Sticky lawsuit: $400M dispute lingers over Post-it inventor

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Inventor Alan Amron is suing 3M Company in a South Florida federal court in a dispute over who invented the ubiquitous Post-it Note.

Amron says he came up with the idea a year earlier than 3M and is asking a Florida federal judge to stop the Minnesota-based company from continuing to claim credit. Amron wants $400 million in damages and recognition for his invention, which he called the Press-on Memo in 1973.

3M says its scientists deserve full credit for the Post-it Note and worked independently of anything Amron did.

Amron settled a previous lawsuit against 3M but says he now believes the company has breached the agreement not to take credit. A Fort Lauderdale federal judge recently refused 3M's initial attempt to get the case dismissed.