MovieChat Forums > Flash of Genius (2008) Discussion > Those of you saying 'He should have take...

Those of you saying 'He should have taken the money'...

posted 16 years ago by a_rarden
28 replies | jump to latest

I've noticed many people on here posting comments about how ridiculous he was for fighting for the credit ("they're just windshield wipers!") and how crazy he was for not taking the $30 million offer.

I know that if any of those same posters were in a situation like this...they would have reacted the same way. Whether or not they would have fought as long and hard as him is another story...I know most people would have given up long before him.

Those people who are arguing "he should have taken the money" are the type of people who sue companies like McDonalds because they spilled hot coffee on themselves or Wendy's after they claiming they stuck a finger in their chili. Those of you arguing that he should have taken the money are the people who abuse our system of justice NOT for justice...but for money.

[–] norafan82 16 years ago

I totally and completely get in a way why he would not have taken the money, it was about fighting for something to believe in. On the other hand, look at how much fighting for what he believed in cost him. I was happy that he was vindicated but sad that it cost him a marriage and, for awhile at least, his mental health to do it.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] a_rarden 16 years ago

Yes, it was fairly depressing for me to watch for those reasons too. It made me angry too.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] tazzo34 16 years ago

You have to remember, this was in 1967 not now. $30,000,000 was an unfathomable amount of money then. I'd have taken it.

[–] srnumber9 16 years ago

Oh, Pulllease!

What was he expecting? A display in the Smithsonian with Alexander Graham Bell, Eli Whitney, Thomas Edison and himself immortalised?

What could he have possibly done to make the bean counters at FoMoCo happier?

"Bad news Bob, he still wants credit, and Oh!, we get to keep our $30 million."

Think of the good he could have done with that money that would have made him much more positive in the world than some guy that made windshield wipers delayed!

How about he takes the money and feeds a couple of million starving people during a famine, or sends a couple of million poor kids to college?

[–] Arakai 16 years ago

and that 20 million could be use for those poor kids u *beep* fag

[–] ninispjc 16 years ago

I think it's up for debate...was it his not letting it go and his desire to fight that cost him his mental health, or was it the fact that he got cheated out of something that was very precious to him? People don't realize the affect their actions have on one another. To them, it was just business. To him it was his life's work, his passion, his Mona Lisa. I don't think it was his need for vindication, but the fact that dishonest, dishonorable, corrupt people hurt him in the first place, that's what cost him. We all need to realize that while there will always be evil and injustice in the world, and to a degree it's our responsibility to deal with it and keep it from damaging our lives as much as possible, we also owe our fellow man honesty and fairness. If WE CHOOSE not to give it to our fellow man, then we are choosing to set into motion a chain of events like the one in this movie. I'm very sad it cost him his marriage, but I have to wonder if his wife really ever loved him in the first place. If this had happened to my husband, and I really loved him, I'd be fighting with him all the way. I'd be even angrier than he was. I also think he taught his children a very important lesson. His children were probably stronger, tougher, more ethical and more responsible people for having gone through that fight with him.

[–] fearless2003 16 years ago

Seems to me like 30 million is chump change given what this guy invented. Think about how much Ford made because of his innovation.

I'd really like to see criminal prosecution in cases like this rather than simply settlements of money.

seems like our legal system doesn't take theft of intellectual property... or plagiarism very seriously.

[–] srnumber9 16 years ago

So instead of taking the chump change he took nothing?

I am thinking of how much Ford made, and how through stubborness this guy let them keep it all! (..that showed them!)

To tell you the truth, I think he was lucky to win at all. Patents are often very easy to step around: there are so and so many circuit elements available to make a circuit and an infinite number of combinations of them to do a given job. All Ford needed to do was slightly re-arrange the pieces in order to call their approach "unique". This and the hundreds of lawyers they have on staff makes for a hard sell in patent court.

If you think about it, just a desired function is not really patentable. If so the day somebody perfects a matter-energy transporter Gene Roddenberry's descendents will be there with their attorneys. It's the mechanism that is patentable, but when someone comes up with another way to do the same job all bets are off, and that happens every day.

[–] bigwave916 15 years ago

fearless2003 and minispjc,

I'm with you. It is hard to quantify what Ford made off the invention. People want to value the component without considering that even though it might have added $50 to the cost of the vehicle, how many people bought Ford cars just because of the feature. One would need to know that to know what the value of the invention was to Ford.

$30,000,000 is probably more than the invention was worth, but Ford's lawyers also know that a jury can award punitive damages that far out-weigh the actual damages.

To those who try to balance the emotional pain and suffering that Bob and his family went through against the dollar amount. It seems to me that you fail to see that if somebody like Bob doesn't stand up and do the right thing once in a while, companies would be more prone to try to get away with theft of intellectual property more than they do now.

[–] WritersCramp 16 years ago

I'm laughing at the logic of people who think 30-million isn't the same as 10-million. They're both a sizable sum of moolah!

I mean, what could you possibly want for the extra $20-million? The Dallas Cowboys?

This was a good film, though it won't receive the press clippings. It was well structured in showing the progression of the insulting offers Ford was making. How can you put a price on a man's dream and what they did to his family?

Nothing in life worth fighting for ever comes easy. If it was, everybody would be doing it.

ii:iv

[–] JSouth1 14 years ago

I would guess that 30M in 67 would be about 200M today!!!
A LOT of money--no matter HOW you look at it!!

[–] Anniston 16 years ago

I disagree with you. I thought he should have taken the 30 mil. And I am not the McDonald's too-hot-crotch lady, nor do I put fingers in my Wendys. However, I have lived in meager times with my one child. So, I saw a man with six kids, marriage gone, and able to change all their lives. I have not and will not be in that situation, but think, absolutely, he should have grabbed the cash.

That huge settlement was more of an admission of guilt than Ford loosing the case to a guy who represented himself in court.

[–] DanaShelbyChancey 16 years ago

I say he should have taken the money, because when you have a marriage, a home and six children, your life is no longer just about you. You have an obligation to do the right thing for the children you chose to bring into the world, and what the money could do for the children is the major concern.

I would never consider for a second suing any company for anything like spilling coffee on myself. That is despicable.

[–] rrguima 16 years ago

I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression he was only offered the 30 mil years later when already in court and after much cost (family/life).

He was incredibly naive in the beginning by not getting any guarantees from ford before showcasing his product.

[–] DanaShelbyChancey 16 years ago

You could be right, I might be remembering wrong about the timeline.

The movie took place in the 60's which I think were a more trusting time. I was a kid then but you never heard about getting everything in writing. And you didn't hear so much about people cheating each other like you do now. Maybe they did, but it was more expected, perhaps.

[–] mjprogue 16 years ago

He should have taken the money...and no I don't sue Mcdonalds...I actually despise our system of lawsuits...BUT if he had taken the money, he would have been finally compensated for his work...although at the cost of his recognition. If it were simply a matter of this, I would agree he shouldn't have settled...but this guy threw away his family for an ideal...and not an ideal...faced with that fact, the situation isn't as cut and dry as you make it seem. In fighting for one ideal, he neglected a more important one...family

[–] Arakai 16 years ago

and imagine how much money ford lose money just based on this movie

[–] P_R_I_N_S 15 years ago

like stated before he was the head of a family and failed to support them for a matter of egoistic principle he gave up on them.

even when ford basically offers him a guarantee on a perfect and secure future for him and his family with the millions offer he declines because he wants to have his name on the invention.

allright in the end it all turned out well but the risks he took were not acceptable.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] spaminput 15 years ago

Er... no.

McDonalds served coffee that hot because the vast majority of their customers liked it that way.

[–] apocalypse_please24 15 years ago

What? That's ridiculous. I think he should've taken the money for his family. He'd made them suffer through so much already. He lost everything in the process of standing up for what he thought was right but was it really worth it in the end?

Big Gay Al, it has recently come to our attention that you are gay.

[–] a_rarden 15 years ago

Thousands of children lost their fathers and thousands of wives lost their husbands in the Civil War, WWI and WWII. Was it really worth it in the end?

Sure, I feel bad for his family, and he did lose a lot. But if it weren't for people like him standing up for themselves and pushing to punish these big businesses for things like this, there would be no justice in the country. It would all be monopolies and scams; we, as the little person, would never even have a chance to get ahead.