Home Depot has to pay inventor $25 Million for stealing his invention

<i>In the year before the devices were installed, the company paid out $1 million in claims related to injuries caused by the saw. In the year after the gadgets were installed, it paid out $7,000.</i><p>This is unbelievable - he saved them millions, jet they were not willing to pay him the $4M he asked for.

I'm disappointed that I can't find anything online describing his actual invention, I'm curious to see what it is.<p>The system I'm familiar with is SawStop (<a href="http://www.sawstop.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sawstop.com/</a>), mentioned here previously. (<a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202766" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202766</a>). But, I don't think that he's associated with them.

By the way, while the article did not mention this, I looked it up and this is a case of patent infringement. So see patents are good for something.<p>If you are pitching something to large companies and the thing you are pithing is something they can make in-house, then you have to get a patent. If it is cheaper for them to copy your idea than to pay you and you don't have a patent they will copy your idea.

I worked at the Home Depot a bit in college, and before that worked in a meat department that used bandsaws which are strikingly similar. It's actually amazing how frequent someone losing a chunk of a finger is. If you've worked in that atmosphere for long, you know someone it happened to. If you've worked in it your whole life, you probably are someone it happened to.

Interesting. I wonder if he came up with this on his own time or at work? I assume Home Depot employees don't have to sign a PIIA.

the angry mob demanding the end to all patents championing the protection of small inventors is noticeably silent

&#62; "(Expletive) Michael Powell," the executive said. "Let him sue us.<p>"You cannot develop a reputation for somebody who gives up. You have to be known as a fighter for your rights. Otherwise, you'll never license anything...Even Thomas Edison had a tough time supporting and protecting his patents. He spent about $1.4 million [to defend his inventions], and this was around the turn of the century, when beer was a nickel."<p>-Jerome H. Lemelson<p>Arguably the most prolific American inventor (Walkman tape drive mechanism among his inventions)<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_H._Lemelson" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_H._Lemelson</a>

Dealing with discovery (abuse) can be one of the most frustrating parts of engaging in litigation against big corporations on behalf of a smaller inventor.

Looks like some kind of spring loaded device to hold workpiece in place<p><a href="http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7044039.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7044039.html</a>