Laszlo Biro (1899–1985), Hungary – modern ballpoint pen

Bíró László József (surname placed first per Hungarian convention; Spanish: Ladislao José Biro^[1]; 29 September 1899 – 24 October 1985) was the inventor of the modernballpoint pen.

Bíró (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbiːroː]) was born in Budapest, Hungary,^[3] in 1899 into a Jewish family. He presented the first production of the ballpoint pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931.^[3] 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 György,^[2] 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.

Birome's advertising in Argentine magazine Leoplán, 1945

In 1943 the brothers moved to Argentina. On 10 June they filed another patent, that issued in the USA as US Patent 2,390,636^[4] and formed Biro Pens of Argentina (in fact, in Argentina the ballpoint pen is known asbirome). This new design was licensed for production in the United Kingdom for supply to Royal Air Force aircrew, who found they worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude.^[5]

In 1945 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 Inventors' Day is celebrated on Bíró's birthday, 29 September.

Bíró's inventionBirome

"Biro" trademark[edit]

Ballpoint pens are widely referred to as "biro" in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and Italy.^[6] [7] Although the word is a registered trademark, it has become agenericised 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 pathetic way to make a living") concerning this on at least one occasion. The Biro is still the main product of companies like Bic, Waterman and Parker.