The First Computer Mouse. Colleagues at SRI Built The First Computer Mouse. Douglas Engelbart began the development of the computer mouse in the early 1960s. Bill English, a colleague of Engelbart at SRI, built the original prototype in 1964. By 1967, Engelbart filed a patent for the mouse, which was issued in 1970. SRI licensed the technology to other companies, but the computer mouse didn’t reach widespread commercial production until 1984. The original mouse relied on one or two wheels to record motion and a single button for clicking.