Re: Court ordered Nichia to pay $190 million
The figure of the court order is 200,0000,0000 yen. With the current exchange rate of $1=105 yen, it is $190,476,190.48
Yes, that's right, ONE HUNDRED NINETY MILLION US DOLLARS.
Mr. Nakamura calculated that Nichia's compounded profit from blue LED at year 2010, when the patent expires, will be $1.465B. At the court, he claimed the share of 13%, $190M, of the total profit Nichia amasses from his invention.
The Tokyo district court calculated that Nichia's total profit will be $1.14B at 2010. Since Mr. Nakamura worked all by himself for the invention even after his senior ordered him not to, the value of his invention is no less than the half of $1.14B, which comes down to $570M. Since the court declared the value of the invention to be $570M, Mr. Nakamura (and his lawyers of course) is considering to raise his stake. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Nichia is appealing against the district court ruling to the higher court.
The fact is:
#1. There is no written agreement between Nichia and Mr. Nakamura that dictates all the inventions belong to the company.
#2. Mr. Nakamura worked on blue LED in his work hours and used company's equipment.
#3. Mr. Nakamura did not claim his share for 10 years.
The court ruled that the patent now belongs to Nichia, and that obligates Nichia to pay the value of the invention to Mr. Nakamura.