Some consider him the country’s greatest inventor since Thomas Edison. He holds more than 550 patents. MIT gives out a $500,000 award that bares his name to an outstanding inventor every year. There is even a center named after him at the Smithsonian Institute. For many, Jerome Lemelson, who died in 1997, seems to embody the innovative spirit of America.
But his is not an unblemished legacy. There is another side to Lemelson, one that his foundation tries to downplay. Reaping more than $1.3 billion through licensing fees from more than 900 U.S. companies since the mid-20th century, Lemelson is a tyrant in the eyes of corporate America. He is considered the godfather of patent trolling and the most flagrant exploiter of the U.S. patent system in history.
