PROF put wiper in Ford's future
By Jim Erwin
The Associated Press
DETROIT - College professor Robert Kearns was 35 in 1963 when he got this idea of a windshield wiper that would pause between sweeps in mist or light rain, and he rigged one up on a 1962 Ford.
Kearns showed his invention, called an "intermittent windshield wiper," to the Ford Motor Co., where he said engineers talked to him at length - in fact for seven years - but never bought his wipers. Instead, they decided they didn't want his and came out with their own.
Yesterday, Ford "bought" at last, when a federal jury awarded Kearns $6.3 million, and said Ford had "unintentionally" infringed on the professor's patents. Ford said it was satisfied with the verdict, though sources close to Kearns said he might appeal because he believes he deserves more money.
Fights Ford:
The Wayne State professor got the idea, he said, because of a champagne cork that almost put out his left eye on his wedding night. Blinking helped clear his eye, and he got the idea of a "blinking" windshield wiper.
Kearns took out patents as he kept talking with Ford. When intermittent wipers started showing up on Fords starting in 1972, and then spread throughout the auto industry, Kearns sued.
Kearns said that Ford had pirated his wiper, and for 12 years he fought Ford, going through a nervous breakdown and a failed marriage.
The $6.3 million jury award was based on what Kearns called Ford's profit of $6.85 on each of more than 20 million intermittent-wiper options it sold from 1972-1988, when his main patents were in effect.
District Judge Avern Cohn reduced the award to $5,163,842, but that is only what is owed to Kearns since April 1978, when he originally filed suit.
And that may only be the beginning. Kearns now 62, has similar suits pending against General Motors Corp., Chrysler Corp., Daimler-Benz, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and more than 20 other companies. The Ford case was the first to go to trial.
