

What’s Worth More: Kodak’s Patents, or Its People? - jonbots
http://www.betabeat.com/2011/08/19/what-is-kodack-worth-to-nyc-tech/

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chollida1
> While it might seem odd that patents on vintage cameras could be valuable in
> the age of Instagram, when it comes to defending a patent in court, the more
> prior art a company can own, the better

This sentence seems wrong to me.

If I want to invalidate a patent does it matter who owns the prior art? Isn't
all that's needed an example that someone, event the patent holder had
disclosed the invention before it was patented? Shouldn't it be irrelevant who
"owns" the prior art?

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metageek
Two points. First, when you're requesting a patent be reexamined, you're
talking to a patent examiner. To a patent examiner, patents are the most
convincing form of prior art--if only because she's used to reading them.

Second, it's widely thought to be risky to have your engineers read other
people's patents, because then, if they later infringe those patents, the
court is more likely to hold that it was willful infringement, and triple the
damages. So, if you've got to have your engineers spend time reading patents,
looking for prior art on your competitor's patent, you generally want them to
be reading your _own_ patents.

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pedrocr
You can't infringe on an expired patent, so you can have engineers read
everyone else's expired patents without any fear of triple damages, no need to
own anything. In fact that's the whole point of patents. After the monopoly
has expired anyone can read the (hopefully) clear description of someone
else's invention and use it.

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metageek
True. Upvoted.

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shakes
My wife is from Rochester so I end up there a couple times a year. It's pretty
incredible what the decline of Kodak has done to the city. It's something
everyone talks about.

I think the challenge is people worked at Kodak because it was in their town.
And, IMO, a lot of these people remain jobless because they don't want to
leave Rochester. Accessing this talent-base would require a company making an
investment in not only the people but the city. In my opinion, the potential
reward doesn't justify the risk.

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bradfa
Rochester is an awesome place to raise a family. Housing is low priced, $150k
gets you a very nice 1800 sqft house in Irondequoit / Greece or $200k gets you
a very nice 2000 sqft house in Webster / Penfield. There's very little vehicle
traffic (other than 390 and 590 southbound around 8am) and most places in
Monroe county can be gotten to from anywhere else in 20 minutes. The spring,
summer, and fall are amazing weather wise. There's tons of local festivals and
parks. At least 7 local sports teams (men's [minor outdoor, pro indoor] &
women's [pro outdoor] soccer, indoor and outdoor lacrosse, minor league
baseball and ice hockey, and minor league basketball), it's an hour and 30
minute drive to Buffalo for Bills / Sabres games or to Syracuse for college
sports. Both RIT and the University of Rochester are good schools and there's
a bunch of smaller, lesser known, high quality schools as well.

Parts of the city itself may be in need of some improvement but the overall
area around Rochester is a great place to live.

If only there was more local investment in engineering. The talent's here
because of Kodak, Xerox, and the universities, how long it will stay is
uncertain.

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bproper
Bradfa - Do you want to talk for a story next week about Rochester to NYC tech
corridor?

@benpopper

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bradfa
Possibly. Email me some info, my username @ gmail.

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bproper
There is actually a very active start-up scene in Rochester fueled by all the
former Kodak folks who lost their jobs.

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bradfa
Got any recommendations on companies to check out / learn about that are
starting up in Rochester? I live in Rochester but don't have much free time.
Have a 1 month old at home.

Granted, a good number of the younger talented engineers are leaving upstate
NY once they get some experience, many are still in the area. The past few
years have seen Harris RF hire like crazy in the Rochester area, which has
helped with the decline of engineering locally at Kodak and Xerox.

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notatoad
do patents not expire? how is an early 20th century patent still valid?

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pkamb
17-20 years or so in the USA.

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dman
With patent valuations going through the roof, will we see a rise in salaries
of engineers who crank out patents?

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ori_b
We're seeing a rise in patent bonuses, so engineers who crank out patents are
being rewarded. Bonuses seem to be inching up towards many thousands of
dollars per patent.

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ajb
If someone holds a knife to your throat, you would pay much for it - but this
is not the value of the _knife_.

