Interesting: the Sony walkman is often used as an example of a great innovation that changed the way to listen music in the 1980's. Thanx to one of my students (Diego M) I learned that a German-Brazilian by the name of Andreas Pavel actually obtained a patent for the Stereobelt in 1977, just a couple of years before Sony's amazingly popular "invention".
This is the USPTO entry for the Stereobelt:
patent 4,412,106
Google patent entry
CNET's article (2004)
It is indeed very suspicious that Sony would settle out of court apparently paying Pavel millions of dollars after a long legal battle. Such a big company would have crunched the little guy if it had a case. So, this may be an interesting example of another "famous innovation" that wasn't that original in the first place.
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