from Hacker News

The inventor of microfleece refused to patent it.

by calanya on 10/16/10, 11:12 AM with 21 comments

• by dtf on 10/16/10, 11:38 AM

  Another fascinating story about Feuerstein from his Wikipedia page:

  When the Malden Mills factory burnt down on December 11, 1995, Feuerstein decided not only to use his insurance money to rebuild it, but to also pay the salaries of all the now-unemployed workers while it was being rebuilt. Feuerstein spent millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 6 months. By going against common CEO business practices, especially at a time when most companies were downsizing and moving overseas, he achieved a small degree of fame....it appears that applied ethics in business has positive consequences as Malden Mills continues to garner lucrative Department of Defense (DOD) contracts for 'smart' products that interweave fiber optic cabling, electronic biosensors, and USB ports into polar fleece fabric.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Feuerstein

• by danielnicollet on 10/16/10, 12:14 PM

  A guy who spends $25M for what he perceives as good ethics and doesn't try to self-promote the good deed has my kudos indeed! regardless of where his ideology comes from. Something that many fame and money crazed entrepreneurs should learn from these days...

  While it would cost Aaron Feuerstein $25,000,000 to 'do the right thing' as well as the turmoil of a November 2001 filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it appears that applied ethics in business has positive consequences as Malden Mills continues to garner lucrative Department of Defense (DOD) contracts for 'smart' products that interweave fiber optic cabling, electronic biosensors, and USB ports into polar fleece fabric. Malden Mills was awarded a $16 million dollar DOD contract in 2006[2]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Feuerstein

• by doki_pen on 10/16/10, 3:26 PM

  My dad has worked at malden mills for over 30. Aaron has always wanted malden mills to compete on new innovation. He believed that no one could keep up with him and imitators would always be a few steps behind. Couple that with the extreme high quality of the production process and patents seem opposed to the companies secret sauce.

  Unfortunately, in he is no longer there. Was it a successful experiment? It's hard to say. He really took a beating on the 95 fire. He kept all employees on the payroll through the entire episode, even after getting totally screwed by insurance. He saved Lawrence from an even worse fate then its had. That was probably more import to him then his own success.

• by muon on 10/16/10, 1:50 PM

  Another example is the way Volvo made their 3 way seatbelt patent available to other manufacturers, and motorists, to benefit from it.

  http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/strapping-success-the-3...

• by TamDenholm on 10/16/10, 12:27 PM

  Just out of interest. What's to stop some other guy coming along and patenting it, then unleashing lawsuit city on all the other vendors? Is there some kind of protection for that, to assure it remains free to all?

• by asr on 10/16/10, 9:36 PM

  Just curious, is there some sort of GNU for patents? If I were going to not patent my invention I'd want some way to make sure nobody else came along, filed for some trivially new derivation, and then managed to extract most of the value of the original invention.

  Maybe some central licensing organization that would license patents for free as long as the licensees agreed to some GNU-like terms... or is this not an issue in patent law?

• by chopsueyar on 10/16/10, 11:53 AM

  Decycle the bottles into Old Navy fleeces.

  If he had patented it, would there be the same 'push' for residential plastic recycling? Would we just bury or burn it?

• by mayutana on 10/16/10, 6:34 PM

  Can't imagine surving the oncoming winter without my fleece clothings. Thanks for digging it up.

• by Andrew_Quentin on 10/16/10, 9:39 PM

  He is an idiot which is why he has gone bankrupt. As much as people here do not like patents because they have some negative side effects, on balance it is only fair that the inventor benefits from his invention. If the inventor is a scientist, he can license his invention to the men of business. Giving it free for all does no one good. That is not how we have advanced to this day and age. Laws have reason. They are made by people of reason. Not congress mind you, but the very rational and experienced judges who are imminently familiar with the intricacies of every day circumstances.

  If a man who invents something beneficial ends bankrupt is to be applauded is anything but fair.