Those are my favorite too - I normally call them Jules Verne patents - dreamt up something, written a fictional essay aka patent on it, then claiming money from the first one who actually built it and actually invented it.
If this continues, soon someone might claim that Gerdt von Bassewitz invented space travel (Peter and Anneli's Journey to the Moon - the German title is actually nicer - translated: Little Peter's travel to the Moon -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Anneli%27s_Journey_to... )
Ideas come in thousands and if not executed are not worth a dime. Doing it is the hard part and that's why companies building things generally get paid / make more money than science fiction book writers.
It has indeed. See the case of Charles Hall, who invented the modern waterbed in the 1970's, and was denied a patent on his invention because Robert Heinlein had already described the waterbed in novels as early as 1942: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/geek-trivia-strange-wate...
If this continues, soon someone might claim that Gerdt von Bassewitz invented space travel (Peter and Anneli's Journey to the Moon - the German title is actually nicer - translated: Little Peter's travel to the Moon -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Anneli%27s_Journey_to... )
Ideas come in thousands and if not executed are not worth a dime. Doing it is the hard part and that's why companies building things generally get paid / make more money than science fiction book writers.