HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 03-11 Sticky lawsuit: $400M dispute over Post-It inventor CNBC 3/11/2016 Sticky lawsuit:$400M dispute over Post-It inventor
Sticky lawsuit.- $400M dispute over 4.
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Post-It inventor
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Kirk McKoy I Los Angeles Times I Getty Images
Post—it notes
Alan Amron has invented a battery-powered squirt gun, a digital photo
frame, even a laser system that may someday provide a visible first-down
line for fans inside NFL stadiums. He holds 40 U.S. patents, but he's most
interested in an invention for which he gets no credit: the Post-it Note, that
ubiquitous sticky-back product made into a worldwide success by the 3
Amron, 67, says he invented what he called the Press-on Memo in 1973, a
full year before 3M scientists developed what later became known as the
Post-it Note. Although Amron settled a previous lawsuit against 3M, he's
suing again in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. He says the company
breached its previous agreement not to take credit. The settlement is
confidential.
Now Amron wants$400 million in damages—and something he says is
even more important to him.
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"I just want them to admit that I am the inventor and that they will stop
saying that they are the inventor,"Amron said in a recent interview. "Every
single day that they keep claiming they invented it damages my reputation
and defames me."
3M, based in Maplewood, MIn nesota, is a one of the 30 companies that
make up the Clow Jones Industrial Average on the New York Stock
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3/11/20 16 Sticky lawsuit:$4onm dispute over Pov+k|nvvnm,
Exchange. The maker ofScotch tape, Ace bandages, sandpaper,fi|me,
office products, window insulation, paint remover and hundreds ofother
products earned more than $3O billion in revenue in2O15. according tothe
oumpeny'oweboite.
The company says Post-it Notes were invented by3Mscientists Arthur Fry
and Spencer Silver, both members of the National Inventors Hall ofFame.
Silver came up with the adhesive—one that could be used over and over
yet not mar surfaces to which iL attached—and Fry the idea mf using i1for
the small, yellow squares of paper to become sticky-back notes.
"3W1 developed Post-it Notes without any input nr inspiration from Mr.
Amnon and i1ie false and misleading for him iu state ur suggest that he
created, invented, or had any role in the product's deve|opmanL."said
company spokeswoman Donna L Fleming Runyon in an email. The
company declined to comment further on the lawsuit.
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Florida federal court ma dispute overwxo invented the ubiquitous Post-it Note.
Fry, now 84 and retired, is named aoa defendant inAmnon's lawsuit, but
Silver is not Fry did not respond 1man email and a phone message
seeking comment. Silver also isretired, Runyon said.
The history mf invention ie full of people competing for credit for the same
idea, and often things come about because smart people are working
separately. Take the microchip: Texas Instruments and Fairchild
Semiconductor battled for a decade in court over who came first and
deserved the patent, deciding amid the wrangling it was best to work out a
licensing deal for both companies.
/\mron said his idea in 1973 came about with chewing gum. He was
looking for a way to stick a note on his refrigerator for his wife and used
gum, providing inspiration for the adhesive he would use on his Press-on
Memo. That year he took the sticky notes toa New York trade show and
met briefly with two 3K4 executives, Amrmn said, but nothing came ofthe
meeting.
Fry and Silver came up with what 3KA originally called the Pn*es'n' Peel
memo pad in1Q74' but i1 wasn't brought to the market until 1877 and didn't
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3/11/20 16 Sticky lawsuit:$4onm dispute over Pov+k|nvvnm,
really take off until 1S8O. when it was renamed the Post-it Note. It's now
one of the top-selling items in3[N'e consumer products division,which in
2015 earned $44 billion for all products, company figures show.
Post-it Notes have become so iconic that in the 1B&7 movie "Romyand
Michele's High School Reuninn."the title characters, played byLisa
Kudrow and Mira Somino. claim credit for inventing them to impress their
former classmates.
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U was also in1Q97 that Amron sued 3K8 claiming he was the true inventor.
The case was settled, and Amron agreed to release the company from any
future claims,which intellectual property lawyers say umuN make his new
Florida lawsuit difficult 1owin.
"| would predict what he has left perhaps ia the enforcement ofm
settlement agreement but not the claims heispumuing."said Miami
attorney Jeffrey Feldman, who ia not involved in the case. "The first thing |
would want to know ie whether or not there was an agreement between
them regarding who was allowed ho say vvhat."
Amron said the agreement was that neither could claim credit because,
years earlier, o Swiss inventor had supposedly devised a similar product.
But that turned out to be a less-useful mdhesiwe, not the entire sticky note,
and Amnon said he felt 3M used the Swiss tale totrick him into the
settlement-and im now breaching that deal by claiming credit for the
product.
No trial date ia set for Amnon'a lawsuit, which survived a3M initial attempt
last month io get it thrown out based in part on the prior settlement of
similar claims.A federal judge has ordered both sides into mediation 10
possibly reach a settlement and set various legal deadlines through
December of this year.
Meanwhile, 3K8 continues hz invent things. According to the company's
year-end 2015 statement, 5G5U.S. patents were granted bz3M—bringing
its total tm more than 1Q5.00O.
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