"Jet Ski" is a proper noun and registered trademark of Kawasaki. The stand-up Kawasaki Jet Ski was the first commercially successful personal watercraft in America, having been released in 1972 (after reaching a license agreement with the inventor of the Sea-Doo, Clayton Jacobson II when his license agreement with Bombardier expired).[2] The Kawasaki Jet Ski was the only commercially successful PWC for almost 16 years, from the introduction of the WSAA in October 1972 through the re-introduction of the sit-down, runabout style Bombardier Sea-Doo in 1988.[4] [5]