But on the patent itself, there are two inventors listed, not one. And under U.S. law, a patent owned by more than one person cannot be the basis for an infringement suit unless all the owners sue. "If one of them refuses, for whatever reason," says Beatie, "you have a patent that is worthless."

So while Fish, through the trust fund and then Nanotronics, has assigned interest in the patents to Patriot, Moore has not. In fact, says Beatie, Moore refuses to participate in the infringement suit and has licensed his coinventor rights to Technology Properties Ltd., an intellectual property company based in San Jose, Calif.

Moore has been silent on the whole business. And it is Technology Properties' president, Daniel Leckrone, who is "driving the rig," says Beatie. And why won't Moore participate in the suits? According to Beatie, he and Technology Properties "want money, which we are willing to give them. But they want a lot of other, unreasonable things that we won't give them." At press time, Leckrone had not responded to requests for comment.

So the purpose of the suit against Moore, Leckrone, and Technology Properties is to establish that despite what it says on the patent, Fish alone invented the high-speed clocking device. "Fish has made some statements to that effect," says Beatie, "And Moore has made some public statements that tend to support it as well. So we have asked the court in San Jose to give us a declaratory judgment, a ruling, saying that in fact Patriot is the sole owner of the '336 patent."

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul04/3925

Be well