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I like software patents. Made tens of thousands off of them, and then used those same patents at another company when the first company forced a cross lic agree
by jmpman 7y ago
I like software patents. Made tens of thousands off of them, and then used those same patents at another company when the first company forced a cross lic agreement. First company ultimately lost millions and didn’t realize why. But, their lawyers probably got a bonus.
- human20190310 7y agoI don't understand this story at all.
- dboreham 7y agojmpman developed some tech at BigCo A. Their lawyers filed patents for that tech, naming jmpman as the inventor. jmpman got bonuses from BigCo A for those filings (typically O($10k)/patent). jmpman then moved to BigCo B, continuing to work on same tech. Meanwhile BigCo A demanded that BigCo B enter into a patent cross-license agreement, presumably with the goal to gain free-of-charge licenses to use BigCo B's patent portfolio. BigCo B agreed. Result was that while BigCo A thought they had made a sweet deal, in fact they licensed foc the tech jmpman had previously developed to BigCo B which went on to make $$$ exploiting it. If they hadn't pulled the cross license stunt, BigCo A would have made $$$ in royalties form B's use of jmpman's tech. But, this is why historically patents were not a big deal: all tech companies (this is before software patents were even allowed, so we're talking hardware patents) all entered into cross licensing agreements and everyone used each other's inventions mostly without royalties paid.
- jmpman 7y agoGlad someone understands me.... nice summary.