https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=1&hp

Gertrude Rothschild, Dies at 83; Advanced LEDs

"In 2005, Professor Rothschild (who was known on the Columbia campus as Professor Neumark) filed a lawsuit against several electronics companies, including the Philips Lumileds Lighting Company, Epistar, Toyoda Gosei and Osram, accusing them of infringing on two of her semiconductor patents.

"The move was generally regarded as quixotic, but Professor Rothschild prevailed. One by one, nearly all the companies signed licensing agreements with her.

"The money she received in settlements allowed her to pursue an even more ambitious defense of her patents. In 2008 she filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission against 34 electronics companies, including giants like Sony, Nokia and Hitachi, for possible infringement of her 1993 patent “‘Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors Having Low Bipolar Resistivity and Method of Formation.” “I just want recognition for the work that I did, and I want to show that women can do science,” she told Nature Photonics.

"After the commission agreed to hear the case, and Professor Rothschild brought a complaint against a second list of companies, the companies settled and she withdrew the complaints. In all, she wrested $27 million in settlements and licensing fees from more than 40 companies, her former lawyer, Albert Jacobs Jr., told the newsletter Law 360 in August."