June 25 is the anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death in 2009. Michael Jackson is remembered for many things, but he is probably not remembered by most people as an inventor — but he was. Michael Jackson received U.S. Patent No. 5,255,452 on a Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion:

This would appear to be what might have been used in Jackson’s 1988 Smooth Criminal video (see below), but the October 13, 1988, release date of the video and the June 29, 1992, filing date of the application don’t seem to match up.

Maybe Jackson was protecting a later-developed improvement to the illusion in the video. Otherwise, the one-year public use bar would seem to be a problem.

Anyway, RIP Michael Jackson, entertainer and inventor.