Japanese Inventor Wins Loads Of Money For Patents, Inspires Kids To Sue
from the children,-today-we-learn-how-to-sue dept
The article doesn't get into the full details of this case, but apparently a Japanese inventor who came up with some of the core technologies for optical discs has won a judgment against his former employer, Hitachi for $1.5 million. Hitachi bought the patents from the inventor for about $20,000 and he felt he was cheated. He sued, and in an earlier case won about $300,000, but decided it wasn't enough, so he sued again. Where the article isn't clear is under what agreements the original patents were sold. Was he forced to sell them at the lower price? Was it based on the contract he already had with Hitachi? Because, it sounds like it's quite possible the guy just had a bad contract. Still, the part of the story that's much more amusing is the reaction from the lawyer of the inventor. Somehow, this lawyer actually believes that because the inventor won a patent lawsuit for so much money, it will make him seem "like football and baseball players" to children, who will now have a much greater interest in science. Yes, now those little children can dream of growing up and winning big patent lawsuits as well!
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
The corporation that I work for has offices in practically every country in the world. Here in US if you submit a patent to the USPTO and it's accepted, you get a nice plaque from the company, a letter and $1 cash as "payment" for your efforts.
If you work for the same corporation in Germany, you get a percentage of profits earned due to that patent, so if you "invent" a new product for the company, you're basically set for life and the rights and profits from your invention are yours (or your surviving family members!) for as long as the company continues to earn profit from it.
Needless to say it has adversely affected my efforts to submit my patent ideas. One patent looks better on a resume than no patents, but does two patents really look that much better than just one?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
I remember sitting patent award "ceremonies" of a large semiconductor company where the recipients got a plaque and something like a $1000 check (better than $1, but not exactly an incentive). It was stuff like this that helped create all the start-ups during the boom years of the late 90s since engineers could leave the large company and see direct financial returns from their efforts via stock, etc. at the start-up. While those days are over, I don't think the resentment is.
[ link to this | view in thread ]