IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2019 - 98

This is the reality-there are not
huge fortunes to be made on power
electronics patents. Even if you have a
patent on some topology or control
variation, there are simply too many
ways to achieve the same result without using your beloved patent. For
many power electronics companies,
patenting is more a defensive strategy
to force a favorable settlement with
another company suing for infringement than as a money maker in and
of itself.
Universities need to learn this
about power electronics patents
and let go of the need to own patent s created du r i ng spon sored
research. The university and in venting professors and graduate
students still get the recognition as
the named inventors. They just do
not get to claim ownership in hopes
of reaping big monetary re wards

that are as likely as winning a lottery jackpot.
So, if industry and academia can
each make adjustments in how they
approach the results of sponsored research, both could benefit greatly.
Companies can inexpensively learn
what does-and does not-work and
is worth developing into products.
They may also add patents to their
portfolio that increase the value of
the company and provide defense
against patent lawsuits. Universities
get income to pay professors, graduate students, staff, and expenses.
Professors and their students get
publications and, perhaps, patents on
their CVs. And, companies also get
introduced to students who they may
want to recruit to join their staff after
graduation. It sure seems like there
is a lot to gain for just a bit of attitude adjustment.

About the Author
Robert V. White (bob.white@ieee
.org) has more than 30 years of industry experience as a power electronics
engineer. He has worked in product
design, systems and applications engineering, and technology development.
He has been an active volunteer with
the IEEE Power Electronics Society,
serving several years on the Administrative Committee, two terms as technical
vice president, and as a Chapter chair.
He earned a B.S.E.E. degree from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and an M.S.E.E. degree from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. He is currently
pursuing a Ph.D. degree in power electronics at the University of Colorado,
Boulder. Presently, he is the chief engineer of Embedded Power Labs, a
power electronics consulting company.
He is a Fellow of the IEEE.

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IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2019

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