SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Microchip Inventor Negotiates Deals for Patent License Fees
Some products from major Japanese consumer electronics companies soon will include documentation paying homage to a set of patents belonging to Gilbert P. Hyatt, the La Palma inventor who is now getting recognition for work he performed two decades ago.
Hyatt said Monday that he has reached agreements with six major Japanese corporations for royalty payments for licenses on his portfolio of two dozen computer-related patents, including the 1990 patent for the invention of the computer on a chip, or microprocessor.
Hyatt, 53, won the controversial patent for the microprocessor in 1990 after a 20-year legal battle with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Texas Instruments Inc., the Dallas electronics company, is still disputing Hyatt’s patent claim in an appeal to the patent office.
Hyatt said confidentiality agreements prevent him from identifying the licensees, but the companies must acknowledge licensing from Hyatt’s patents on their products. The licenses were negotiated over the past several months by Mahr-Leonard Management Co. in Dallas.
Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are rumored to have signed license agreements with Hyatt. The license fees can be paid in lump sums or over the 17-year life of the patent portfolio, Hyatt said. He said he is asking for royalties of less than the traditional 2% to 3% of the licensees’ sales.
“We’ve been talking with companies in the U.S. and elsewhere,” Hyatt said. “The Japanese companies have been a little more receptive to taking earlier licenses.”
Philips N.V., the Dutch electronics giant that negotiated a license agreement with Hyatt in November and agreed to be his licensing agent, has estimated that Hyatt’s portfolio could generate more than $100 million in royalties.
“This gives me the opportunity to expand my research and develop- ment, bring new technologies to market and work with congressional committees to make America more competitive,” Hyatt said.
