In December 2024, we wrote about the many celebrities involved in the production of their own works and some of the resultant U.S. patent office activity. Many more celebrities have invented products not directly related to their day jobs. Below are tales about a few more and because its March, we thought it a perfect time to focus on some multi-talented female celebrities.
Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul is famous for her choreography in addition to her singing and American Idol judging capabilities. In 2008, she filed a patent application for a microphone stand that allowed a performer more room for dancing. That application, published as U.S. Patent Application Publication 2009/0196451A1 for a “Dynamic Microphone Support Apparatus,” disclosed a base for the microphone that a user could stand and pivot on.
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley is a model who may be best known as the face of CoverGirl cosmetics and as a literal three-peat cover girl on Sports Illustrated’s (in) famous swimsuit issue. She is also a patent holder and sole inventor on U.S. Patent No. 4,998,883 for “Educational Toy.” This patent was granted in 1991 and includes a plurality of elemental components having shapes and sizes to constitute component parts of pre-determined forms, especially letters of the alphabet. Her creativity doesn’t stop there – she also won Rolling Stone’s “The Best Album Cover of the Year” award for the album cover art she painted for Billy Joel’s 1993 “The River of Dreams” album.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an actor and double patent holder! She is the only inventor on a 1988 patent titled “Infant Garment” for a disposable diaper having a clean- up wipe stored in a pocket on the diaper, eliminating the panic that comes with searching for wipes when in the middle of a diaper change. Ms. Curtis is also the sole inventor on a 2017 patent for a similar garment (“Unitary Disposable Diaper with Integrated Soilage-management Structure Including Disposable Diaper”) for a diaper structure that has a disposal bag integrated into the diaper for easy disposal once soiled. Unfortunately, she has stated that both these products were never marketed in order to protect the environment (and keep these fully loaded disposable diapers out of landfills).
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr is most well-known as a famous actress during MGM’s “Golden Age” of film. When not acting, she co-invented a radio communications system which includes technology for frequency hopping. She had learned of a problem with radio-guided torpedoes from her first husband (an Austrian arms dealer): the radio signals were easily jammed. Her U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 describes a way for overcoming that jamming by transmitting signals on rapidly changing frequencies using synchronized senders and receivers. In recent years, this innovation has been hyperbolically credited as a basis for Wi-Fi, GPS, and other communication improvements.
Julie Newmar
Julie Newmar is generally known as an actress, dancer and singer with numerous television, movie and theater credits. However, she has also made a name for herself as a writer and a lingerie designer. She holds two U.S. Patents: 1977 U.S. Patent No. 4,003,094 title “Pantyhose with Shaping Band for Cheeky Derriere Relief ” and 1976 U.S. Patent No. 3,935,865 titled “Brassiere.” At one time, these and other garments were sold under the “Nudemar” product line.
Danica McKellar
Most of us first noted Danica McKellar as the child actor playing Winnie Cooper on the “The Wonder Years.” She went on to study mathematics at UCLA, and while there she helped devise a mathematical physics theorem for certain properties of magnetic fields known as the “Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.” While this theorem is not the subject of a known patent application, we chalk this up to U.S. patent law (specifically 35 U.S.C. 101) which excludes from patent eligible subject matter mathematical algorithms, scientific principles, and mental processes (among others).
Celebrities entertain us with their acting, singing, and dancing, but they can also inspire us to be creative in other ways, all the way to the U.S. patent office.
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