Ginger was my idea, claims Japanese boffin

Just as the brouhaha around Ginger was threatening to die down, a Japanese professor pops up and claims it was his idea all along.

Kazuo Yamafuji claims he had been working on the design of the two-wheeled scooter in 1986 as part of a student research project. He claims his own transporter was "identical in principle" to the Segway Human Transporter that US inventor Dean Kamen unveiled last week to a chorus of polite applause.

However, Yamafuji admitted that while he had submitted patents for the machine, he had only done so in Japan.

Yamafuji told the Mainichi Daily News: "My patent is only valid for Japan... I didn't apply for a patent in the United States, so there's nothing I can do if Segway want to sell it.

"Still, the idea was mine."

According to the report, Segway is refusing to respond to questions about intellectual property rights.