Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:30:39 GMT, BobH
wrote:

My employer paid $500 or $1k and I never felt shorted during the
process, but 5 years later when the subpoena to defend the a patent that
had been sold to a bunch of litigous trolls showed up 4 days before
Christmas, I was way less than pleased. After spending a couple of days
preparing and giving deposition, I felt distinctly screwed on that $500
or $1k.

Why? The $500 or $1K was an "award" or honorarium for assigning
rights to said to your employer. Defending it is then his problem. If
he needs your help, he should pay for your time and services like he
does for any other time and services.

Every patent I have disclosed to an employer came with the express
language that you would help them or their assignee defend the patent.
There was no language in the subpoena suggesting that there is any
compensation or anything other than negative consequences for ignoring it.

Filing patents for your employer is a lot like signing up for the
military in peacetime for their college benefits. You may get what you
expected, but you may wind up getting a completely different education,
at a time you did not expect.
I'm seeing more gimmewhine than professional here. Signing with the
military in peacetime or anytime conveys obligations as well as
benefits. Well duh! The military does not exist primarily to provide
college benefits. It exists to defend the nation against enemies
foreign and domestic. There is never a guarantee that there won't be
any enemies around during your service period. Pick yer pony, take
yer ride.

This is pretty much my point. Filling in the patent disclosure carries
obligations as well as the payoff. It is completely obvious that signing
up for the military carries obligations, that is why I used it for
comparison.

If your employer wants your professional services to help defend his
patent, fine. If he doesn't, that's his choice.

I would have been fine with defending the patent if I had any connection
to the litigants. That was the obligation I thought I was signing up for
when I filed the disclosure. As it was, both companies were operations
that I have very low regard for and unrelated to the company that I
filed the disclosure to.

Part of being a professional is being ready to move at any time. The
alternative is becoming an indentured servant in exchange for an
illusion of security. Having to move can certaintly be very
inconvenient and expensive. In my case, clear willingness to do it
if and when necessary always made it unnecessary.

I think that the expectations between an employer and employee have
changed. In todays engineering world, most employers will put you on the
street if it solves a quartely cash flow problem. That lack of long term
trust, means that employers cannot ask as much of the employee anymore.
I have done two interstate moves for employers and at this point, I
might do another one, but it would have to be to somewhere I want to go.

It would take singularly stupid management to **** off their most
prolific inventors, but there's no shortage of stupid management and
that does seem to be getting worse. My experience is dated, having
been retired for 9 years now.

You picked a good time to retire. Engineering has changed markedly in
the last decade. I have another 10 years to go before I retire.

BobH