Re: 360 degree video real time... interested?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Steve Uhrig" <Steve@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> Then a patent simply gives you legal right to sue someone who
> violates it.

Don't you just love the legal system?  The government says: "We'll decide
patents, YOU get to do the enforcement."  The process is unbelievably biased
in favor of large corporations with stables of IP (intellectual property)
attorneys.

>If a large company can out-lawyer you, you lose.

Amen.  I'm sure you know one of the saddest examples of great men who have
been beaten, quite literally to death, by corporate patent thieves:  Edward
Howard Armstrong, the inventor, among many other things, of FM radio.

Anyone wishing to play the patent game would be well-advised to research his
story as well as those of the inventors of intermittent wiper blades and the
push-to-release socket wrench.  While some inventors do indeed *eventually*
get to reap the benefit of their ingenuity, most end up mired in patents
suits that make even bitter divorces look amicable.

Can you imagine what other remarkable inventions he could have brought to
the world were he not occupied with the unending patent battles that
eventually led him to end his own life?  We should cherish people with such
genius, not grind them to death under the wheels of "justice." <sigh>

> It is a common misconception competitors or persons wishing to
> use your intellectual property will buy it from you or pay you a
> commission.

Bob Kearns, inventor of the intermittent wiper blade, found that out the
hard way. His permanent partial blindness from a wedding night champagne
cork that hit him in the eye turned out to be an inspiration. While driving
in the rain he was distracted by the wiper's regular motion.  He wondered
why a wiper couldn't be more like an eyelid and just sweep occasionally.  He
built and patented a remarkably simple 4 part windshield motor only to find
Ford and others eventually using it without licensing it.

The first auto maker he sued offered him thirty million dollars to settle ou
t of court. But he refused because he thought it wasn't fair.  It took 12
years for the case to come to trial.  Twelve YEARS!!!!  His determination to
see the case through cost him his wife and his health. After a three week
trial the jury returned a verdict: They found infringement, but they awarded
him a measly $5 million dollars - a far cry from the $1.6 billion he wanted
or the $30 million he was offered right at the start.  Can you imagine your
financial future riding on the opinions of twelve random chosen
non-technical, non-business literate jurors?  What else might Bob Kearns
have invented had he not been sent through the mill?

--
Bobby G.