László Bíró - Biography

László József Bíró (29 September 1899 – 24 November 1985) was the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen.

Bíró was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1899. He presented the first production of the ball pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931. While working as a journalist in Hungary, he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. He tried using the same ink in a fountain pen but found that it would not flow into the tip, as it was too viscous. Working with his brother Georg, a chemist, he developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket, and as it turned it would pick up ink from a cartridge and then roll to deposit it on the paper. Bíró patented the invention in Paris in 1938.

In 1943 the brothers moved to Argentina and on 10 June filed another patent, and formed Biro Pens of Argentina (in fact, in Argentina the ball pen is known as birome). This new design was licensed by the British, who produced ballpoint pens for Royal Air Force aircrew, who found they worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude.

In 1950 Marcel Bich bought the patent from Bíró for the pen, which soon became the main product of his Bic company.

László Bíró died in Buenos Aires in 1985. Argentina's Inventor's Day is celebrated on Bíró's birthday, 29 September.

"Biro" trademark

Ballpoint pens are widely referred to as "biro" in many English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The term "biro" in colloquial British English is used generically to mean any ballpoint pen. Although the word is a registered trademark, it has become a genericised trademark.

The company's intellectual property department keeps a close eye on the media and will often write to publications who use its trade name without a capital letter or as a generic term for ballpoint pens, in order to preserve its trademark. They have written to Private Eye (who printed the letter on their correspondence page under the heading "What a way to make a living!") concerning this on at least one occasion.

External links

• Brief biography of Bíró by Budapest Pocket Guide