It has indeed. See the case of Charles Hall, who invented the modern waterbed in the 1970's, and was denied a patent on his invention because Robert Heinlein h

It has indeed. See the case of Charles Hall, who invented the modern waterbed in the 1970's, and was denied a patent on his invention because Robert Heinlein had already described the waterbed in novels as early as 1942: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/geek-trivia-strange-waterbedfellows/ http://www.techrepublic.com/article/geek-trivia-strange-wate...