04-17-2006, 09:00 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
New York Times: In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent
"Geoff Goodfellow is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who came up with an idea that resulted in a $612.5 million payday. But he will never see a penny of it. He remains little known even in Silicon Valley and, perhaps most surprising, he doesn't really mind. And herein lies one of the stranger tales about innovation and money in the world of technology. A high-school dropout, Mr. Goodfellow had his light-bulb moment in 1982, when he came up with the idea of sending electronic mail messages wirelessly to a portable device � like a BlackBerry. Only back then, there was no BlackBerry; his vision centered on pagers. He eventually did get financial backing to start a wireless e-mail service in the early 1990's, but it failed. So, in 1998, he moved to Prague and bought a bar. While he was there, the BlackBerry did come along. Tending bar, he believed that everyone had forgotten that he had initially come up with the idea of wireless e-mail."
An interesting article on the whole RIM/NTP wireless email fiasco that was recently resolved. This article throws some added light on the idea of wireless email and the man who first tried to make it a reality.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-17-2006, 09:37 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 143
|
|
Re: New York Times: In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent
u can patent an IDEA?? without any actual products?? I have MANY IDEAS, how do i patent all my ideas??
|
| |
|
|
|
04-17-2006, 09:46 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Re: New York Times: In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by netboy
u can patent an IDEA?? without any actual products?? I have MANY IDEAS, how do i patent all my ideas??
|
Did you read the article? The guy in question actually did some real work, had outside funding, etc.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-22-2006, 02:51 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 23
|
|
Patent is precisely for ideas. No, you do not need a product at all. You fill out paperwork with a lawyer and send it to the patent office. A couple years later, and about $10,000 less, and you might well have a patent.
Patents don't last forever, and if you don't pursue the invention it may be deemed 'abandoned' so productization is logical, but it's unecessary to get a patent.
It's not even necessary that the invention be provably workable, however the patent office does have some policies on a few well-known; e.g. they will not issue a patent for anything claiming to be a perpetual motion machine.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
