Today in Computer History (November 17, 1970): The Computer Mouse is Patented!

On November 17, 1970, inventor Douglas Engelbart recieves patent 3,541,541 for his invention of the computer mouse. Engelbart called his invention the "mouse" since the cord reminded him of a tail. The mouse was prototyped in 1964, but wasn't shown off until 1968. The mouse was not released on a commercial computer until 1981 with the XEROX 8010 Star Information System. But, it didn't take off until Apple included a mouse with the Macintosh 128K in 1984.