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I wouldn’t read too much into this. Intel have very generous employee “patent creation” bonuses that encourage them to constantly file patents, ca. $2500 per pa

I wouldn’t read too much into this. Intel have very generous employee “patent creation” bonuses that encourage them to constantly file patents, ca. $2500 per patent IIRC. That being said, it’s still interesting seeing Intel encouraging and embracing crypto ASIC design.

stagger87 9y ago
"Generous"
vernie 9y ago
Is that incentive per application or per grant?
- sweden 9y ago
  Usually it's per grant. It's quite common for big companies like Intel to give bonuses to the employees for filling patents. The attitude of these companies is to incentivize employees to patent whatever they come up with, whether they intend to use the idea or not.
- pkaye 9y ago
  I've seen a split approach like 50% at disclosure and 50% at grant because the employer wants to see you follow through in assisting with the paperwork. Quite a few never reach grant stage or take so long that you may have even moved to a new employer.
- ggg9990 9y ago
  It differs by company, but is not that easily gameable. (I’ve tried many times and succeeded only once in filing an application that was completely trash). The company’s patent lawyers ultimately decide what they will and won’t file, and they are more time constrained than budget constrained).
Rebelgecko 9y ago
Is that just a flat $2500, no profit/royalty sharing? Seems like a good way to get people to churn out lots of low quality patents. I like the scheme where I work--there's a relatively small cash bonus (a few hundred bucks), but the inventors get a nice chunk of any income from the patent. Another slice goes to the inventor's department's budget, so they can indirectly benefit there too.
- pkaye 9y ago
  How does that work? You may have an idea but the actual development may involve 100s of people and the patent might involve a small aspect of the product. How do assign a value to the patent? Also you are right that this system results in lots of low quality patents. I used to see at one employer chip designers cranking out 5-6 cell designs on a quarterly basis making an $10k extra a quarter. Maybe 1% of those would actually be implemented but it is worth it for the company to get every potential solution either as prior art or patented.
  - wolf550e 9y ago
    If the company uses the invention, it's hard to quantify the income from the patent, but if they license the patent to another company it's very easy.
  - Rebelgecko 9y ago
    Like someone else said, mostly licensing. The place where I work is a bit unusual (non profit, don't really have "products" and when we do it's typically a small team so everyone gets to be on the patent). I'm sure it's harder to divvy up at Intel, where a new CPU generation might take advantage of dozens of patents.
    - Buge 9y ago
      If your company's business model is to license patents, then you should align your employees' incentives to that, give them money when patents are licensed. That's what your employer does. If your company's business model is to build and sell products, and prevent competitors from being as good, and avoid getting sued, then it's beneficial to have as many patents as possible. So Intel also aligns its employees' incentives with with its business model, by giving an incentive to create as many patents as possible.

stagger87 9y ago

"Generous"

vernie 9y ago

Is that incentive per application or per grant?

sweden 9y ago
Usually it's per grant. It's quite common for big companies like Intel to give bonuses to the employees for filling patents. The attitude of these companies is to incentivize employees to patent whatever they come up with, whether they intend to use the idea or not.
pkaye 9y ago
I've seen a split approach like 50% at disclosure and 50% at grant because the employer wants to see you follow through in assisting with the paperwork. Quite a few never reach grant stage or take so long that you may have even moved to a new employer.
ggg9990 9y ago
It differs by company, but is not that easily gameable. (I’ve tried many times and succeeded only once in filing an application that was completely trash). The company’s patent lawyers ultimately decide what they will and won’t file, and they are more time constrained than budget constrained).

Rebelgecko 9y ago

Is that just a flat $2500, no profit/royalty sharing? Seems like a good way to get people to churn out lots of low quality patents. I like the scheme where I work--there's a relatively small cash bonus (a few hundred bucks), but the inventors get a nice chunk of any income from the patent. Another slice goes to the inventor's department's budget, so they can indirectly benefit there too.

pkaye 9y ago
How does that work? You may have an idea but the actual development may involve 100s of people and the patent might involve a small aspect of the product. How do assign a value to the patent? Also you are right that this system results in lots of low quality patents. I used to see at one employer chip designers cranking out 5-6 cell designs on a quarterly basis making an $10k extra a quarter. Maybe 1% of those would actually be implemented but it is worth it for the company to get every potential solution either as prior art or patented.
- wolf550e 9y ago
  If the company uses the invention, it's hard to quantify the income from the patent, but if they license the patent to another company it's very easy.
- Rebelgecko 9y ago
  Like someone else said, mostly licensing. The place where I work is a bit unusual (non profit, don't really have "products" and when we do it's typically a small team so everyone gets to be on the patent). I'm sure it's harder to divvy up at Intel, where a new CPU generation might take advantage of dozens of patents.
  - Buge 9y ago
    If your company's business model is to license patents, then you should align your employees' incentives to that, give them money when patents are licensed. That's what your employer does. If your company's business model is to build and sell products, and prevent competitors from being as good, and avoid getting sued, then it's beneficial to have as many patents as possible. So Intel also aligns its employees' incentives with with its business model, by giving an incentive to create as many patents as possible.