Patents
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Topic(s): me
2004-08-26 00:27:01 PDT
Today I received a call from NetApp's patent attorney. He reviewed a patent application that I filed with him several months ago, and gave it his ok. Pretty soon it'll be on its way to the US Patent Office!
It'll be my second patent. I've got one patent in the US Patent Office's queue already. The first one was, frankly speaking, pretty lame compared to some other patents. Mine is a patent for the use of a blinking LED to note NVRAM containing valid contents after a dirty shutdown of a storage filer. The newest one is a bit cooler but I can't tell you about it yet. I'll be filing two more within a month or so - they're interesting ones.
Patents are cool for me. Each patent application I submit to NetApp earns me $750. Each patent application that is accepted by NetApp and is sent on to the US Patent Office earns me an additional $2000. When I have enough registered patents with the US Patent Office NetApp will give me some number of shares - 100 shares per four patents or so I think. At the current price of our stock ($20) that's $2000. But the US Patent Office takes a few years to grant patents so hopefully our stock will be considerably higher by then.
Patents are interesting objects in the engineering world. There are so many stupid patents in the engineering world that it is impossible for engineering companies to not infringe on some other company's patents. When a company infringes on some other company's patents, the company that owns the patent has the right to sue. As such, engineering companies are constantly sued by other engineering companies for patent infringment.
The only form of protection is to have a large portfolio of stupid patents. So that when Company X sues Company Y for infringing on five of Company X's patents, Company Y can turn around and threaten to sue Company X for infringing on ten of Company Y's patents. From an engineering perspective it is totally stupid. But lawyers love it, because they make money whether they win, lose, or draw.
Pulled eFingers: |
Mom —Hooray! I don't think your patents are stupid...if those are stupid (I think you are brilliant) what is my X3 algebra quandry? ...? At TX State we have hired a company to try to discover when our UPS (emergency battery power)systems are fully charged, and no company can firure it out. Perhaps we could use your invention to monitor our charging syustem instead of looking directly at the batteries, as the monitoring company now professes to do. The batteries we currently purchase cost over $300 each and are not any (other than an awkward size) different than an automobile battery...now that IS stupid. That system altogether cost over $300,000 of our tax dollars and it is unreliable, as was recently proven by a recent city-wide power outage that left the entire campus in the dark. Our tax dollars at work. Love from Mom |
Tigger —Does that mean that NetApp owns your patents, though? I think that's cool. Shane has always wanted to patent something. |
Eric —Yes, NetApp owns everything I do. The contract I signed with them said something like, "we agree to pay you XXX dollars, and in return you agree that the company owns all your work, creativity, inventions, independent thought, and stuff." |
Lori —Congrats Eric! |
Exercise Your eFinger: |
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