Alan Amron is suing conglomerate 3M Company for the second time over the Post-It Note, which he claims he invented as the Press-on Memo in 1973 a full year before 3M developed its own product. Mr Amron settled an earlier case against 3M for an undisclosed amount, but is now suing again on the grounds that 3M has allegedly breached its agreement not to take credit for inventing the product.
'I just want them to admit that I am the inventor and that they will stop saying that they are the inventor,' Mr Amron said. 'Every single day that they keep claiming they invented it damages my reputation and defames me.'
However, 3M Company – the makers of Scotch tape, Ace bandages and hundreds of other products – has refuted Mr Amron's claim to be the mastermind behind the Post-It, insisting that the product was first developed by 3M scientists Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver. '3M developed Post-It Notes without any input or inspiration from Mr Amron and it is false and misleading for him to state or suggest that he created, invented or had any role in the product's development,' said company spokesperson Donna L. Flemming Runyon. Mr Fry is listed as a defendant in Mr Amron's lawsuit.
Mr Amron currently holds 40 patents in the US, including for a battery-powered water squirt gun and a digital photo frame. 3M Company holds around 105,000 patents, recorded revenues of around $30bn last year and registered 565 patents in 2015 alone. Source: CNBC
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