Hi Hans,
Researching and filing a patent is a very expensive proposition for a company. When I was working, the typical cost of patent searches, attorneys, and filing fees was in excess of $10,000 so filing a patent application wasn¡¯t something individuals did very often, if at all. Even for companies, many awarded patents never were used or licensed so it¡¯s a risky proposition from a financial standpoint. Trade secrets are a cheap way to keep the technology in house and vital if the secret is the bread and butter of your operation (your firmware if course)!?
Tony?
On Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 12:01?AM Hans Summers via <hans.summers=
[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Tony
That's good to know, and well deserved. Glad to hear Motorola have good policies.?
Around 15 years' back I was a critical part of the world's largest commodity derivatives transaction which in the end netted my employer a profit of $450m (yes 'm' is for million). My own additional benefit from this was a nice round single digit: nothing at all.?
But these be the rules. You work for an employer, you make money for the employer, sometimes a lot, and if he decides to be nice he can give you a little taste, if not, tough luck. On the other hand you have a relatively more secure and relatively low risk regular income, Your employer made the investments and took the risk. And in the end if you don't like it, leaving is an option and do your own thing - like QRP Labs! Where I can't make someone else $450m but at least if I make a $ I can keep some of it. Pro's and cons!
73 Hans G0UPL
Hans, you¡¯re correct. Motorola benefited from our patent filings but as employees, there were a few tiers of monetary awards. The first tier bonus was awarded if Motorola decided to file a patent. Another larger monetary award was paid to the patent contributors if the patent was actually awarded. Dan had at least two monetary awards from his detector patent.
Tony?
On Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 12:49?PM Hans Summers via <hans.summers=
[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Doug
It didn't do Dan Tayloe much good did it?? No one who uses the Tayloe mixer in a commercial radio has paid Dan a dime.
The Tayloe detector patent (expired) was filed by Motorola, and any license fees would presumably go to Motorola. As a Motorola employee Dan would have been paid a salary and other benefits by Motorola. So arguably, he got paid...
It's an interesting history too, the quadrature sampling detector was published by a Dutch author in ARRL's QEX at least 10 years prior to Dan's invention, and a Japanese radio amateur even pre-dates that by a couple of years. Like many inventions they seem to pop up in multiple places and it gets sometimes contentions who was first.?
I myself certainly first became aware of the QSX through Dan Tayloe's work.?
73 Hans G0UPL
73 Hans G0UPL
