It's the rights holder who reaps the rewards.

So remember kids; if you invent the next cool thing either shove two fingers to the world and do a Dyson, open source it or be prepared to get screwed over royally by the business types.

Actually, that last one will happen anyway as your idea will be copied and exploited by those who can afford better lawyers than you.

Aardman Animations have done [great] ads etc for many years. But W&G kept themselves clear from TV commercials and commercial sponsorships for 20 years. For that they deserved serious respect. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but it's a pity they couldn't have kept it that way.

Paris - because even she can only just about afford to visit this exhibit

"Memorable creations have included techno trousers..."

Weren't the techno-trousers purchased second-hand from the space program and not a Wallace creation? He could get in legal trouble claiming them as his own.

ex-NASA, great for walkies, but not invented by Wallace.

Watch out for the penguins :-)

Next month on El Reg... Apple launches new patents based on ideas stolen from W&G! Claim "inventions" as their own.

So where are Drakken and Doofenschmirtz?

"Otherwise adult visitors need to pay £9, a family of one adult and two kids pay £21, and a family of two adults and two kids pay £30 for the exhibit."

A=9

A+2K=21 (9+2K=21, 2K=12, K=6)

2A+2K=30 (check: 2x9 + 2x6 = 18 + 12 = 30)

Couldn't you have just said "Adults pay £9, kids pay £6", since there appears to be no discount for family groups?

That ain't half expensive!

Ah yes.

We have a long history of great inventors, all with happy endings, like Alexander Flemings' discovery of penicillin - oh wait, that was stolen from him by an american corporation.

John Logie Baird was compenmsated for his invention of the (mechanical) TV and... oh no. Died penniless in ill health.

when Frank Whittle invented the jet engine he er, had his prototypes taken off him, his project closed down, and the brittish government gave the entire kit and kaboodle to the Americans with no explination.

Crossing the pond, we have Philo Fanrsworth, credited with the entirely elctronic television, who's rewards included er, dying penniless from alchoholism (brought on by depression, in no small part from having his inventions stolen).

Elisha Gray - the man who actually won the race to develop the telephone, had his ideas stolen by Alexander Bell IN THE PATENT OFFICE. Bell bribed the clerk (with money from his big corporation sponsors).

In fact, it seems you need to go back about 150 years to see the de facto standard of the inventor being screwed change to that of prosperity resulting from their inventions.

It makes you wonder what's changed in the last 150 years...

"But W&G kept themselves clear from TV commercials and commercial sponsorships for 20 years."

You can't have seen the Typhoo endorsements

Sometimes people just invent things independently. For example, a Swiss(or was it Swedish?) chemist discovered around 19 elements, none of which he ever got credit for. He published in obscure journals, other people discovered the elements and published in widely circulated journals. His reward? A painful death from his habit of tasting everything he concocted(as I recall, he had several around him that could've caused his untimely demise).