Necessity is the mother of invention. The father is unknown.
The following rant spewed forth on June 6, 2007.
American Inventor – Episode 1
As we witnessed when Melinda Doolittle was voted off of American Idol last month, the most talented reality show contestants don't always win: Sometimes, they don't even make it past the first round.
Such was the case with Bridgette Camarena tonight, on the first episode of American Inventor, Season Two. Camarena invented the Method for Biodegradable Material Having Water and Uric Acid Activated Color Images, first posted on PS back in 2004. Perhaps a catchier name would have helped?
But the invention is very original. Perhaps not the most original invention I've seen, but easily so on tonight's program. Personally, I think she should have targeted it towards advertising executives instead of toilet-training toddlers. With the popularity of ads in public restrooms, a picture that magically appears when you piss on it is the be-all and end-all!
Okay, I can see how it would have challenged the cameramen to film it in later rounds, but she really should have made it a little further. This lady studied the chemical makeup of urine and created a paper that reacts with it--I'm impressed! And they let the Auto Bib woman continue to the next round!?!
Hello, have your heard of prior art? You might want to take a look at the Disposable Bib or the Auto Bib with Integral Tray Portion. Wouldn't it be appropriate if the million dollar prize was spent in patent litigation? And did it really take her seventeen years to come up with a detachable bib? If she publicly disclosed it, it could be in the public domain already (gasp of horror). And we all know that the public domain is a very bad thing. (Kidding. Anyone with remote interest in intellectual property should really check out that link, though.)
And what about poor little Anthony Moebst, the little kid who was given the "No" for his baby wipe/diaper combo and then pathetically told by judge Pat Croce that he really "won" because he gained four new fans—the judges? Oh, Moebst really "won" by being broadcast on national television bawling his eyes out—'cause that's such a wonderful thing to have happen when you're ten years old. A real blue ribbon moment. Even more insulting was not only did they reject his idea, but they acted like it didn't even qualify as an invention! Time for another prior art smackdown! If it's not a real invention, then why did the US Patent and Trademark Office award patent #4,738,678 for basically the same thing? And I believe this criticism first came from judge Sara Blakely, whose brilliant work of undeniable genius was pantyhose that ends above the knee. (Wow, it's as if you took a sock and cut a hole in it! All by yourself.) My only advice to you, kid, is check the prior art next time and you might spare yourself the humiliation.
The moral is, if everybody in the country would just look at the thousands of patents issued each week, we wouldn't get our hopes up for some of these lackluster inventions... and I would not be so utterly alone.
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