Fidget Spinner’s Feelgood Jewish Story Might Have Been Too Good To Be True
Image by wikimedia
By Aiden Pink May 11, 2017
Cathy Hettinger, who has been prominently featured in recent media stories as the supposed inventor of fidget spinners, actually applied for a patent that likely wouldn’t cover the incredibly popular toys, a Bloomberg News investigation revealed on Thursday.
Hettinger claimed in recent interviews that she had been inspired to invent a toy to give Palestinian children something to do besides throw rocks at Israeli soldiers, and that she allowed her patent to expire after major toy companies passed on buying her idea from her. But patent experts interviewed by Bloomberg said that the currently-popular toys rely on a different moving mechanism than her patent.
“In reading it, it doesn’t appear to cover the products that people are selling now,” intellectual property lawyer Jeffrey Blake told Bloomberg. Hettinger seemed to agree: “Let’s just say that I’m claimed to be the inventor,” she told Bloomberg. “You know, ‘Wikipedia claims,’ or something like that.”
Bloomberg added that it’s unclear whether any person or group owns a patent on the fidget spinner.
Nonetheless, Hettinger has created a Kickstarter page to raise money to manufacture spinners of her own.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
