Fruits of Mental Labor

Many inventors (and would-be inventors) focus on the process of getting their inventions patented, and they think that's all there is to it. They fool themselves into thinking a patent is all they need to protect their idea. Far from it.

Depending on how one handles the patent process (and assuming one actually gets a patent) may cost several thousand dollars. The actual figure may be a great deal more or perhaps somewhat less, due to a number of factors. But that's not the end of it. Not by any means! If your idea turns out to be a commercial success, don't be the least bit surprised to pay a great deal more in legal fees.

One favorite tactic of well-heeled but unscrupulous companies is to make and sell your invention, directly or otherwise, without your consent and without due compensation. If you contest their practices, the burden of proof lands squarely on your shoulders - and on your wallet. If you're like most inventors (myself included), you probably have limited legal and financial resources.

Not so your nemesis! Probably they have deep pockets and maybe a small army of lawyers at their disposal. Even worse, your odds of prevailing diminish drastically if the crooks happen to be a foreign company (Asian companies are among the most notorious for this). Just ask Nichia Corp's Shuji Nakamura how effectively their cease & desist orders stopped illegal Chinese production of blue LEDs based on his design (we take blue LEDs for granted today, but it took decades of research before blue LEDs were commercially available. For instance, In 1985 I paid sixty bucks for one dim, pastel-blue, silicon-carbide, engineering-sample LED from Siemens Corp. In contrast, this past weekend I bought four strands of 60 intense cobalt blue LED Christmas lights or, basically, 240 blue LEDs for a little less than two thirds that figure). As you might have expected, after all this time and effort Nakamura's bright blue LED was an immediate - and huge - commercial success.

And did you know that if someone copies your design, it's up to you to prove that it's actually your design they're copying? This can be pretty difficult to prove if the crook is clever enough to modify your design (and hire fake "expert" witnesses in their defense) sufficiently to fool the courts. Worse, if the courts decide in the crook's favor, the scumbags might turn right around and sue you for stealing their ideas - and win!

Years ago I read an interview with the man who invented the audio cassette tape. He was a prolific inventor with several hundred patents under his belt. Many of his ideas were hugely successful, which made them perfect candidates for corporate theft. He said that over the course of his career, he'd probably defended at least one third of all his patents for this reason alone, at the cost of several millions of dollars. He also lost a number of these battles - especially early on when he had far fewer resources to mount a good legal offense. This was in the 1970s, and at that time most of the "squatters" were U.S. companies (and subject to U.S. law). The situation is much worse, now that many of these pirates are based offshore.

Thanks, Moose, for starting this thread. Your timing couldn't be better. For my part IP protection is a big problem, and it's going to get bigger very soon. As it turns out, my employer and I are currently involved in this process for an idea I came up with on the job which looks to have pretty significant commercial potential (it involves detecting a particularly insidious type of failure in certain kinds of sensors). At least I'm working through through the University, have their help and access to their considerable legal muscle. What concerns me more are seven other patents in the wings for various commercial products (including several toys) that I developed in my spare time. I haven't the slightest idea how I could possibly afford the legal expenses if any of these inventions are pirated. The whole process is so unfair - pitting the Little Guy against the Corporate Behemoth - that it's almost not worth the trouble. And you can imagine just how stifling this must be on innovation.

I wonder sometimes how many great ideas never see the light of day because of corporate bullying and outright theft. My grandfather was also an inventor (his ideas having mostly to do with shoe manufacture). For a time he was very successful, enough so to attract the corporate parasites. He died penniless.

There's got to be a better way to protect the Little Guy than what we have now. Surely.

-e

As I said in another thread we should

Take all the accountants, politicians, layers, short term profit hungry managers, politicians, bureaucrats a parasites like the ones that steal intellectual property etc. Then put them on a giant space ship and send them to the most distant star in the universe, preferably at walking pace. With any luck they will either crash into some distant star on the way or the universe will have imploded by the time they get there.

Would anybody like to add to the proposed passenger list?

Why waste a good spaceship? Why not just shove the wankers buck naked out the airlock with plenty of camera angles and broadcast the whole shootin' match on live TV? Then do it every week, same time, same station, with a fresh bunch and call it, say, Survivor: Extreme Edition. Might as well get some decent ratings out of it for no telling how many seasons. And don't forget the DVDs. I can imagine quite a few who'd pay good money to watch their favorite back-stabbing, ass-kissing, ladder-climbing politician or corporate lackey explosively decompress - over and over. Gratuitous violence and carnage with a positive message for those who might otherwise aspire to stoop to the same ideals. If it were Smirky the Chimp & Co, you can bet I'd be first at the checkout.

-e

I was thinking more of using them to test the dodgy life support system and nuclear power plant that they keep trying to convince everybody that they need. We could even use all the spent fuel rods to power it and get rid of that at the same time. When we've finally perfected the spaceship we can all hop on board and head in the opposite direction just in case they try and come back. We could leave a note saying sorry we left without you bet we couldn't wait any longer

Historically speaking, here in the not-so-Wild-anymore-West, the six-shooter was king. In 1850 folks like Ken Lay and the rest of the Enron gang wouldn't have made across Main Street without looking like swiss cheese by the other side (shareholders with six-shooters, hmmmm...).

Britain's solution was different. They simply shipped their undesirables off to some continent-size penal colony way Down Under. Fortunately for the colony the worst ilk were kept back home and given life sentences at some place called "Parliament."

I prefer the 'six-shooter' approach, you prefer the exile approach. Interesting differences, considering our individual national histories (you are a native Aussie, right?).

Okay, so how about this: I'll concede that your prototype spaceship-cum-garbage-skowl might not be a such bad idea as it solves several nasty problems at once.

But I still want my cameras and maybe a few hull breaches now and then for good measure. You know, a bit of live action to keep things interesting? And in-between breaches we could watch 'em levy capital gains on each other's bogus stock.

-e

I left the best for last. One the ship is under way with all the politicians on board we wouldn't need all those nuclear weapons any more. That is unless it was to blow up some wayward comet or asteroid and since this has never been done so we would need to test the technology. To do this would need a target to test it on so I wonder what we could use as a target? Of course we would need to use of the nukes on Earth to make sure it all worked just keeping a couple back in the off chance a comet or asteroid did actually come knocking on our door. We could even hold a raffle to see who gets to push the button.

We're definitely onto something here. You think it might be patentable?

You're welcome, europium. And thank you for all of your contributions to this and other discussions on CR4. I just start these threads; it's people like you and masu who really add depth, breadth, and value.

no sarcasm there

All depends on clauses in the Contract of Employment. Many have clauses that define the intellectual property rights in this case.

If one discovered a substantial gold deposit in the back garden, would one broadcast the fact? If one won the National Lottery or came up on the football pools, would one broadcast it?

"No publicity".....

What good is a "patent attorney" if you can't count on him?