> He then spent $6,000 of his own money Who on earth has that kind of scratch just lying around to spend on something like this? I mean good for him for doing it but wow!!
There are approximately 35 million millionaires on Earth.
Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
51–60 of 156 posts
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#52I have actually reviewed this man's supposedly vigilante's submission to the USPTO and it is clear that this story is not what it seems. The document is a highly professional 95+ page document of complex legal argumentation that only a law firm with a small team of lawyers with a lot of prior experience doing this could have put together. It contains lots of lawyer speak and contemporary argumentation that a lay pers…
Elsewhere it's mentioned that Swildens was on the receiving end of a 3 year battle over patent infringement, where he was a founder and so intimately involved. After an apprenticeship like that it would be unsurprising if he could emulate a team of lawyers.
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#53That's stunning that (evidently) no one noticed the patents were for a physically impossible design. Was the legal battle even about the designs or more so for posturing?
Patents are broken. I give you: The Stick.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6360693
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2102388
Also: we all owe license fees for using gravity.
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
5 years, from filing to market to making profit is really short. Maybe it works for simple parents but I'm pretty sure most true inventions (and smaller companies with somewhat less complicated patents) will not be able to profit properly from the patent that way.
Tough. The nominal goal of a patent is to encourage innovation--not rent seeking. And, if you can't monetize the patent within 5 years then maybe the patent really isn't that important or you really don't know how to implement the thing in the patent. That suggests that maybe you shouldn't be granted the patent in the first place. Making patent terms short also has the upside that the big guys will want stricter revi…
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Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#55I have actually reviewed this man's supposedly vigilante's submission to the USPTO and it is clear that this story is not what it seems. The document is a highly professional 95+ page document of complex legal argumentation that only a law firm with a small team of lawyers with a lot of prior experience doing this could have put together. It contains lots of lawyer speak and contemporary argumentation that a lay pers…
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Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#56> He then spent $6,000 of his own money Who on earth has that kind of scratch just lying around to spend on something like this? I mean good for him for doing it but wow!!
If I read correctly correlated informations, the guy sold a company for 130 million dollars in the early 2000s (a story which also provided him with much needed experience in patents laws). If his only hobby in the meantime has been challenging patents, he probably can afford it !
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#57I have actually reviewed this man's supposedly vigilante's submission to the USPTO and it is clear that this story is not what it seems. The document is a highly professional 95+ page document of complex legal argumentation that only a law firm with a small team of lawyers with a lot of prior experience doing this could have put together. It contains lots of lawyer speak and contemporary argumentation that a lay pers…
If you are willing to sink the time into it it it not impossible for a smart person to do legal work that appears to require a professional lawyer.
Actually, I am pretty good friends with a civil engineer that did something almost exactly like this for a friend of his. He did this in his spare time and having no prior experience with the niche industry and law his friend's company operated in (botanical health supplements). The people from the federal government involved in the complaint did not believe he wasn't a specialized lawyer with a team of assistants. Do not underestimate the capacity of an engineer scorned.
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is really funny that a conspiracy theory posted by an anonymous person with no backing evidence whatsoever is sitting at the top of this thread.
It's funny how I seriously can't tell whether you mean the comment or the article on top of this thread.
Fine, I'll bite. The person mentioned in the article is not anonymous, his name, credentials and motivation are all publicly stated. None of which applies to the GP.
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#59That's stunning that (evidently) no one noticed the patents were for a physically impossible design. Was the legal battle even about the designs or more so for posturing?
I agree. Just like how engineers certify building plans to ensure the laws of physics are respected, patents really should need to go through some sort of peer certification review - at the submitter's expense - before it gets in front of an examiner!
Maybe patents should come with a prototype.
Re: Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
#60I'm impressed that the random engineer was willing to put up $6k of his own money to challenge the patent, despite not benefiting from the decision in any way.
"Random engineer", or guy who sold a company for $130M after a patent-induced nightmare? https://www.wired.com/story/eric-swildens-uber-waymo-lawsuit...
He visited two of [Uber's] buildings in San Francisco before being directed to its headquarters, where he was met with skepticism by a security guard.
“I explained that I had filed an ex parte reexamination on my own and Waymo had had it for two weeks already and it didn’t seem fair that Uber didn’t have it, given it was going to trial,” explains Swildens. “But I felt the guy thought I was some crazy person who just came in off the street.”