The long ugly process of collecting on your patents . . .
Excerpt:
“If you’ve ever used a modem to surf the Internet, chances are good that you’ve paid some money to Brent Townshend. Townshend, a 44-year-old inventor at Townshend Intellectual Property in Menlo Park, won patents for the invention of the 56-kilobit-per-second modems that have sold in the hundreds of millions since 1996. But he hasn’t been able to collect from everyone and remains locked in litigation with four major technology companies . . .
Townshend declined in an interview to disclose the amount of damages he is seeking or how much he has collected from past settlements. But he acknowledged that he wants royalties ranging from 44 cents to $1.25 on every 56K modem chip that ships. That adds up to hundreds of millions of chips since 1996, because just about every computer comes with a built-in 56K modem.”
Source:
56K modem inventor still seeking royalties
By Dean Takahashi, Mercury News
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7393472.htm
Posted on Tue, Dec. 02, 2003
