From Jeremy Clarke
In the description of Franco Caldana’s patent for a device giving quick and
easy access to a mobile phone
(3 November, p 26),
you make reference to Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of the notorious Nazi war
criminal, Christian Szell, who hid a knife up his sleeve that emerged at the
flick of the wrist, in the 1976 film Marathon Man.
However, there is an even closer resemblance to a device that gives quick and
easy access to a handgun, constructed by Robert de Niro’s anti-hero cab driver
and war veteran Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (also 1976). I wonder if
this would count as prior art and thus invalidate Caldana’s claims of novelty.
Bath
