Oh sure, she looks friendly enough. But don’t let her matronly, argyle looks fool you.
Retired Columbia University Professor, Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, is looking to extract some cold, hard cash from a who’s who of Consumer Electronics giants. Otherwise, they can forget about importing their goods into the US.
Rothchild’s complaint filed with the US International Trade Commission (ITC)…claims that some 30 companies are violating a patent she owns for light-emitting and laser diodes. The ITC has agreed to investigate the matter.
It’s worth noting that Rothchild has already successfully tested the legislative waters with lawsuits against Philips and others — the Philips matter was settled out of court earlier this month. In other words, her case has legs.
I tend to have mixed feelings about patent suits in the high-tech arena, nowadays. Most of them are crap extortion.
However, she got a settlement from Philips – even though she worked for them for 25 years.
This could be the real deal.
I’d like to see the original patent and application.
If she’s legit then more power to her.
Way to go Gertrude!
Stick it to those corporations. They’ve made enough money already.
http://www.google.com/patents?q=Gertrude+Neumark
It is hard to shed a tear for MegaCorps. You go girl!
The corporations are not at fault….George Bush made them do it.
Seriously though…if she wins the cost will just be passed on to the consumers who buy the products.
What about Håkan Lans. he got pretty screwed.
#5 – Absolutely correct.
There are two things about money that people seem to forget.
1. The government has NO money – it’s all OUR money.
2. Evil Megacorp (TM) is not harmed much by lawsuits. The cost is simply passed on to consumers.
So this is 4,904,618? It is almost expired. If Philips (I assume they mean “Philips-Lumileds”) settled, it might have been for a few peanuts.