About The Displayground

The Blog for commentary, insights, cool facts, and overall information about our company, products and services.

Follow Us on Twitter

Wall Street Journal: Microvision #43 in Global Electronics Industry for Patent Portfolio

September 29th, 2009
by Ben Averch

Today, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, Microvision has been ranked #43 worldwide in the electronics & instruments industry for the strength of our patent portfolio by The Patent Board, the leading independent provider of best practices research, tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investment. According to The Patent Board, Microvision had a 29% increase in patenting and a 38% increase in Industry Impact™ this quarter.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: PATENT SCORECARD ELECTRONIC & INSTRUMENTS

Monday, September 28, 2009
Companies and private research firms are grouped by their Patent Board technology strength ranking which is based on the scale, quality, impact, and nearness to core science of a company’s patent-based intellectual property. This overall strength rating factors in both qualitative and quantitative aspects of a company’s patent portfolio.

About The Patent Board:

The Patent Board is the leading independent provider of best practices research, tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investment. The Patent Board’s team of experts, deep pool of knowledge and foundation in core research provides clients with valuable insight on patent-based IP strategies. The Patent Board leadership is advancing the value of patent knowledge to both inform business strategy and to help define patent assets as the next critical financial asset class.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Wall Street Journal: Microvision #43 in Global Electronics Industry for Patent Portfolio”

Anant Goel Says:

September 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm |

Microvision: Protect Your Intellectual Property

Today, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, Microvision has been ranked #43 worldwide in the electronics & instruments industry for the strength of their patent portfolio by “The Patent Board”, the leading independent provider of best practices research, tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investment.
According to The Patent Board, Microvision had a 29% increase in patenting and a 38% increase in Industry Impact™ this quarter.

Here’s the link to The WSJ/Patent Scorecard from this morning…

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-macromkt.html?mod=topnav_2_3000

If you have been reading about the recent buzz about Pico projectors, you will know that the laser based PicoP display engine/projector market will be huge in the next few years. And sooner or later the competition will recognize that laser based Pico projection produces the most desirable and always in focus images. Laser based Pico projection is the way to go… and single MEMS will be the least expensive and scalable solution to the huge potential markets world-wide that is more the 2 billion units per year large.

With that in mind, the question comes to mind: “How well Microvision is prepared and plans to fend-off infringement to its Intellectual Property in the future… for the sake of its future?” Microvision is the only company, as of this day, that produces the RGB laser based single MEMS PicoP display engine/projector on this planet.

With the enormous size of the future Pico projector market [in terms of units & dollars] the financial rewards will certainly attract competitors that will…
• Blatantly infringe on Microvision patents;
• challenge the validity of Microvision patents;
• claim conferring a “negative right” upon Microvision;
• claim Microvision as “patent troll”;
• and of course develop their own portfolio of “petty” patents to “fragment” the Microvision IP portfolio.

Having said that…

What’s needed is proactive, relentless, ruthless and effective IP portfolio management at Microvision… something similar to what was successfully done [and continues to be] at Qualcomm. The most effective and the least expensive way to do that, is to go out there and hire a senior patent engineer from Qualcomm and appoint him/her the CPO… the Chief Patent Officer at Microvision.

Why Qualcomm you say?

Well consider this from personal experience…

“About 12 years ago, I had the opportunity of managing a semi-conductor company about three miles away from Qualcomm in San Diego. During the course of my tenure I made friends with a few Qualcomm executives and learned a few things about their patents and IP management as an asset… especially with a serious understanding of their company’s major [if not entire] business model that was based around licensing and royalty.”

“I still remember the “lobby wall” at Qualcomm with over 850 issued patents [currently over 1,200] framed and displayed proudly. Qualcomm’s patents were for CDMA technology and at the time [in 1996] they knew it would some day power billions of cell phones worldwide. Qualcomm managed their IP assets proactively, relentlessly, ruthlessly and very effectively… that is until recently before the Broadcomm debacle which cost Qualcomm $891 million dollars in IP infringement litigation and damages cost.”

The Wall Street Journal/Patent Board is the leading independent provider of best practices research, tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investment. The Patent Board’s team of experts, deep pool of knowledge and foundation in core research provides its clients with valuable insight on patent-based IP strategies. The Patent Board leadership is advancing the value of patent knowledge to both inform business strategy and to help define patent assets as the next critical financial asset class.

That’s a mouth full. The bare naked truth of all this for Microvision is…

“With the enormous size of the future Pico projector market [in terms of units & dollars] the financial rewards will certainly attract deep pocketed competitors that will infringe [and engage in all the above unscrupulous deeds] to test your resolve, create distraction, put financial burden of litigation… all in the hopes of extracting a cheap, if not free, licensing agreement.”

With that in mind, the question to ask is: “How well Microvision is prepared and how it plans to fend-off infringement to its Intellectual Property in the future… for the sake of its future?”

Anant Goel
Anant Goel Says:

September 29th, 2009 at 8:35 pm |

Microvision: Protect Your Intellectual Property Part 2

Recently, IEEE Spectrum has refreshed its annual assessment of IP portfolios in different technology sectors for the year 2007… including Electronics where Microvision is cited.

Here’s the link to IEEE Spectrum Patents Scorecard…

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/static/patentsurvey2008

[Make sure to click on “Electronics Category” to get the data and read the bottom foot notes for explanation of the terms used]

In this evaluation, the Adjusted Pipeline Impact (API) score indicates how frequently a company’s patents from the previous five years were cited by other patents… after adjusting for self-citation. Microvision scored 2nd in API [at 1.71] out of the Top 20 electronics companies… in the year 2007.

What does that really mean in terms of value of these patent citations by other patents to the overall market valuation of Microvision?

Let’s check with the experts in the business…

Scholars have learned that a powerful proxy for innovative expertise is how frequently a company’s existing patents are cited in patent applications. Indeed, one-quarter of all patents receive no citations, and a mere 0.01% earn more than 100 citations, according to Bronwyn Hall, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1593752

In a study by four economists covering seven industries that generate a large number of patents, researchers found that a patent mentioned 14 times by other patents is worth, on average, 100 times as much as a patent cited only 8 times. Another estimated that “companies with widely cited patents and a track record of turning them into products outperformed the market by 1,000% over a 10-year period.”

Let me re-state…

“…companies with widely cited patents and a track record of turning them into products outperformed the market by 1,000% over a 10-year period”.

In addition to this peek through the window to Microvision future …

There is a wealth of information there and a further in-depth study [and research] by an experienced professional will quickly reveal where the future infringers, challengers, claimers and “patent trolls’ of Microvision IP portfolio are at work.

Anant Goel
Wall Street Journal: Microvision #43 in Global Electronics … « Intellectual Property Says:

September 30th, 2009 at 3:12 am |

[...] Read more: Wall Street Journal: Microvision #… [...]
Anant Goel Says:

October 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm |

Microvision: Protect Your Intellectual Property Part 3

Part 3 is all about communicating the observations that some folks [besides me] have made over the last few months and most recently at the Annual Stockholders Meeting [ASM] on September 15th.

Microvision Wants to be Major Player in the Imaging Market Place:

“Laser steering projector is the bread and butter of Microvision for the foreseeable future and we are going to focus on the embedded PicoP to make the company profitable.” … Believed to be the words of Alex Tokman, CEO of Microvision, at the Annual Shareholders Meeting!

“Microvision is positioning itself thru patents and IP to be a major player in the image community. He (Alex) said: “Microvision is not going to be a small component provider that can be marginalized by bigger players.”

Alex sees Microvision as an INTEL type company. He is going to make the company a major player in the image industry. That may very well explain the “Image by PicoP” as the slogan chosen for the world’s first laser based PicoP projector SHOWwx. Please read my post on…

Yes Virginia: “It’s Intel Inside… but Image by PicoP.”
Here’s the link…

http://mirro7.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-virginia-its-intel-inside-but-image.html

In my humble opinion, Alex Tokman is set on a course to turn Microvision not only like an Intel… but also Qualcomm at the same time.

Here’s why…

First, the observations we have made over the last few months…

“The slides on patents and IP at the ASM were probably the most interesting of all the slides in the presentation. We have seen earlier versions of these back in May 2009. These slides showed a marked increase in patent filings by the company after Alex Tokman took over as CEO. However, now there also seems to be a renewed and significant emphasis on bigger picture kinds of claims regarding things like applications. Most all of the early patents were about hardware and how you make the hardware work… and it is those patents that got Microvision on the IEEE Spectrum and Wall Street Journal [The Patent Board] list.”

So, why this emphasis on “bigger picture” kinds of claims including things like “applications”?

I think the answer lies in the CEO’s head and from time to time is reflected in his actions and statements.

I won’t be surprised to see more patents coming out of Microvision that also cover services and applications… besides the PicoP display engine hardware. It is possible that in the future, Microvision business model may resemble, in some ways, that of Qualcomm. Qualcomm business model consists of “chip sales” along with the sale of “Intellectual Property Rights” for innovative Applications and Services to the wireless companies.

• Alex sees Microvision as an Intel type company

• We will [not] get marginalized by bigger OEM players that we may some day call customers

• Choice of marketing slogan like: “Image by PicoP”

• Bigger picture claims that include “applications” of PicoP in their hardware type patent applications

• Early development of PicoP Evaluation Kit [PEK]

• Aggressive marketing [and sales] of PEK for a broader applications Value Added Resellers.

Eventually, in my opinion, Microvision may not only be selling PicoP display engines and associated components… but also selling “Intellectual Property Rights” to innovative Applications and Services built around their PicoP display technology. That’s one sure way of [not] getting marginalized by bigger OEM players that it may some day call customers… like Apple, Motorola, Sony, Nokia and so on.

I have known about Alex Tokman for many years before he came to Microvision. However, the news about Alexander Tokman coming on board as the new President and COO of Microvision caught my attention, and subsequent interest in Microvision, as I have known of him from his days at GE. What Tokman did at GE was quite remarkable.

“Alexander Tokman joined Microvision in July 2005 as a President and COO. Tokman was responsible for managing Microvision’s operations, including sales, marketing, research and development, and supply chain. He was named President and CEO in January 2006. Tokman, a 10+ year GE executive, joined Microvision from GE Healthcare, where most recently he served as General Manager of Global Molecular Imaging & Radiopharmacy—a self-contained, global multi-technology business unit. Over the past five years at GE Tokman defined, developed, and successfully commercialized several new technology businesses including PET/CT, which added $500M+ of organic top line growth to the company within the first three years of its commercial introduction.”

Having said that, and knowing what little I know about Alex Tokman, I can confidently say that he has the vision to see the huge potential Microvision’s PicoP display engine [laser-scanning 1 MEMS] technology offers as the leader of the pack.

That’s right, leader of the pack!!!

Here’s why…

“…in view of the limitations and image quality issues associated with current Pico display technologies being offered or being pursued by others.”

TI is stuck with DLP technology, 3M is pushing Color Filter LcoS technology, Syndiant is working with light panels on LcoS technology, Expaly is working with laser based LcoS technology, Micron Displaytech is working with FLCOS technology, bTendo [2006 start-up] is working with laser-scanning 2MEMS technology , and Maradin [2007 start-up] is working with laser-scanning 1 MEMS technology.

The only two Pico display technologies on the market to-day are: DLP by TI and LcoS by 3M… the rest of the rat pack are still “working” on their R&D. While there are some interim Pico projectors based on technology such as color filter LCOS [ 3M technology] and DLP [TI technology] that were in a position to get to market earlier… but they have major drawbacks in fulfilling the size, power, image quality, resolution and always in focus requirements of the market, particularly for embedded devices. We are already seeing color filter LcoS products being designed out in favor of field sequential LcoS and many former “DLP-only design houses” also have field sequential LcoS designs underway.

Syndiant [2004 start-up] talks “big game”, at their website, about light modulating panels that use Field Sequential LcoS [FSLCOS] to provide a very high resolution display that will be always be in focus when RGB lasers are used as the light source. Currently, however, they use, so they claim, LEDs as the light source. It is interesting to note that Syndiant Pico projectors are not on sale yet and we haven’t seen any of their projector demos at any of the trade shows thus far.

“In summary, if we are to believe everything that we read at Syndiant’s website, then all the competition, including Microvision, should pack-it-in… because Syndiant’s technology is so much superior and costs so much cheaper.”

However, before we recommend that competition to Syndiant, including Microvision, should pack-it-in and move-on to some other un-charted technology frontier… we should look at the Intellectual Property of Syndiant that they should have, really, to protect such a valuable technology. Our patent search found the following…

• Syndiant: No Patents found

However, Syndiant claims, at their website, to have four (4) patents.

“Syndiant has achieved four patents in the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia relating to the digital backplane and various methods, systems and devices for controlling a digital backplane, light modulating elements and spatial light modulators. Syndiant has a number of other patents pending.”

Here’s the link…
http://www.syndiant.com/tech_faqs.html

• Microvision (1 MEMS): 557 Patents (among those are a massive amount of World Patents and European Patents). Patent search shows 557 patents [World Patents] for Microvision. That number is rather too high… may be due to other “Microvision” named companies that got wrapped-in the search. The latest number of issued patents is like 115 plus many more on file.

• Maradin (1 MEMS): 2 Patents (World Patents included)

• bTendo (2 MEMS): 2 Patents (World Patents included)

• Micron Displaytech (FLCOS): 144 Patents (World Patents included)

• Explay LCOS): 29 Patents (World Patents included)

• 3M (LCOS): Very large number among hundreds of Patents

• Texas Instruments (DLP): Very large number among hundreds of Patents

• Light Blue Optics (Holographic Laser Projection): 59 Patents (World Patents included). They’re using Micron/Displaytech FLCOS technology.

Now you be the judge! All that wonderfull technology with everything “superior” and basically “no” patents?

In any case, Pico projector for mobile devices will be a huge market. All Microvision needs, to become a huge financial success is a small percentage of the overall market adoption rate. In my humble opinion, Alex Tokman is set on a course to turn Microvision not like an Intel… but also Qualcomm at the same time.

Here’s another reason why…

Microvision has been at it for over 14 years and has spent close to $250 million dollars to-date on Research and Development of its single MEMS laser-scanning PicoP technology in one form or the other. Along the way, I am sure, it has explored the dual MEMS and multitude of different combinations that come to mind. Some of these alternative technologies, I’m sure deserved ample lab time before being put on the back-burner… while others were explored and discarded without even making it to the lab.

Alex Tokman mentioned a few things as to why he believes that Microvision’s PicoP display engine is going to be successful…

• Uniqueness: nobody has lasers… nobody is doing what we are doing.

• Thin Form Factor: nobody has our size and nobody can do HD images without getting bigger.

• Longer Battery life: up to 2 hours currently vs. 45 minutes for the competition.

• Infinite focus: nobody else has it.

• Larger screen experience: from 12” to 150” diagonal under certain ambient light conditions.

• Superior small font readability: we are the only one that has 8 pt readable fonts.

• Uniformity of brightness: Images are uniformly bright from edge to edge, unlike some other competitors.

• No rainbow effect and virtually no speckle.

• Twice the color gamut (range) of NTSC

• WVGA resolution with sharper image detail and fast refresh rate

Corning and Osram [the two supply chain partners] are not only improving the laser light technology, but performance and price as well. The next generation of Green Laser [Corning GL-2000] and Microvision PicoP display engine will bear this out.

“With the enormous size of the future Pico projector market [in terms of units & dollars] the financial rewards will certainly attract deep pocketed competitors that will infringe [and engage in unscrupulous deeds] to test your resolve, create distraction, put financial burden of litigation… all in the hopes of extracting a cheap, if not free, licensing agreement from Microvision.”

With that in mind, the questions to ask are…

• How well Microvision is prepared and how it plans to fend-off infringement to its Intellectual Property in the future… for the sake of its future?

• How serious Microvision is in not only selling PicoP display engines and associated components… but also selling “Intellectual Property Rights” to innovative Applications and Services built around their PicoP display technology?

• How strongly Microvision CEO believes in his own statement about [not] getting marginalized by bigger OEM players that it may some day call customers… like Apple, Motorola, Sony, Nokia and so on.

The availability and quality of green lasers will be crucial not only to the viability of Microvision’s PicoP display technology… but also to its financial success as a growth company. The most recent news about green lasers only reinforces my belief that Microvision will be a huge financial success…

Japan’s QD Laser has developed a compact green laser that could energize the market for high-definition micro projectors.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Saturday, October 10, 2009 06:00 PM PDT

Here’s the link to the news article…

http://www.pcworld.com/article/173455/green_laser_developed_for_microprojectors.html

What’s so significant about this news is…

“QD Laser is planning mass production next year and the laser should cost around US$10, said Mitsuru Sugawara, the company’s president and CEO, during an interview at Ceatec. That will make it significantly cheaper than the only other competitor on the market, a micro green laser from Corning, according to Sugawara.”

Famous Paul Masson once said: “We will sell no wine before its time.”

This slogan applies very well to Microvision’s lauch of the world’s first laser PicoP projector SHOWwx on September 15th, 2009.

And the good thing is: “It only gets better with time.”

Anant Goel

The Displayground: Microvision Official Blog

About The Displayground

Follow Us on Twitter

Categories

Wall Street Journal: Microvision #43 in Global Electronics Industry for Patent Portfolio

4 Responses to “Wall Street Journal: Microvision #43 in Global Electronics Industry for Patent Portfolio”