Some time ago, a fun little project was put up on MAKE: attach a vibrating motor to the head of a toothbrush, power it, and watch it zoom around. Fun, right? So much fun, in fact, that toy and book makers Klutz (with Scholastic) decided to make their own and market it under the same name, with no credit to its creator. Really, guys?
As much as I’d like to give Scholastic and Klutz the benefit of the doubt in this case, it looks pretty cut and dry. If they simply had recreated the machine, that would be a jack move anyway, but at least you could pin it on a rogue toy designer who decided to pass it off as its own. But the fact that they use the same name means that they did the research and concluded that they just didn’t want to give Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories credit.
The internet is alight with indignation, but there has been no response as yet from either Scholastic or Klutz.
This is why people need to patent things. :P
Patents take a long time to get, are very expensive, and are worthless unless you are willing to spend large amounts of money on lawyers to enforce them.