Howdy , inventing and finding a market for your inventions are 2 very different challenges . I have been inventing and custom building different devices for 25 years , some with patent work , and some without , and the challenge to find working partners for your devices , has got to be the most difficult . And in the case of patent work , in relationship to finding manufacturing for a License agreement , can be a very big burden for a inventor , if you a relying on the sole help of your legal firm for guidance , if you have a big winner , and the legal firm is buyable . I have had this senario play out on a recent project , and the only thing that kept me from becoming a victim of legal manipulation by my own firm , and not becoming affected by how they handled the licensing , and how the claims were written , was the direct result of having a patent agent that handled the writing of the claims , that was a completly different firm from the firm that I was having the licensing litigation work done through . After a few issues , it became obvious to me that this litigation firm had conflicts of interest with some of the manufacturers , but continued to claim that this was not the case , but in the manner that they tried to gude me , would have ended in dier consequence , with a very real posibility of becoming sued over how the legal firm was advising me to handle a certain licensing senario that involved 2 different outfits , one being a venture firm , and the other a direct manufacturer . The only thing that kept me from making the wrong decisions was the guidance from a long time frend and college that was not licensed for patent litigation , but was very helpful with advising me as to the kinds of things to do and not do , and agree and not agree to when entering into license agreements . This was the only thing that kept me able to understand what was being asked of me to except in agreements , and how if I would have followed the advice of the very firm I was looking to for guidance , would have ended in total loss of my position with having a viable license agreement , and possible lawsuit over what the firm was suggesting , and I say suggesting because thats how they put it to you , and end with saying something like , ” In the end it is your decision ” watch out for this kind of verbage , and the other thing to watch out for is ” you are never wanting to see the verbage ” Tranfer of Intellectual Property Rights ” in a Licensing Agreement . You are only licensing the write to manufacture , period . And you want to retain the right to take the rights back in the event of bankrupcy , or not recieving quarterly reports and royalty payments in the time limits . The idea of having 2 seperate firms handle your litigation , and licensing , and your patent writing claims , is also a good thing , so that conspiracies can be caught hopefully before you are manipulated with the way claims are written , very important when keeping your ideas sound , and covered . The idea that patents are as good as gold , is only the case if you and your patent legal team are not driven apart by the oldest trick in the book , ” The Bribe ” Good luck inventors , and I hope these ideas help some .

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The comments on Siemens were very interesting and mostly true, I should know I spent 15 years with them. I was one of the first along with some of my other colleagues from Reliance and GE to join Siemens in 1985. That is when nobody had heard of them, I spent the next 15 years working my way up from Field Sales to Management. Yes, Siemens is a powerhouse of technology but the dark side of its business dealings is even more interesting. I was one of the very few Americans embedded if you will with the Germans and Indian engineers on projects around the world even living for a short time in Erlangen home to drives. Your right about all products coming from Germany but the interesting thing is how they avoid taxes on these imports. They are termed transfer cost and do not fall under the same tax and import duties that most products come under. Through a complex chain of creative accounting, the business units move products around the world without the knowledge of most. I say most because I cannot believe the government does not know this is going on. I did not know of this until I worked at the SE&A systems business unit located in Alpharetta, Ga. It was only by accident when I question one of my accounting people on a price issue for a project I was involved with that it became known. I spoke off the record with some controller friends of mine to get the facts. The way it works is the business unit pays inflated prices back to Germany and keeps track on two sets of books, that way the profits are laundered back and the US unit shows lower profit thus less tax. The systems group takes the hit for the product groups, but is compensated by exporting to countries that they receive higher margins. The same is true of their work force; they are shuffled around the globe too. The Indian engineers I worked with gave me the inside scoop on this practice. To keep cost down these engineers are brought into the US under the visa H1B program. When the request goes out to the business units for personnel they put on the paperwork must speak German, which for the most part eliminates US engineers. Very few if any of the Indian engineers I worked with spoke German even though they had worked at SAG in Germany. What is further troubling is the local infrastructure paid for by taxpayers to Siemens. They receive the standard enticements to locate and hire locals, but that is not all. The Junior College in the area spent money to set up departments for Siemens exclusive to train workers. This all sounds well and good for the community but after a few years these jobs disappear and are replaced by foreign labor under the radar screen once market recognition is achieved. I once meet with a consultant after leaving SE&A to discuss international business opportunities and we had a long discussion on Siemens practice in the US. He said and I quote the US is nothing but a channel to market and he should know his company was hired to assist in that transition in the late 70′s.
I spent considerable time with many high level Germans and attended meetings were money transfers from their Belgian slush fund were discussed along with computer systems for Libya chemical and Iraq nuclear and projects were discussed. This is only the tip of the iceberg, but I am sure it not the only multi-national that conducts business this way in the US.

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