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1953 Robert Kearns suffers champagne related eye injury
In 1953 on his wedding night Robert Kearns suffers an eye injury due to a champagne cork hitting his left eye causing him to go blind, -
Kearns, now married with 6 childern, is driving in light rain
As Robert Kearns is driving his Ford Galaxy in the light rain his windshield wipers movements are disturbing his eyes greatly. This then sparks Kearns to recreate the windshield wiper to a more logical design. His design was for what we now know as the intermittent windshielf wiper. Older model windshield wipers on had two settings, one for heavy rain, and one for light rain. Kearn saw an opportunity to make a wiper that acted more like the human eye, in the way that it blinks away tears. -
Kearns Meets with his friend Gil to discuss the wipers potential
Robert Kearns meets with his friend Gil Previck for financial support and to discuss the future of his "Blinking Eye" windshield wiper. Gil goes for the idea and funds Kearns to futher his protoype and pursure the Ford motor company as a client. -
Robert and Gil meet with a head Ford engineer
Robert and Gil patent Roberts invention before they set up a meeting with a Ford head engineer and demonstrate their working blinking eye prototype sucessfully. This sparks Kearn to look into manufactering the wipers himself instead of using an outside source or Ford. -
Kearns and Previck meet with a Ford higher up to make a deal.
Kearns and Previck go to a meeting with Ford higher Macklin Tyler who, after seeing the working device, is interested in making a deal. Tyler then asks Kearns to give him one working unit so he may send have it approved by the government as its a safety device that needs pre approval. Kearns is hesitant but gives in and agrees to hand over a working unit. -
Kearns and Previck meet to discuss future plans
Time has passed and Kearns has rented a warehouse and gathered equipment to begin his manufacturing process. Kearns meets with Previck who then informs him that Tyler has backed out of their intial deal. Kearns then sees a car driving by the Ford facility with his intermittent windshield wiper. Kearns follows the cars to the Ford auto show where he finds that the new Mustang for that year has his patented windshield wiper as as main feature. -
After being throw out of the auto show Kearns gets to work defending his patented invention
Kearns gets to work with Previck deciding on how to apporach defending his intellecutal property against the Ford motor company. Kearns decides to proceed with a lawsuit and after some consideration and aggrevation Kearns makes the decision to pursue the lawsuit by self representation. He chooses this route because he feels only he is looking out for his patents best interest. I found that this films depiction of patent laws from that time period were accurate. -
Kearn getting kicked out continued
The Ford motor company thought they could take advantage of the small time inventor due to the size of their company, however Kearns realized his patents meant that his invention was protected legally and was able to go after the company and have a legitimate case. -
Kearn takes some time away from his family and ends up in a mental hospital
Kearns is angered by how his patent was being used without his consent and how his business partners werent jumping to the legal action he desperatley wanted. He seeks to self represent and ends up going away from his family for a while and getting found by police on a bus. He spends 2 months in a mental hospital before returning home with his family believing that he is done with the lawsuit. Kearns pulls aside his oldest son to ask for help with his new lawyer. -
Kearns meets with a new lawyer
Kearns meets with his lawyer to talk.
Kearns and his wife go to meet with a new firm regarding his case, Some time passes and Kearns then attends a dinner with his new lawyer who informs him Ford is willing to settle at somewhere between $250,000-$400,000. Kearns turns down the offer and begins to read up on patent laws to represent himself in court. -
4 Years later Kearns is still pursuing his lawsuit
Kearns is still going after the Ford motor company by himself. Hes contacted at his home by someone representing the Ford motor company offering $1,000,000. Kearns denies the money and proceeds to go forward with the suit. Kearns learns his case will be up soon and prepares with his family more. -
Kearns goes to court
Robery Kearns goes to court against the Ford motor company after a long trial he is awarded $10.1 million. -
Court Decision
The Courts Final Decision In this scene we see Kearns hard legal work pay off as his first case, against the Ford Motor company, finally pays off. This sparks a chain of lawsuits from Kearns defending his patent to almost every car manufacter. He successfully self represents and protects his patented invention.
