Robert Kearns takes on the Detroit automakers who he claims stole his idea for the intermittent windshield wiper.
Based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns' long battle with the U.S. automobile industry, Flash of Genius tells the tale of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity would come at a heavy price. But this determined engineer refused to be silenced, and he took on the corporate titans in a battle that nobody thought he could win. The Kearns were a typical 1960s Detroit family, trying to live their version of the American Dream. Local university professor Bob married teacher Phyllis and, by their mid-thirties, had six kids who brought them a hectic but satisfying Midwestern existence. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob's creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it. Ignored, threatened and then buried in years of litigation, Bob is haunted by what was done to his family and their future. He becomes a man obsessed with justice and the conviction that his life's work-or for that matter, anyone's work-be acknowledged by those who stood to benefit. And while paying the toll for refusing to compromise his dignity, this everyday David will try the unthinkable: to bring Goliath to his knees.—Anonymous
It's the early 1960s Detroit. Dr. Robert W. Kearns is a husband, father, engineering professor, and sometimes inventor. Out for a drive during a rainstorm, Bob, who suffered an eye injury during his honeymoon years earlier, wonders why his car's windshield wipers couldn't function more like the human eyelid in clearing away excess liquid whenever required so as to be able to see clearly at all times. As such, he goes about inventing windshield wipers that can operate at variable speeds for whatever the appropriate rain condition. He and his longtime friend, Gil Previck, who works in the automotive industry, patent his design. Protective of his intellectual property, Bob wants to manufacture and sell the product to the big auto makers. They learn that all the big players have been working on the idea for years - what the industry has coined the intermittent wiper - but that none of the auto makers has yet come close to a workable design. Macklin Tyler, an executive at Ford, shows interest in Bob's product. Getting what he believes is verbal contract from Tyler to proceed, Bob both provides a prototype to Ford and begins the process of finding a factory location. However, Bob and Gil later officially learn, after one non-returned phone call after another, that Ford decides not to proceed with them, but unofficially learn it's because they have stolen Bob's design and have manufactured the wiper themselves. Bob and Gil have different approaches in how to deal with Ford. Gil wants to move slowly in not alienating the industry, his customers. Bob, on the other hand, wants recognition that Ford stole his idea. Bob will find that most people who he looks to for help take an approach closer to Gil's, believing that Ford wields the power in time and money. As such, Bob is often alone in his fight against Ford. As Bob goes on his mission for what he considers justice, he will have to decide too how much is enough in the toll of what he's doing on his relationships with his wife Phyllis and his children, and by association their collective welfare, as well as his own health and mental well being.—Huggo
On his wedding night in 1953 in Detroit Michigan, an errant champagne cork renders college engineering professor Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) almost completely blind in his left eye.Detroit is the automobile town of the USA, with all the major car companies situated there like Ford Chrysler, Jeep, GM, AMC, Jeep and Dodge.A decade later, he is happily married to Phyllis (Lauren Graham) and the father of six children. As he drives his Ford Galaxie through a light rain, the constant movement of the windshield wipers irritates his troubled vision. Robert realizes that he has to turn to windshield wiper on and off, as when it is on, the windshield is clean, but the wipers drag on the squeaky-clean glass surface. And when the wipers are off, the windshield gets covered with rain drops very quickly rendering it useless.The incident inspires him to create a wiper blade mechanism modeled on the human eye, which blinks every few seconds rather than continuously. Robert realizes after a little testing that he cannot create a time gap between wipes mechanically and that he might be able to achieve the effect electronically.
With financial support from Gil Previck (Dermot Mulroney) (who owns a car dealership), Kearns converts his basement into a laboratory and develops a prototype he tests in a fish tank before installing it in his car. Robert knows that this is a huge deal as 20 million cars are built in America each year and each one of them would require Robert's wiper.Gil Previck is supportive of Robert when he says that he wants to manufacture the wipers on his own. Gil finds out that the big 3 automobile manufacturers have been working on the "Intermittent" wiper, and Mercury has been working on it for over a year. So, there is a demand for the product.Gil encourages Robert to demonstrate his product to Ford, who are interested to have a meeting.
Robert patents his invention and demonstrates it for Ford researchers, who had been working on a similar project without success. The instrument that Robert showcases has perfected both variable speed and variable dwell for the windshield wiper.Kearns refuses to explain how his mechanism works until he hammers out a favorable deal with the corporation. The Ford engineers stipulate that the wiper has to work for a million and a half cycles under operating conditions of 270 degrees Fahrenheit under the hood.The Ford researchers relay the news to Macklin that Robert has solved the problem of the intermittent wiper, but he did not share the solution to protect his intellectual property. Macklin knows that Ford can sell a lot of cars with the gadget and decides to bring Robert on board.
Impressed with Kearns' results, executive Macklin Tyler (Mitch Pileggi) asks him to prepare a business plan detailing the cost of the individual units, which Robert intends to manufacture himself. Macklin insists on having a sample working unit, which he says needs to be submitted for approval to the automobile regulator, since the windshield wiper is classified as a safety device.Considering this to be sufficient commitment from the company, Robert rents a 30,000 square foot warehouse he plans to use as a factory and forges ahead. He contracts Motorola to supply him the transistors and capacitors for the electronic components of his unit.Robert presents Ford with the pricing information it requested along with a sample unit, then waits for their response. Time passes, and when nobody contacts Robert, he begins placing phone calls that are never returned.Previck informs Robert that Ford has pulled the plug on the deal, and they want out.
Frustrated, Kearns attends a Ford dealers convention at which the latest model of the Mustang is unveiled, promoting the intermittent wiper as a selling point. Realizing the company has used his idea without giving him credit or payment for it. Robert wants to sue Ford, but Previck wants to negotiate a settlement with Ford.The whole sequence of events hits Robert very badly and even starts effecting his performance in class at the University. Pervick says that he did $17 million in business the previous year and that Ford is his biggest customer. He is reluctant to antagonize Ford over this matter of the windshield wiper and even adds that technically the patents belong to him, since he paid for them.Robert begins his descent into a despair so deep he boards a Greyhound bus and heads for Washington, D.C., where he apparently hopes to find legal recourse.
Instead, Maryland state troopers remove him from the bus (when Robert claims that the POTUS has invited him to Washington for a meeting) and escort him to a mental hospital, where he is treated for a nervous breakdown. Finally released when doctors decide his obsession has subsided, he returns home a broken man, determined to receive public acknowledgment for his accomplishment. Thus, begins years of legal battles, during which time his wife leaves him, and he becomes estranged from his children.
Ford's first offer to settle is for $400K, which Robert refuses as Ford refuses to accept any wrongdoing on its part. After 4 yrs Ford ups the offer to $ 1 MM but still without any acceptance of wrongdoing. Life passes Robert by as his kids grow up & visit him from time to time from their mother's.
At trial, Kearns represents himself after attorney Gregory Lawson (Alan Alda) withdraws from the case, because Robert refuses to settle. Eventually his ex-wife and children support him in his endeavor. Toward the end of the trial, Ford offers Kearns a $30 million settlement, but with no admission of wrongdoing. He decides to leave his fate in the hands of the jury, who determine that Ford infringed his patents, but that the infringement was not deliberate. The jury awards him $10.1 million. The closing credits indicate that Robert later wins an $18.7 million judgment from Chrysler Corporation as well.
