4 ms·

A note for those who go looking for the technical details: there aren't many here. According to the article, Dr. Goodenough is being tight-lipped about his work

• jacquesm 12y ago
  Given what happened before you really can't fault him.
  • lumberjack 12y ago
    How much would he have gotten in royalties anyway? I don't think there are any billionaires who got there just through patent royalties, right?
    • simonh 12y ago
      The inventor of the B&D Workmate has earned a 3% royalty on 55 million sales. That's almost certainly over $100m. It's very rare to make a lot of money on a patent, but for something popular let alone ubiquitous it's entirely possible.
    • sgt101 12y ago
      It's rare for individuals, because a patent costs ~$25k to file and maintain, and the process takes ~5 years. Patents are narrow and taken out very early in the inventive process - so prone to being irrelevant or silly. The really valuable patents - fundamental ones - are particularly risky. This adds up to meaning that the mass insurance of corporate sponsorship is the only way for inventors to profit (marginally, and as a group).
• ChuckMcM 12y ago
  I expect a note in the margin of one of his journals, discovered posthumously, "What a simple and elegant anode, the margin is too small to contain it." I get that he is angry, but I worry that his anger may rob us of what he could do.
  • kbenson 12y ago
    At the same time, he knows the power of copious notes proving the origination of the idea, so hopefully it won't be that bad.