Et Cetera

Robert Kearns has a clear view from his car window to the bank, thanks to a federal jury in Detroit. Last week Kearns, the inventor of intermittent windshield wipers, was awarded $11.3 million for patent infringement by Chrysler. The carmaker must pay him about 90 cents for each of the 12.6 million cars it equipped with the wipers from 1977 to '88. Kearns, who won a similar judgment from Ford in 1990 for $10.2 million, has lawsuits pending against General Motors and 17 other carmakers.