The later inventor must, therefore, obtain a license from the earlier inventor to be able to exploit their invention.

"Gertrude was one of the early inventors of self-promotion as we know it today," Ms. Chapman said.

Its final judgment adjudicating one party as an earlier inventor is called a priority award, or simply an award.

Leupold is also credited as an early inventor of air pump.

This was the method used by early inventors such as Haslett and Tyndall.

But whereas the creations of earlier inventors once merely threatened a village, after Hiroshima they endangered an entire world.

The building was the nation's first patent office, and it still has on display some of the models that were submitted by early inventors seeking patents.

Today's chromed pans, which can cost up to $1,000, are a far cry from the rough ones that hung around the necks of the early inventors.

We were the only early inventors, you know.

Like earlier inventors, the Dolls allowed their audiences to delude themselves.