projects. But Kearns won the patent in 1967 and then spent
decades fighting the Big Three in court. In 1990, Ford was first to settle
with Kearns, followed by Chrysler in 1992. Kearns's offspring joined Kearns
Associates, the business he had set up specifically to litigate
patent-infringement claims. Its corporate offices are conveniently located
across the street from the federal courthouse in Detroit. Kearns was
ordered to pay sanctions after his son, Dennis, obtained confidential
documents by dating a paralegal at one of the firms representing several
automakers. So far Bob Kearns has won more than $30 million from Ford and
Chrysler.
Matt Murray
At 02:58 PM 1/20/2005, Mark Sirota wrote:
>--On Wednesday, January 19, 2005 2:31 PM -0600 Edrington
><edringtj@austin.ibm.com> wrote:
>>If you have read a 1986 Ford Taurus owners manual, you will find one
>>persons NAME it it. The inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper.
>
>Out of curiosity, what is that person's name?
>
>Mark
|