
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990                   TAG: 9007140180
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short

INVENTOR GETS $5.2 MILLION FROM FORD

An inventor whose patents for intermittent windshield wipers were infringed upon by Ford Motor Co. won a judgment of nearly $5.2 million from the automaker Friday in federal court.

Ford said it was satisfied with the amount it must pay Robert W. Kearns, 63, of Gaithersburg, Md. Kearns, who sought $141 million, was not present for the verdict, but his attorney and son said they were disappointed and expected him to appeal.

Kearns has similar suits pending against General Motors Corp., Chrysler Corp., Daimler-Benz, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and about 20 other companies.

Kearns rejected a $30 million settlement offered by Ford in February. Kearns invented the wipers in 1962, while tinkering on his Ford Galaxie as part of a doctoral dissertation project to make wipers blink the way eyelids do.

- Associated Press

by CNB