The Unexpected Invention Jamie Lee Curtis Is Credited For
Not everyone in Hollywood is just a pretty face. Some of the greatest stars to walk Sunset Boulevard have chased serious intellectual pursuits in between films. Hedy Lamarr, called "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" during the Golden Era of Hollywood, co-patented a radio technology called "frequency hopping," as part of the effort to help the Allies win WW2. That innovation would one day become known as Wi-Fi, per CNBC.
Other star inventors include the statuesque Catwoman actor Julie Newmar, who invented booty-lifting garments, Paula Abdul's "dynamic" mic stand that moved with her iconic dancing, action star Steve McQueen's improved-upon car seats, and comedian Zeppo Marx, who helped invent a personal cardiac monitor.
Now "Halloween" actress Jamie Lee Curtis can be added to the list of celebrity inventors. Curtis was granted her first patent in 1988, per Google Patents, the same year she filmed one of her most famous movies, "A Fish Called Wanda." In December 1986, Curtis and her husband Christopher Guest adopted the older of their two daughters, Annie, per People. From that patent's description, it seems that parenthood was the inspiration for Curtis' invention.
Jamie Lee Curtis has a diaper patent
Believe it or not, actress Jamie Lee Curtis has a diaper patent — or an "infant garment" patent, to use its official name (per Google Patents). According to the downloadable PDF file from Google Patents that provides more information on the patent itself, "The present invention relates to a disposable infant garment, and more particularly, to a diaper combined with an outer, moisture-proof pocket that contains one or more clean-up wipers. A routine which is repetitively familiar to parents of infants everywhere involves the handling of soiled diapers and the infant cleanup which follows." (Images of what the garment would look like are also included in the documentation of the patent.)
In an article from The Hollywood Reporter on an appearance Curtis made on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" it was noted that Curtis never marketed this patented design because, as she told host Jimmy Kimmel, "At the time, it felt a little landfill-y." Curtis has previously shared her desire to protect the environment, as published by E! News.
That patent has since expired
As of 2007, Jamie Lee Curtis' infant garment patent has expired, per Google Patents. An explanation on expired patents from LegalZoom states that a patent that has existed for 20 years — as Curtis' patent has — enters the public domain, meaning that the product could be created and marketed without requiring her consent.
Still setting her sights on improving diapers, however, Curtis had another patent granted in 2017, called "Unitary disposable diaper with an integrated soilage-management structure including disposal container," per Google Patents. According to its abstract on Google Patents, this patent is for "A unitary, disposable diaper possessing integrated soilage-management structure including a portion structured to form a selectively deployable, ultimately closable and sealable, soilage-impervious disposal container which enables after-baby-clean-up discarding of the entire, integrated, soiled diaper componentry as a compact disposable unit."
The name of the second patent is more of a mouthful than the previous "infant garment," but it isn't expected to expire until 2036, giving Curtis plenty of time to bring it to the masses.