They say great minds think alike—but sometimes, one mind just thinks a little faster… or sneakier. These 10 inventions changed the world, but their origins come with a plot twist—someone else thought of them first!
1. Monopoly
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Long before folks ended friendships, severed familial ties and left their lovers over soured rounds of Monopoly, the classic board game was known as “The Landlord’s Game,” designed by a woman named Elizabeth Magie in 1904. Intended to warn of the dangers of capitalism, Magie learned this lesson the hard way, after her idea was stolen by entrepreneur Charles Darrow.
2. Desktop Interfaces
“Apple got the idea of a desktop interface from Xerox. Later, Steve Jobs accused Gates of stealing from Apple. Gates said, ‘Well Steve, I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.’”
3. The Windshield Wiper
4. Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
5. The Telephone
Though Alexander Graham Bell is largely thought to have invented the telephone, several have speculated that he may have stolen the invention from Elisha Gray, citing the similarities between drawings in the pair’s respective notebooks.
6. DreamWorks
7. Nuclear Fission
8. The Sewing Machine
Once thought to be invented by Isaac Singer of the Singer Corporation, inventor Elias Howe sued over the royalties to the device in a legal battle that lasted from 1849 to 1854. He ultimately won.
9. The Steam Powered Vehicle
10. The Radio
One heralded as the inventor of the radio, inventor Guglielmo Marconi allegedly pulled his design from elements featured in Nikola Tesla’s patents.