Don't Sing the Blues for Shuji Nakamura

[erikred]

Japanese Company to Pay Ex-Employee $8.1 Million for Invention
(It's the New York Times, and they're notorious for demanding a login and password. Try this: login: eriksfriends, pwd: eriksfriends)

A little background: although commonplace now, bright blue LEDs were difficult to produce in the early 90s. Enter Shuji Nakamura, who invented the blue LED. The company Nakamura was working for, Nichia, awarded him with a bonus-- about $500; in the meantime, they made untold millions by patenting his work. He took it in stride, but quit the company later to take a research position in La Jolla (near San Diego). Nichia, afraid he might violate his NDAs and such, sued him. Sick of taking it, Nakamura countersued, demanding his share of the profits for the blue LEDs. This was unheard of in Japan, where the company is supposed to have greater rights than the worker. Fast-forward to today: after a lower court ordered Nichia to pay $200m (!), Nakamura and Nichia finally settled out of court for $8.1m, a much more easily accessible sum. Given that this is the first case of its kind in Japan, that's a hell of a win.

Congratulations, Professor Nakamura!

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

This was slashdotted today.

It was possible because there's a law in Japan that says that inventors must be compensated more than just their salary - they are owed a percentage of outrageous profits, based on their contribution. The original award (in excess of $200 million) was based on his assertion that he was 50% responsible for the creation and development of the 'blue laser' LED. Arguments between lawyers were working out to where Nichia could demonstrate that he had contributed more like 5%, and that's in line with the $8.1 million he received.

It's also not the first such case in Japan, but certainly is the highest award. Previous lawsuits did not go to completion, instead being settled before trial, according to various slashdotters.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Doh. That's what I get for posting on the run. A Wired Magazine background article on the technology itself can be found here. EEtimes.com has an article on Nakamura's initial filing of the suit; Optics.org has an article on Nakamura being awarded ¥20b. The icing on the cake is this Mainichi Daily News article on Nakamura's dissatisfaction with the final settlement.

Thanks for the corrections, foomf.

[foomf.livejournal.com]

The amusing part of the Mainichi article is the comment on the part of the president of the company, that basically says researchers should work for the joy of research and not sully themselves with worldly greed.

Apparently, worldly greed is the purview of company presidents, as his salary (while not at the obscenely high levels commanded by his peers in the US) is significantly higher than that of any of his researchers, AND he gets bonuses when the company makes lots of money.

I hope someone tells him that company executives should work for the joy of organizing finances and creating a profitable company, and thus, should be paid only as much as their lowest-paid manufacturing position.