An independent inventor is a person who creates

invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...

s independently, rather than for an employer.Edward Robinson "They Saved Small Business When corporate America tried to seize the patent system from independent inventors, this Boston couple came to the rescue." Fortune Small Business, April 1, 2000
/ref> Many independent inventors

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

their inventions so that they have rights over them, and hope to earn income from selling or licensing them. Usually inventions made in the course of employment are ultimately owned by the employer; this is often specified in the terms of employment. Other inventors (independent or corporate) may create inventions hoped to be of use to anybody, and place them in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

Notable post-1950 independent inventors

Robert Kearns Robert William Kearns (March 10, 1927 – February 9, 2005) was an American engineer, educator and inventor who invented the most common intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present. His first pa ...

, inventor of a type of intermittent

windscreen wiper A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (American English), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, truck ...

, who successfully sued

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

, and whose story was dramatized in the film ''

Flash of Genius In United States patent law, the flash of genius doctrine was a test for patentability used by the United States Federal Courts for just over a decade, beginning circa 1940. Origin The doctrine was formalized by the Supreme Court's opinion in '' ...

'' *

Jerome H. Lemelson Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson (July 18, 1923 – October 1, 1997) was an United States of America, American engineer, inventor, and patent holder. Several of his inventions and works in the fields in which he patented have made possible, either wh ...

, who claimed to have invented technology used in

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly refe ...

readers, and eventually lost his patent rights as a result of pursuing a so-called

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

strategy for his patent applications * Peter Roberts, inventor of a quick-release

socket wrench A socket wrench (or socket spanner) is a type of spanner (or wrench in North American English) that uses a closed ''socket'' format, rather than a typical open wrench/spanner to turn a fastener, typically in the form of a nut or bolt. The mos ...

, who sold his patent to

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

and then successfully claimed the company owed him more because they had misrepresented their market estimates in negotiations *

Ron Hickman Ronald Price Hickman (1932–2011) was a South African-born, Jersey-based automobile designer and inventor. He worked for both the Ford motor company and Lotus, where he designed the original Lotus Elan, the Lotus Elan +2 and the Lotus Europa ...

of Jersey, inventor of a portable workbench turned down by several tool companies with comments such as that it would sell in the dozens rather than hundreds; he started selling it direct to professional builders. Several companies produced unlicensed imitations, as is normal to challenge a patent; Hickman successfully defended his patents in court.

Black & Decker Black+Decker Inc. is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances and fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where the company was o ...

started producing the workbench in 1973 as the

Black & Decker Workmate The Black & Decker Workmate is a general purpose portable workbench and general carpentry tool manufactured under the brand Black & Decker. It is a folding table for portability, but when unfolded stands about tall. The table top consists of two ...

, paying Hickman a royalty; it had sold about 30 million worldwide by the time of Hickman's death in 2011. * Brazilian

Alfredo Moser Alfredo Moser (Uberaba) is a Brazilian mechanic and inventor. Biography Born in Uberaba, Minas Gerais in Brazil. He married Carmelinda in 1978. He invented what is known as the Moser lamp. Moser lamp Moser invented a lamp in 2002, using a plas ...

invented a way of illuminating a house during the day without electricity, using plastic bottles inserted through the roof, of benefit to people with few resources living in simple dwellings. The idea was taken up in about 15 countries, and it was expected that over a million would have been installed by the start of 2014. Moser was very happy that his lamp, which he did not patent, was taken up in such a big way.The Guardian newspaper: Alfredo Moser: Bottle light inventor proud to be poor, 13 August 2013
/ref>

Organizations

* Alliance for American Innovation

References

{{reflist

External links

Inventors Eye
the USPTO's bimonthly publication for the "independent inventor community" Inventors Patent law DIY culture Open-source hardware

Notable post-1950 independent inventors

Organizations

See also

References

External links