It never sat right with George Whipple when he won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1934 for his invention of dual ply toilet paper. Even though he shared the prize with two other doctors, he knew in his heart that his assistant Bill Charmen was the man who really invented it when he was caught short one day in the lab and was forced to use two pieces of typing paper that were stuck together. Mr. Whipple stole the idea and patented it and licensed it for millions of dollars.
Whipple was celebrated for his contributions to human hygiene, won the Nobel prize for medicine and became rich and famous while his assistant died alone and penniless. Whipple later named his company after his erstwhile friend and paid tribute to him in a series of commercials that are repeated to this day.
Unfortunately Mr Charmen's contributions have been wiped from the history books. So to speak.
(Nice Guys Finish Second, Men who Lost the Nobel Prize, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Playboy Press, 1998)
5 comments:
Mr. Whipple stole that idea? You're shitting me.
Under our system of patent law, a patent rightfully issues to the first to invent rather than the first to file. This means that Charmen could sue Whipple or worse, invalidate Whipple's patent for wrongful representation before the Patent Office.
35 U.S.C. 102:
"A person shall be entitled to a patent unless -
(a)-(d) or
(f) he did not himself invent the subject matter sought to be patented,.."
FWIW, there is movement underfoot to change this statute to a first-to-file scenario, to bring the United States into harmony with the rest of the world.
Oppose this-don't let the Charmens of the world get their asses wiped.
Quite a thrilling story.
I'm all flushed.
My Grandfather worked in Mr. Whipples lab with Mr. Whipple and Mr. Charmen.
on his death bed he would constantly wonder outloud about what happened to the two pieces of typong paper he had stuck together with a $100 bill betweeen them.
Now we know.
Well, not like we want it back now.
Two of those two ply tissues are quite sufficient to do the job. But the temptation to go to three two ply tissues is almost irresistible. So you end up all wadded up back there.
Yes, there is tragedy in this world.
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