Why is the spinner invention poor?
(@noahxboa/)
It's like hitting all the lottery numbers that came up and not sending the form: the woman who invented the spinner back in 1993 says she didn't "earn a penny" from its international success, only because she couldn't pay the patent renewal fee just before it became a global hysteria.
Katherine Hettinger, the woman who invented the fidget spinner, didn't know where to bury herself when she saw how the toy she invented sold millions around the world - without her seeing any money from it.
The fidget spinner became a trendy game in 2017 and since then it has been widely used, mainly because it helps people relax and concentrate on their tasks.
Catherine, who invented the toy to amuse her 7-year-old daughter, says she pitched the spinner idea to a number of toy retailers as early as 1993 — including Hasbro — but they rejected her idea.
She was smart to patent it in 1997, but it expired in 2005 because she couldn't afford its $400 renewal fee.
She has since lost the rights to the patent and anyone could make their own version without running into legal problems.
That's exactly what happened in 2014 when Scott McCoskey invented what he called the Torqbar, which was actually a spinner.
He claimed he invented it because he needed something to occupy his hands when his boss spoke monotonously in work meetings.
A few years later, the fidget spinner became one of the most popular toys on the market.
Since she didn't own the patent and didn't make the toy herself, Catherine didn't make any money from the spinner craze.
She told the Guardian that she didn't have the money to pay for the patent at the time and that she even had to move to a smaller apartment because she couldn't pay her rent.
She added that she understands that most inventions are not profitable - but believes that things could have looked different if someone had invested in her idea so many years ago.
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"Only about 3 percent of inventions make money. I watched other inventors mortgage their houses and lose a lot," she said then, "People asked me if it doesn't make me crazy that I gave up the patent, but the bottom line is I'm satisfied that people are enjoying something I created."
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