If you were starting now and you wanted to invent a retailer, you wouldn't invent Woolworths, he says.
"I know it is very strange but I didn't invent these laws, " he writes.
Apple didn't invent the digital musical player, the graphical user interface or the touchscreen.
While Ms. Phillips and her sister didn't invent the advice column they came closest to perfecting it.
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Japanese drugmakers aren't small because they don't invent many drugs--they're small because they sell them in Japan.
At that time Congress might've been willing to admit that NASA didn't invent Velcro, Tang or Teflon.
"I don't think we should invent differences where there aren't differences, " he said.
Ray Kroc, for instance, didn't invent the fast-food phenomenon back in the 1950s.
He didn't invent rock 'n' roll, but he helped, mingling in his music black rhythm- -and-blues, white country, gospel, everything.
Samsung brought up the DiamondTouch to help prove to the jury that Apple didn't invent the technology behind its patents, effectively attempting to invalidate them.
Despite the buzz the company has generated, VMware didn't invent virtualization, a class of software that makes better use of the processing power inside computer servers.
No, they didn't invent the idea of trading power and power-generating assets around like hog bellies, but they certainly increased the visibility of this kind of trading.
While John Doyle didn't invent this approach, it was his 2005 Broadway revival of "Sweeney Todd" that introduced many New Yorkers to the subtle joys of small-scale Sondheim.
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Under Mr. Jobs's leadership, for instance, Apple didn't invent MP3 players or tablet computers the company just made them better, adding design features that were new to the product category.
Drexel didn't invent small companies taking over big companies.
"Those are things that you can't invent even if you were trying to make them happen, you could not with out the talent of a player like Thierry, " he said, adding that Henry's fireworks are the team's most powerful marketing tool.
His mentor and idol for many years, the modern movement's austere and elegant master, Mies van der Rohe, once famously said that you can't invent a new architecture every Monday morning, but that would have suited Philip Johnson's restless mind perfectly.
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The company can't just invent itself and say it's top secret.
"We didn't mean to invent this new model, " says Graham, who at 45 has sandy hair and a youthful earnestness.
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