![Inventor of Fidget Spinners Isn’t Making a Dime Off of Them](http://townsquare.media/site/33/files/2017/05/IMG_0759.jpg?w=630&h=472&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
Inventor of Fidget Spinners Isn’t Making a Dime Off of Them
We recently brought you the story of the hottest toy/medical device known as the Fidget Spinner. They're basically cheap, little toys that kids are obsessed with right now. Basically it's just a "Y"-shaped plastic device you spin on your fingers.
There have been lots of discussion about it lately including some Acadiana schools' decisions to ban it from its classrooms.
But there's another interesting angle to the story that has just been uncovered. The woman who invented it isn't getting a dime.
62-year-old Catherine Hettinger from Orlando, Florida invented them back in the '90s and got a patent in 1997. She pitched the product to several companies, including Hasbro, but everyone turned her down.
So she let the patent lapse in 2005 rather than pay the fee. And of course now everyone is making them, including Hasbro, and she isn't making any royalties off the sales.
Most folks would naturally be a bit bitter about it. Not Catherine.
She says, "Several people have asked me: 'Aren't you really mad?' But for me, I'm just pleased that something I designed is something people understand and really works for them."
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