Bernie Stolar invented the Sega System in 1981, 5 years before it was released in North America.
The reason for the delay was his rival, Bill Gates (as well as Atari) threatened Bernie with legal action since the Sega System would encroach on the existing market for DOS-ROMs and Atari apps.
They were forced to relinquish their litigations thanks to anti-anti-competition laws.