Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Dyson is in the news frequently and so a dedicated thread.

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Hello DIB:

The good professor's point was that the students should seek positions in sales.  And yes, most college freshmen need a seasoned professor with both academic credentials and real business world experience to steer/guide them into the right professions.  I can't recall at the time if there were any women in the class.  Probably a couple.  Maybe they even became dyson sales reps?

I have great respect for companies large and small which successfully produce and market their products for consumption.  And contempt for companies that can't and say they do [read: hype].  

Your fave inventor's company prefers to file hundreds of patents in lieu of producing/marketing products.  His hopes are that at some future point in time another company will take all the risks to produce and market a consumer good/product that directly/indirectly infringes on a patent.  Then a potential unrealized gain may be made by selling the patents and/or threatening legal actions for patent right infringements.  It's an innovative business approach, indeed.  Certainly full employment for patent right lawyers.  You think the good history lovers of Bath are onto him?

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
I think it's misguided to imply that Dyson are typically of this type of behaviour. To my knowledge, they haven't sold the rights of any of their patents, nor do they have any current licensing arrangements in place with anybody else. They have filed a large number of patents in their short history - they even have their own dedicated in-house IP department. But, like any similar technology company, only a proportion of what they patent will make it in to final products.

For example, one patent they have from a few years ago is a cable management system, so that a robot cleaner can clean a room while getting its power from a wall socket. Their method looks good and from the reference sources they're not the only major company who have been investigating this possibility. Presumably, this type of method has yet to make it to market (by anyone) for one of the following reasons :-

1) It doesn't work well enough in practise.
2) It is believed this feature wouldn't be perceived favourably by the consumer.
3) It's not worth taking any further. They've progressed with an alterative method that works better.
4) Recent advances in battery technology will quickly make it redundant.

But, of course, there's no real incentive to not file a patent. Advances in other product areas could make a valid business case at a future date and it prevents any competitor making a claim in the meantime which would invalid the claims.

There are a large number of opportunists purely in business to file patent with no desire at all to ever manufacture a product themselves and simply make as much money as possible by holding the big players to ransom. Partially with software patents, towards which the US parent system is very favourable, unfortunately). These people are the scum of the earth in my view.

In my view, what Dyson does is above board, ethical and exactly the same as any company of the same profile. Please feel free to prove otherwise if you disagree.

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine,

Inventors (mechanical or otherwise) invent so guys like this professor can have a job and live a more fulfilled life.  Perhaps he and others who influence our moldable youth should wear a sign around their necks with a list of his/her proved-out strengths, this way students will not seek advice apart from this list.

A freshmen buddy of mine was asked by his professor why he was still taking his class...  “Why are you here?  You’re doin it.”...  My buddy had an idea for a widget while only 20 years old, borrowed $10-20k from his dad (a very cool Dad took a 2nd on his home), partnered with another friend (in his mid 20’s), paid a machinist to build some prototypes, applied for a patent, drove 50 miles to a national trade show, showed their widget to anyone who would listen, and ultimately met their future international distributor there, inked a deal, had their distributor pay for their packaging machine (they were out of money).  Within 6-8 months their product was advertised on national television and they were millionaires within 2 years.

Adults need to more responsible when advising our youth (our future).

DIB

"There are a large number of opportunists purely in business to file patent with no desire at all to ever manufacture a product themselves and simply make as much money as possible by holding the big players to ransom. Partially with software patents, towards which the US parent system is very favourable, unfortunately). These people are the scum of the earth in my view."

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Hello M00seUK:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'd say a company that boasts of 450 engineers/scientists and over 630 patents may be guilty.

Carmine D.

Hello DIB:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'd say the retired CEO and President of one the largest companies in the world, who sat on over a dozen boards of the largest fortune 500 USA companies, and took no salary from a State University for teaching, save the sheer pleasure to teach University students, is a special kind of professor.  Certainly worthy of my registration/enrollment in his classes.  In fact, most students considered attending his classes both an honor and privilege.  Not many absentees even tho it was the first class of the day. 

I don't think he could list his many business accomplishments on a single page and advertise so others might read and know at a quick glance.  He had many careers in his lifetime.  It would take many such pages to do him the justice he deserves.  He is one of the smartest men I ever met in my lifetime.  And I met many. 

Ironically, at the same time he was spending alot of time in Nevada.  He bought and sold real estate in the desert of Las Vegas to build hotel/motels.  In one his many career ventures, he managed to obtain several engineering degrees so he would know how to read blue prints and meet state/local codes for building requirements.  Made multi-millions of dollars.  And still does from his current investment/ownerships in these properties.  Gifts most away to charity, since his Wife and just about all his family members including offspring [and friends] are deceased.  He and I get together for coffee once a week and talk about the good old days.  I still enjoy his business wisdom and humor on current world events.

Carmine D

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine,

Happy New Year to you and the other posters here.

I could not agree more of your assessment of “Patent Trolls”.  I put them in the same category as ambulance chasers and whores.  Dyson has no record of being any sort of patent troll.  Fact.

Well, it is more rare than I would guess...  glad to hear of a successful guy giving back and in many ways.  On this day and of this comment of waiting or implying inventing was daunting was in error.  Smart, rich, sincere, etc. men get it wrong all the time.  *Andrew Carnegie once told Alexander Graham Bell his telephone had no value.  One of our Apollo astronauts (unsure of his name) was asked to evaluate a new material called velcro, he felt it served a purpose in weightlessness but saw no value otherwise.    The smart ones get it wrong often, your friend got it wrong on that day, yet and for sure his track records proves him right mostly.

Your friend sounds like he could easily support the many ideas Dyson has for strengthen our two countries via inventions, engineering and design.

I knew a billionaire who was super quick, smart, and could be much fun to be around, yet it turned out he had a dark ruthless ability and track record.  He was probably smarter than even Dyson, although he quite enjoyed destroying people and companies, unlike Dyson.


DIB


*I’m fairly certain it was Andrew Carnegie.

Hi DIB:

Thomas A. Edison, an inventor of note, and a New Jerseyan like the good professor and I, initially thought AC current was far inferior to DC current and would never be of value.  I give him a pass on that error.

I'd say Bernie Madoff fits the description of a billionaire with a ruthless dark side who ruins people and companies.  And I'd add to him and the list, greedy companies and executives who use "foreign" slave labor without guilt to enrich themselves at the expense of others.  Their sins cry up to God.  They get their just rewards if not in this life, then the one to come. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
... Sounds like Walmart too.  Destroying American manufacturing jobs at a high rate of speed in the name of lowering prices.

DIB

Hello DIB:  HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

W*M capitalizes on the demand for less expensive [read: lower prices] foreign made goods.  Why?  Americans are eager and anxious to buy these products.  Using your logic applied to W*M, should we then further assert that the Americans who buy these foreign made goods/products are eliminating US manufacturing jobs?  Yes, most assuredly.  But, whose fault is this?  W*M for selling what US consumers want to buy?  That seems very shortsighted and anti-W*M.  Foreign manufacturers?  Why, for being more competitive than the US?  US consumers?  Why, for saving money?  US manufacturers?  Why, for failing to be competitive with foreign made goods?  Now, that's thinking like a non-government type.  I know what the good marketing professor would say.

BTW, APPLE i [nnovative] Phones are now selling at Wal*Mart stores besides BEST BUY, APPLE and AT&T stores.  Despite Mr. Jobs' longstanding eschewing of Mac discounts and Wal*Mart stores.   What's the saying:  If you can't beat them, join them?  Innovative APPLE joined them.  Survival of the fittest.  APPLE expects the sales of these iPhones at WM stores in 2009 to bolster its sagging sales and profits. 

Carmine D.

DysonInventsBig wrote:
Yeah DIB, but it's us not them.  We run to Wal-Mart.  I've heard of no one who's set out on a shopping trip with a gun to his or her head.  As long as consumers continue to shop without a some sense of awareness as to where their money goes and what it may or may not be supporting, the problem will prevail.

Business of all sizes and shapes may do whatever they like to gain advantage regarding profit but the public makes the final decision on the matter by merely a "yes" or "no"

Best,

Venson.