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Dega704 OP t1_ja3adyr wrote

For more detailed accounts of both stories I recommend reading the book The Master Switch by Tim Wu.

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Landlubber77 t1_ja3axf3 wrote

Sarnoff leads one to a sawed-off and one to Smirnoff.

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NewCanadianMTurker t1_ja3d7yg wrote

Unfortunately, stuff like this happens all the time. It's common practice for big companies to look for interesting new patents and modify them slightly so they can legally steal product ideas from others. If I ever come up with a million-dollar idea, the first person I'll tell it to is a patent lawyer.

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GeneralChimpy t1_ja3g9v0 wrote

Just a business daddy doing business things

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iamsce t1_ja3hw9u wrote

See, if somebody stole my invention the last thing I would do is commit suicide. That fucker would be dead long before me.

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Sdog1981 t1_ja3me4x wrote

You can't steal FM, it exists with or without content on it. FM receivers/transmitters were invented to use FM frequencies. Those were the inventions in question.

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DnBenjamin t1_ja4077g wrote

Yeah this is why we have patents for reasonable inventions that go on to claim absurdly broad and vague things. You have to patent not only the specific actual patents invention, but also every conceivable generalization of it.

“Claims… 442. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the handle is cranked by ur mom.”

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McMacHack t1_ja44mjv wrote

The two inventors stole their inventions from Nicola Tesla anyway so they sort of had it coming.

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McMacHack t1_ja5fr6n wrote

Guglielmo Marconi is credited as the inventor of the Radio but Nicola Tesla created a working prototype years earlier but never patented it as it was just one part of a larger project he was working on. Marconi actually used some of Tesla's designs directly in his radio. So Nicola Tesla invented a "radio" used as prototype in his wireless power transmission experiment in 1893 while Marconi patented and presented his radio in 1895. Even though it was Tesla's designs and concept, one could argue that Marconi delivered the radio as an actual concept by using it to transmit and receive telegraphs.

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Deadbody13 t1_ja5lcju wrote

My Communications professor told us about this while explaining phase and frequency modulation. Said he developed it and exhausted his fortune defending it and died poor. Told us we should look into it because it's a really interesting story. I never looked into it.

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satbirkira t1_ja5s7ib wrote

> If I ever come up with a million-dollar idea, the first person I'll tell it to is a patent lawyer.

This is good advice for a startup, but terrible advice for inventors. What you should do is to learn how to write and file a provisional patent in the USA, to get one year of patent pending status. And then try to licence out the technology to a company, who will often pay for the complete utility patent for you, or with an advance.

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ghotiaroma t1_ja65n22 wrote

> so they can legally steal

It doesn't even need to be legal, courts will almost always rule for the richest party.

I used to work for a lawyer who explained judges never want their judgements appealed or criticized and that weighs heavily in their decisions. Fucking the little guy is usually a safe move for a judges career. Piss off McDonalds or Amazon and your career can be over.

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ghotiaroma t1_ja66a5i wrote

They can also, and often do, just steal it any way. You can't go to a cop and file a complaint, you have to have a legal team fight a corporation.

The loophole is that our court systems are a tool for the rich, not the little guy.

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YourlocalTitanicguy t1_ja6w89x wrote

Sarnoff has a piece of Titanic history too.

Working the wireless on top of Wanamaker’s in New York, Sarnoff was able to pick up the faint sounds of Titanic’s distress calls. He then spent the next 72 hours trying to tune in to the messages firing across the Atlantic to Cape Race, relaying news to the world desperate to hear who had survived.

… except no he didn’t. Sarnoff totally fabricated this story in the 20s. He was managing a team of radio men who did work in the days following the Titanic sinking, but… so was every other east coast station. He didn’t hear Titanic’s distress call- it was a Sunday night, Wanamakers was closed, and its set was unlikely to be strong enough to cover that distance anyway, and he certainly didn’t stay at the keys for three days. He just… went to work like normal , even took a spa day in the middle of it.

But Sarnoff’s self created legend stuck strong, even mentioned in his obituary. There are good sources and reputable researchers who have recounted it, despite it not being in any way true at all.

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greed-man t1_ja7j1os wrote

Baird invented one method of television. What is referred to as a mechanical version. It worked.

Farnsworth invented a different method, what is referred to as electronic. The market chose the electronic method. It worked.

Both statements are correct.

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RealJonathanBronco t1_ja7jk9c wrote

I think that's an old world mentality that's on its way out. Social media is increasing the reach of the average person by the day. I feel like we're approaching the era where pissing off an influencer will signal boost as much as pissing off a company.

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greed-man t1_ja7ko02 wrote

I see your point, but put this in context.

Baird invented a TV process that gained very little traction. It absolutely worked, BBC was using it (although receiving sets were far and few between), but BBC gave up on it as newer methods came along. Baird's picture quality was poor (30 lines), and not portable in any way. 99% of the world had no idea that this even existed.

Farnsworth invented the process of electronic TV, along with Zworkin's CRT tube, which had much better picture, was much more portable, and reliable. It became the standard that the world adopted.

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fib16 t1_ja8wkii wrote

Well. They pretty obviously came up with Facebook but an idea and execution are two very different things. Zuckerberg made it was it is. If the brothers did it themselves we may not have fb today. It may have died. So they’re lucky a smart person “stole” it and made it into a multibillion dollar company and they got paid a shit ton for it. They were lucky imo. They claimed they lost out on billions. I say they got paid just for their idea and doing nothing else.

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