invention at that time. However, the Windsurfer incorporated a wishbone boom that allowed the operator to face the sail from both sides of the board, dramatically improving performance. Developed commercially through company Windsurfing International Inc., after Hoyle bought Drake out of his half of the patent for $36,000, he quickly expanded the company thorough licensing the patent internationally. However, Europe was now the largest growing market for windsurfers, and the sub-licensed companies - Tabur (later Bic Sport), F2, Mistral - wanted to find a way to remove or reduce their royalty payments to Windsurfing International. Tabur lawyers found prior art, in Englishman Peter Chilvers, who as a young boy on Hayling Island on the south coast of England, assembled his first board combined with a sail, in 1958. In Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (GB) Ltd, with Tabur backed financially by French sailing fanatic Baron Marcel Bich, British courts recognized the prior art of Peter Chilvers. It did not incorporate the curved wishbone booms of the modern windsurfer, but rather a "straight boom" that became curved in use. The courts found that the Schweitzer windsurfer boom was "merely an obvious extension". It is worthy of note that this court case set a significant precedent for patent law in the United Kingdom, in terms of inventive step and non-obviousness; the court upheld the defendant's claim that the Schweitzer patent was invalid, based on film footage of Chilvers. Schweitzer then sued the company in Canada, where the opposition team again financially backed by Bic included Chilvers and Jim Drake, and lost again. After the cases, no longer obliged to pay Windsurfing International and royalty payments, the now renamed Bic Sport became the world’s largest producer of windsurfing equipment, with an annual production of 15,000 boards. In 1983, Schweitzer sued Swiss board manufacturer Mistral, and lost. Although started before the British case, it ended after the closure of the Canadian case, with Mistral's defence hinging on the work of Darby. In the 1980s, Darby received a design patent for a one-person sailboat, the Darby 8 SS sidestep hull. His latest project is called the Windspear, a combination kayak, canoe, and surfboard, with a paddle and fin combination. Darby's latest design (2006/2007) is being tested, timed and fine tuned. References External links 1928 births 2016 deaths People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 20th-century American inventors American windsurfers