The bankruptcies of technically gifted engineers illustrate the difference between engineering skill and business judgment. An example from engineering-history and ethics teaching urges inventors to patent ideas before showing them to prospective backers. It then considers dated physical records of an idea, including copies posted by recorded delivery and stored securely. A personal account of manuscripts kept by a lawyer illustrates the interest in proving when work existed, without establishing what legal protection those methods provide.
Notable Point · 3:28:05-3:30:42
Engineering ability and the protection of an invention
The engineering-teaching digression separates technical achievement from the commercial work needed to retain control of it.