A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War

by Ronald K. Fierstein

One man Steve Jobs outspokenly admired was Edwin Land, the creator of Polaroid s instant photography. Jobs revered Land as "a national treasure," and modeled much of his career after his. Neither had a college degree, but both men built highly successful, innovative organizations. Both were perfectionists, micromanagers with fanatic attention to detail, consummate showmen and marketers. In many ways, Edwin Land was the original Steve Jobs. This riveting biography from the American Bar Association, visits the spectacular life of Edwin Land, breakthrough inventor. At the time of his death, he stood third on the list of our most prolific inventors, behind only Thomas Edison and one of Edison s colleagues. Land s most famous achievement of course, was the creation of a revolutionary film and camera system that could produce a photographic print moments after the picture was taken. The book takes you behind the scenes of his discoveries, his triumphs, and also the defeats of this reclusive genius. You'll learn details of Land s involvement over four decades with topsecret U.S. military intelligence efforts during World War II and through the Cold War in the service of seven American presidents. Additionally, you'll thrill to the compelling firsthand look at one of our nation s most important legal battles over intellectual property Polaroid versus Kodak. This corporate and legal struggle is a story of almost operatic dimension. What began as a cooperative and collegial relationship ended in Kodak s betrayal. The conflict led to an epic legal battle, a dramatic event for Land who, from the witness stand, personally starred in a compelling courtroom drama. More than a simple biography, this fascinating book is a biographical legal thriller that is not to be missed."

Genres: Business, Biography, History, Photography, Nonfiction, Science, Technology

969 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2015

Reviews

[Manish Bhangale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anybody who wants to understand the intricacies involved in high stake patent litigation.

If you really wish to understand people dynamics in big as well as small R & D set ups, I would say this one is the best title I have ever come across.

Even though it's a long read it keeps you glued to it and you end up feeling as if you are reading a sci-fi thriller.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ronald K. Fierstein has obviously done a great deal of research about Edwin Land and his company. The author tells the fascinating story of the reclusive genius who, as a teen, invented the plastic polarizer, which is still used almost a century later in countless popular applications including sunglasses and LCD screens.

Edwin Land (1909-1991) also pioneered the revolutionary one-step system of photography. He also made critical contributions to top-secret U. S. military intelligence efforts during WWII and the cold war. He had 535 patents in his name.

The author goes into detail about Land’s inventions in a step by step process that left me feeling as if I was watching over Land’s shoulder. The section about the trial goes into great detail even to the number of hotel rooms rented for the attorneys, legal secretaries and paralegals. I was amazed how long the case took; five years for doing depositions alone with each person taking 6 weeks or more.

Land dropped out of Harvard University to start his company to produce his polarizer discovery. His father counseled him to protect his invention with a patent. He took his father’s advice to heart and earned the sobriquet “Champion of Patents.”

This book goes into detail about The Polaroid v Kodak patent lawsuit, the unprecedented account of the most significant patent litigation of the twentieth century. Ronald K. Fierstein was a young lawyer working with Edwin Land on the team of litigators representing Polaroid in court. He later became a successful entertainment attorney.

The book is well written and reads like a legal thriller. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The books was 22 hours long. Peter Larkin narrated the book.

[Patrick Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Edwin Land is a fascinating inventor, worthy of a book telling his life story. And the story of Polaroid and its co-creator and rival Kodak is also a good story to tell. And I say that as someone who works in patent policy, so I don't need to be won over to the notion that a "patent war" can be compelling. And yet Fierstein didn't fully grab me with this book. It moves at a pretty slow pace, and is a bit hagiographic in its perception of Land, who was brilliant but also human. This would have perhaps worked better as a long-form article in Smithsonian Magazine or essay in The American Scholar, in other words shorter, tighter and more objective.

[Josh Stottman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting book about the history of the Polaroid company and the man behind its creation. Many preconceived notions I had were proven incorrect and I thoroughly enjoyed the details surrounding the patent war a subsequent court battles.

[Jason Braatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional narrative of the life and tribulations of Dr. Land and the famous Polaroid camera from the 1960's-1980s. This reads as both a biography of Dr. Land as well as a comprehensive analysis of where Polaroid (and Kodak) went wrong, and how each actually had quite a good position before killing each other. Literally. The two companies simply destroyed each other right in front of the public to see.

This isn't common nowadays, where modern value preservation theory would have likely created the need for Kodak to become innocuous and Polaroid a bit more malleable. But given that we're still making up this capitalism experiment as we go along, it's a blinding reminder of some of the dark sides of intellectual property law and how it can create an enormous amount of tension. In this case, it boiled simply down to a few works for a paper patent (Polaroid never commercialized it) and it's a good documentary on how management decisions were made a few decades ago.

As some reviewers point out, for some readers this would have expressed the point in a shorter format. I do agree with that, it's a little too detailed for some who (especially) are casual readers in the business book space. I believe the author was trying to satisfy that crowd along with the crowd who pours over every detail with multivariate "what-if" scenarios and it simply led to a longer book. For me, it was great, but I can see how others could skip a few chapters towards the end and be none-the-less-wiser for it.

For me personally, I give it an A+, great book from someone who was actually in the courtroom.

[Audrey Knutson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book initially interested me because I love books that explain scientific principles (loved Erik Larson’s “Thunderstruck”) and I am an avid film photographer. I am also an aspiring law student so this novel really spoke to me.

The book is an interesting biography of Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land and goes into great detail describing the Polaroid v. Kodak Patent case of the 70s-80s. My personal favorite part of the book are when it details his early years, inventing polarizing plastics in his teens, and starting Polaroid. It is a bit of a hagiography and lauds Land as a God (while claiming its objectivity and allocating 2 pages in the epilogue to tell the reader he has an “ego”). Also, the patent case vs. Kodak goes into GREAT detail…some might say TOO much detail-like the specific apartment and hotel rooms the lawyers stayed at and mentions EVERYTHING element that could even be stretched to be connected to the case or anyone related to it. But the legal case is the main concentration of the book and it was published by the American Bar Association so I get that they just wanted to be overly comprehensive.

I do think Dr. Land is an inventor without his due course of respect from history and I was honored to and enjoyed learning about him. I’d recommend this book if you like science, law, stories about industry and corporate America, and photography because Dr. Land played such a pivotal role in the early modern history of all those subjects.

[Judy M Reyes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tome. I finally had to give up reading, though I made it through 85% of the book. The best parts of the book were about the character and life of Edwin Land, a fascinating person in American business history. His years before the Polaroid camera were an interesting tale. The intertwined histories of little Polaroid and gigantic Kodak were also interesting. The book is extremely detailed about technical aspects and development of Polaroid's self-developing films and the detail was numbing. The legal strategies also were overly detailed in this book. I think it could have been edited to about half the pages and not lost anything. I may go back and skim the last unread chapters just because...I'm a little compulsive about finishing books, even boring ones.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book published in 2015 which I read but decided Though Dr. Land came up with the idea of Polaroid he would be in a legal battle with Kodak which really led to the downfall of both companies. Having grown up in this era and using both products I never knew of the battle and that was an interesting part of this book. As was the number of patients he had. It was strange as a kid I had heard his name being associated with the U-2 spy plane from Lockheed with work on the camera and lens, what I did not know was about the work he did during WWII and other work during the cold war. What is really amazing is his over 500 hundred patents and then the long drawn-out court battle with Kodak. I found this to be an interesting book about a fascinating man. I received this book from Netgalley.com

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but very long

I give the author credit for thorough research but this could have been significantly shorter and still been in-depth. 24 hours is over the top, but I listened at 1.5 speed so it was “only” 16 hours. As a result, I tuned out a bit during the first part of the book, but hung in there, as it was good go understand how these two companies got into this quagmire in the first place. The legal case was very long and complex, it’s a wonder they even got through it. And what an outcome. Probably one of the most fascinating patent infringement cases of all time. Worth a listen for anyone dealing with business licensing, trademarks and the like.

[Ian Muttoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling account of Land's genius, Polaroid's achievements and the state of patent law in the US at the time of this "patent war". I really appreciate Fierstein's unique, authoritative perspective on the proceedings. Would also love to read a book that digs more into how Polaroid functioned - as a proto Apple, in some ways. I'm very interested in learning about their more progressive internal policies - how those policies came about, how they were sustained, and the results/advantages they delivered to Polaroid.

[Neilina Corbeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll admit that I enjoyed this more than the average reader would. I have a special interest in photography and in integral instant photography specifically. I had no idea that Land invented the polarizer and pretty much changed the history of car headlights. Nor did I have any knowledge of his involvement with tech involved in war efforts. I'm so glad this book exists. My understanding of the technologies I use frequently has been deepened and I'm grateful for it.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Edwin Land,Eastman Kodak, Polaroid, and the major patent battle of the 1980’s. Goes into the details of the case and the patents in question, but fairly readable for a lay (non-legal) reader. Recommended for anyone wanting to know about how patents are used to achieve business goals, and anyone interested in the history of instant photography.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone interested in Polaroid, Land, and film technology:
A sea of nothing, with rich islands filled with golden insights.

Lots of interesting nuggets mixed in with too much detail. Listening to the audiobook 3.5x speed is still too slow.

Great info about the history of instant photography, about the different players, and their battles against each other. Some info about Mr. Land himself. Excessive detail of correspondence between different people back and forth and back again.

This book is more of a historic reference. If it were 1/4 the length it would be a thrilling read accessible to a much wider audience. Add me to the list requesting an abridged version.

And only after I've finished the book do I notice the publisher: American Bar Association. le OOF.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 1/3rd is engrossing... loved it. Technology history told well. Second 1/3rd was “oh, this patent stuff is sorta interesting”. Third 1/3rd was “will this ever end”. Read the first 1/3rd and skip most of the rest.

[Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this is totally great, but the author has WAY stronger of an interest in the patent fight with Kodak in this book. That's all well and good, but as someone who is not a lawyer the book starts to drag really hard at about the halfway marker to an absolutely insane degree.

[Andrew Galloway · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried reading this, but it's written as if the author is talking to a two-year-old. Try that for 500+ pages? No, thank you. Unreadable.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Matt Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is excellent right up to the point the patent war starts. From there, it gets extremely technical and verbose.

[Al Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

An uninteresting slog, a business history that isn’t particularly interesting, compelling or uplifting.

[Jaan Liitmäe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute beast of the book. Very long on Polaroid vs Kodak courtcase of course but otherwise very thorough also in other areas of Polaroid and Mr. Land`s story. Thumbs up!

[William Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This bad boy is detailed! I enjoyed the read but be prepared for a lot.

[Vitor Barreto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring, unless you are a Lawyer or a Law student. Most of the book revolves in great detail the trial between Kodac and Polaroid. I got lost bored in the middle of the book.

[Ágoston Török · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of probably the most influential patent case of the second half of the 20th century. I liked that the book doesn't only describe the litigation's story but first goes over the details of the history of Polaroid. I didn't realize before how legendary achievement was the Polaroid camera that I saw so many times in my childhood. But maybe exactly that's what makes a key invention: you don't even realize how much sweat, stress and creativity (and genius) is behind its existence.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of Edwin Land with particular emphasis on the court battle with Kodak over instant photography patents. The author, having been involved in the trial on the Polaroid side had a great deal of inside information to draw on. The main weakness of the book is that the author appears not to have sought out a balanced perspective from the Kodak side, relying instead on what was learned by Polaroid through legal discovery. He is left guessing at the motivation of Kodak management. But considering that history is mostly written by the victor, this is an understandable limitation.

The book does an excellent job of describing the technical issues that challenged Land and how they were overcome. Land was arguably the most talented scientist and inventor of the twentieth century with 535 U. S. patents to his credit only surpassed by Thomas Edison and Elihu Thomson. Land's invention of instant photography was revolutionary. The Polaroid SX-70 camera system introduced in 1972 was perhaps the most advanced consumer product on the market.

The author speculates that the excellent working relationship begun in 1946 between Polaroid and Kodak which resulted in some critical contributions by Kodak to the early development of instant photography began to sour due to Polaroid’s failure to publicly acknowledge the contribution of the Kodak scientists. Also as instant photography grew to be a significant market, Kodak unsuccessfully pressed Polaroid for a license of their patents. The author suggests that Kodak management eventually developed a dislike for Land and felt he was stringing them along on the license issue.

As Kodak anticipated Polaroid adversely impacting the sales of Kodak film and not finding an acceptable way to partner with Polaroid on its new SX-70 product, Kodak started its own instant program in 1968. But despite Kodak's vast resources it was only able to come up with a “me-too” PR-10 (P-130) product introduced in 1976. Kodak did not have a genius like Edwin Land on its team. The Polaroid SX-70 system incorporated over 150 separately patented features and Kodak was charged with violating 3 of these patents, plus 7 other Polaroid patents not used by the SX-70. Kodak's patent strategy was to work around Polaroid’s formidable fence of patents in instant photography. It thought that the patents it was accused of violating were invalid extensions of prior patents. At the time, only about 35% of patents survived a court challenge. Kodak's argument was that the patents were either obvious or too broad. However, as the trial record demonstrated, the tremendous effort that both companies had to exert to solve the problems proved the inventions were not obvious.

Both companies stubbornly refused to settle almost to the end. Polaroid risked having its patent portfolio invalidated and opened to competitors without compensation. Kodak risked hundreds of millions in damages and possibly being forced to exit the instant market. But after the trial and before the verdict, Polaroid finally offered to settle for a 5% royalty. Kodak refused and did not even make a counter offer. The author suggests this was out of arrogance. Ultimately, Kodak was forced by court order to exit instant photography in 1986, costing $494 million to close the business, $150 million to compensate customers, and $925 million to compensate Polaroid.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are parts of this book that probably deserve 4 or 5 stars because the subject, the founder of Polaroid, Edwin Land, is a fascinating personality and genius inventor who inspired the likes of Steve Jobs. But the book gets deep in the weeks of intellectual property litigation so much that I almost gave up on the book entirely. It does pick up again at the end and, overall, I'm glad I made it through.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tough read due to the very slow pacing of the narrative. The story actually suffers from the amount of minutiae into every detail of evidence in the law suit. If you are a patents attorney, this might be a breezy read, but the rest of us, it was pretty boring. A good editor was sorely missed.

[Donald McEntee · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting account of instant photography; an exhausting account of legal matters. Skimming is not discouraged for non-lawyers.

[Vicki Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenge: A book published this year

[OvercommuniKate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skim. This is way too long, but the parts I read were really good! I just started to loose steam in the middle and skipped to the later chapters.

[Sunita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, picked this up unexpectedly, worth the read. Why Edwin Poland is lost to history is a mystery..