It's fairly common for people at prestigious institutions to write papers about stuff that already existed for years to try and snatch some points, and then to

It's fairly common for people at prestigious institutions to write papers about stuff that already existed for years to try and snatch some points, and then to get all the credit, because they are from a prestigious institution with many press related megaphones. The most famous example is probably Von Neumann writing about ENIAC a project he wasn't involved with at all.