Gould’s Patent on Use of Lasers to Be Reaffirmed

Patlex Corp. and its vice chairman, Gordon Gould, scored another victory last week in their effort to secure several patents for Gould’s pioneering work on the laser.

Patlex, which is based in Chatsworth, said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced it would reaffirm Gould’s “use” patent, which covers several common uses of lasers such as drilling and cutting. A formal certificate upholding the patent should be issued in about eight weeks, Patlex said.

In the past 18 months, Patlex has won several other legal battles that resulted in Gould obtaining two other major patents that cover how lasers are manufactured.

Gould was first issued the use patent in 1979, but the patent office later decided to re-examine his rights to it. However, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., last month ruled in favor of Gould, which led to the patent office’s decision to reconfirm Gould’s ownership of the patent.

By securing the patents, Gould and Patlex can collect royalties from companies that employ Gould’s technology either in the production or use of lasers. Patlex, in exchange for having waged Gould’s legal battles, receives 64% of those royalties. Gould himself earns 20%, and Refac Technology, a major Patlex stockholder, gets 16%.

Indeed, Patlex said, the patent office’s decision to reaffirm Gould’s use patent will automatically trigger $1.5 million in additional royalties for Patlex from companies previously licensed to use Gould’s designs. The decision also will increase the royalty rate that Patlex receives from some licensees, from 3% to 5% of their laser-related sales, the company said.

Patlex said it separately signed licensing agreements with five more companies that will pay Patlex $850,000 in back royalties, plus additional royalties based on their future use of Gould’s technology. The companies are Quantel International, Teradyne, Rowland Research, Caterpillar and a Swiss company, Lasag AG. Patlex also dropped a patent-infringement suit it had filed against Quantel.

Patlex has not yet released its results for 1987, but the company said last month it expects to report 1987 revenue in excess of $17 million.