Mathematician Sues Toilet Paper Maker Over Use of Patented Design

A distinguished British mathematician, Sir Roger Penrose, has filed suit against a British papermaker, charging that the company has wrongfully appropriated one of his patented designs for use in quilted toilet paper. Penrose, who shared the prestigious Wolf Prize for physics with Stephen Hawking in 1988, has developed many so-called tiling patterns--non-repeating patterns that can be used to cover surfaces. Such patterns have subsequently been found in many physical and biological phenomena.

David Bradley, a director of the British company that holds the patent, said, “So often we read of very large companies riding roughshod over small business or individuals. But when it comes to the population of Great Britain being invited to wipe their bottoms on what appears to be the work of a knight of the realm without his permission, then a last stand must be made.”