A Post-it Note (or sticky note) is a small piece of
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...
with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A low-
tack
TACK is a group of archaea acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota, the first groups discovered. They are found in different environments ranging from acidophilic th ...
pressure-sensitive adhesive
Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA, self-adhesive, self-stick adhesive) is a type of nonreactive adhesive which forms a bond when pressure is applied to bond the adhesive with a surface. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesiv ...
allows the notes to be easily attached, removed and even re-posted elsewhere without leaving residue. Originally small yellow squares, Post-it Notes and related products are available in various colors, shapes, sizes and adhesive strengths. As of 2019, there are at least 26 documented colors of Post-it Notes.
Although
3M's patent expired in 1997, "Post-it" and the original notes' distinctive yellow color
remain registered company
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...
s, with terms such as "repositionable notes" used for similar offerings manufactured by competitors. While use of the trademark 'Post-it' in a representative sense refers to any sticky note, no legal authority has ever held the trademark to be
generic
Generic or generics may refer to:
In business
* Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark
* Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
.
History
![Fry-lightbulb-on-forehead1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Fry-lightbulb-on-forehead1.jpg)
In 1968, Dr.
Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, attempted to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he accidentally created a "low-tack", reusable,
pressure-sensitive adhesive
Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA, self-adhesive, self-stick adhesive) is a type of nonreactive adhesive which forms a bond when pressure is applied to bond the adhesive with a surface. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesiv ...
. For five years, Silver promoted his "solution without a problem" within 3M both informally and through seminars, but failed to gain adherents. In 1974, a colleague who had attended one of his seminars,
Art Fry
Arthur Fry (born 19 August 1932) is an American inventor and scientist. He is credited as the co-creator of the Post-it Note, an item of office stationery manufactured by 3M. As of 2006, Post-it products are sold in more than 100 countries.
L ...
, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his
hymn book.
Fry then utilized 3M's sanctioned "permitted
bootlegging" policy to develop the idea.
The original notes' pale yellow color was chosen by chance, from the color of the scrap paper used by the lab next door to the Post-It team.
![Post-it note adhesive](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Post-it_note_adhesive.jpg)
3M
test marketed the product as "Press 'n Peel" bookmark in stores in four cities in 1977, but results were disappointing.
A year later, 3M gave free samples to consumers in
Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...
, with 94 percent of those who tried them indicating they would buy the product.
The product was sold as "Post-Its" at its 1979 introduction,
and was rolled out across the United States
from April 6, 1980. The following year, they were launched in Canada and Europe.
In 2003, the company introduced "Post-it Brand Super Sticky Notes", with a stronger glue that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces.
Until 3M's patent expired in the 1990s, Post-it type notes were produced only in the company's plant in
Cynthiana, Kentucky
Cynthiana is a home rule-class city in Harrison County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 6,402 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of its county.
History
The settlement developed on both sides of the South Fork of the Licki ...
.
In 2018, 3M launched "Post-It Extreme Notes", which are more durable and water-resistant and which stick to wood and other materials in industrial environments.
Competing claims
Alan Amron
Alan Amron (born November 20, 1948) is an American inventor who holds 40 United States patents. He is also involved in a popular dispute of $400 million with 3M for the invention of the Post-it note.
Inventions
Noteworthy Amron inventions incl ...
claimed to have been the actual inventor in 1973 who disclosed the Post-it Note technology to 3M in 1974.
His 1997 suit against 3M was settled with a payment from 3M to Amron.
As part of the settlement, Amron agreed not to make future claims against the company unless the settlement agreement should be breached.
However, in 2016, he launched a further suit against 3M,
asserting that 3M was wrongly claiming to be the inventor, and seeking $400 million in damages. At a preliminary hearing, a
federal judge ordered the parties to undergo
mediation.
The suit was subsequently dismissed, upholding the previous 1998 settlement.
In July 2016 a former 3M marketing department employee, Daniel Dassow, stated that in 1974 Alan Amron had disclosed his Press-on memo sticky notes invention to 3M.
In art
![Postitmosiac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Postitmosiac.jpg)
"The Yellow Stickee Diary of a Mad Secretary", by Rosa Maria Arenas, is the mini
graphic journal of an office worker/artist, exhibited July 7 through August 25, 2013, at the Michigan Institute of Contemporary Art (MICA) Gallery in
Lansing, Michigan. The 41 drawings displayed are a tiny percentage of the more than 2000 original drawings that constitute the Yellow Stickee Diary Project which Arenas created while working temp jobs from 1994 to 2005. Printed with archival inks on archival paper, the reproductions include "stickee sized" (3″ × 5″) framed prints and enlargements of the original drawings (which were all done on Post-It Notes).
In 2012, Turkish artist Ardan Özmenoğlu was selected to have a solo exhibition at Bertrand Delacroix Gallery in the art district of
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northe ...
. The exhibition, titled "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "Out of many, one"), opened November 15, 2012 and featured large scale works on Post-It Notes.
!['Occupy Paradeplatz' in Zürich 2011-10-22 14-52-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/%27Occupy_Paradeplatz%27_in_Z%C3%BCrich_2011-10-22_14-52-16.JPG)
In 2004,
Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli (born 1963 in Sassari, Sardinia, Italy) is an Italian author, editor, architect, and curator. She is currently the Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture & Design as well as the Director of R&D at the Museum of Modern ...
, a curator of
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
and
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
, included Post-it Notes in a show entitled "Humble Masterpieces".
Rebecca Murtaugh, a
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
artist, who uses Post-it Notes in her artwork, in 2001 created an installation by covering her whole bedroom with $1000 worth of the notes, using the ordinary yellow for objects she saw as having less value and
neon colors for more important objects, such as the bed.
In 2000, the 20th anniversary of Post-it Notes was celebrated by having artists create artworks on the notes. One such work, by the artist
R. B. Kitaj
Ronald Brooks Kitaj (; October 29, 1932 – October 21, 2007) was an American artist who spent much of his life in England.
Life
He was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States. His Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne ...
, sold for £640 in an auction, making it the most valuable Post-It Note on record.
The Lennon Wall, a message board created during the
2014 Hong Kong protests
A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014.
The protests began after t ...
from a stretch of curved staircase in the
Central Government Complex, is covered in multi-colored Post-It Notes with handwritten messages from supporters.
Satiregram, a parody account on
Instagram by Euzcil Castaneto, showcases handwritten messages on Post-it Notes that describe typical pictures people would post on Instagram.
Software implementations
Virtual Post-It Notes have been created for
computers in the form of
desktop notes. These include 3M's own Post-it Brand Software Notes,
Stickies in
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
Sticky Notes in
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
, or other applications like ShixxNOTE.
Virtual Post-It–like notes are also available online using
Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking and task management application. It is developed by the Evernote Corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. It is intended for archiving and creating notes in which photos, audio and saved web content can ...
,
Google Keep
Google Keep is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms and Google Sites. G ...
, or
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking software developed by Microsoft. It is available as part of the Microsoft Office suite and since 2014 has been free on all platforms outside the suite. OneNote is designed for free-form information gathering ...
.
In 1997, 3M sued
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
for
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...
infringement for using the term "Post-It" in a help file.
Notes
References
External links
* ''Acrylate-copolymer microspheres''
dhesive formula* ''Repositionable Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive Sheet Material''
heet materialPost-it homepage*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Post-It Note
3M brands
American inventions
Paper products
Printing and writing paper
Products introduced in 1977
Stationery
Office equipment