Kia Silverbrook
Kia Silverbrook (born 1958) is an Australian inventor, scientist, and serial entrepreneur. He is the world's most prolific inventor with 4,438[1] granted U.S. utility patents as of 11 May 2012. Internationally, he has 9,716[2]patents or patent applications registered at the international patent document database (INPADOC).[a] His inventions are used in a variety of products such as computers, smartphones, LCD screens, digital cameras, robots, digital pens and industrial and office printers.[citation needed]
Silverbrook has made numerous inventions in the fields of digital music synthesis, digital video, digital printing, digital paper, internet commerce, computer graphics, liquid crystal displays, robotics, 3D fabrication, organic chemistry, DNA analysis, lab-on-a-chip, software, image processing, microelectromechanical systems, mechanical engineering, cryptography, sensors, nanotechnology, microfluidics, polymers, fault tolerance, parallel processing, semiconductor fabrication, and integrated circuit (chip) architecture.[1][2][3]
Early life
Silverbrook was born in 1958 in Australia. In 1977 he started at Fairlight Instruments,[4] the developers of the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer, the Fairlight CMI. While at Fairlight, he invented and developed the Fairlight CVI, a real-time video effects computer released in 1984.[5] He remained employed by Fairlight Instruments until 1985.
In 1985, Silverbrook founded Integrated Arts, a parallel processing and computer graphics company using the Inmos transputer. Silverbrook was Managing Director (Australian equivalent of US CEO) of Integrated Arts until 1990.
Silverbrook Research
In 1994 Silverbrook co-founded Silverbrook Research,[7] an Australian research and development and invention licensing company. He is chairman and CEO of Silverbrook Research, which is the developer of the Memjet[8]printer technology, the Hyperlabel[9] alternative to RFID, and the Netpage[10] digital pen technology, among others. Since 2001, Silverbrook Research has appeared in the annual listings of the top 200 global companies, as ranked by US patents, climbing as high as the 28th rank in 2008.
| Year | Rank | U.S. Patents |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 142 | 117[11] |
| 2002 | 145 | 121[12] |
| 2003 | 149 | 122[13] |
| 2004 | 109 | 172[14] |
| 2005 | 71 | 247[15] |
| 2006 | 42 | 510[16] |
| 2007 | 37 | 533[17] |
| 2008 | 28 | 608[18] |
| 2009 | 45 | 474[19] |
| 2010 | 34 | 752[20] |
| 2011 | 31 | 812[21] |
In 2011 Silverbrook Research was assigned 812 US utility patents, more half of the total of 1,533[22] US utility patents assigned to Australian entities in that year.
Memjet
Main article: Memjet
In 2002 Silverbrook co-founded Memjet,[8] a printer technology company. When Silverbrook first announced the Memjet technology in March 2007, it was widely thought to be a hoax,[23] as the technology seemed to be implausibly advanced. However, now that printers have been demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011),[24] and announced by such major companies as LG, Fuji Xerox, Canon, Toshiba, Lenovo, Océ andMedion the technology has been shown to be real. The Memjet technology has won various awards, including Popular Science's "Best of what's new - 2011" and the Edison Awards 2012 Gold Medal [25][26]
George Kaiser Family Foundation Lawsuit
In March 2012, the George Kaiser Family Foundation (principal investor in Memjet) filed a lawsuit alleging fraud and seeking to gain control of the Memjet patent portfolio, numbering over 4,000 patents.[27][28] Silverbrook's response to the lawsuit characterized it as "part of a hardball commercial negotiation".[29][30]
International Patents
A search of the international patent document database (INPADOC) reveals 9,662[2] patent documents. The INPADOC database includes patent applications that have not yet been granted, as well as some duplication of patents for different countries, so it gives an overestimate of the number of separate inventions.
Scientific publications
Silverbrook is co-author of a number of papers[38] in the Journal of Chemical Physics, Chemical Physics Letters, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry B. These papers are in the area of carbon nanotubes and the electronic properties of molecular systems.
Media coverage
- On 13 December 2005 USA Today published a list of "the top 10 living U.S. patent holders".[39] At the time, Silverbrook was ranked third, with 801 U.S. patents.
- On 15 October 2007 Condé Nast Portfolio Magazine published an article about "the world's most prolific inventors alive".[40] At the time, Silverbrook was ranked second, with 1646 U.S. patents.
- On 7 January 2011 The Washington Times published an article titled: "Inkjet, laser, Memjet? Fast color printers on tap".[41] This article discusses the announcement of Memjet printers for the office market at CES 2011.
- On 10 January 2011 IFI Claims published an article: "Top Global Companies Ranked By 2010 U.S. Patents".[42] This article ranked Silverbrook Research at number 34 in U.S. patents for 2010, amongst all global companies.
- On 6 May 2011 Business Insider published an article titled: "The Ten Greatest Inventors In The Modern Era".[43] At the time, Silverbrook was ranked first, with 3847 U.S. utility patents.
- On 9 June 2011 PC Magazine published an article titled: "The Best Inventions of 2011 ... So Far".[44] One of Silverbrook's inventions ("Point and Print", US 7878646) is the first of ten listed inventions.
- Strutpatent.com has published a list of the top ten inventors for every week, month, and year since 2007. Silverbrook is listed first for each year.[45][46][47][48][49]
Notes
- ^ Difference between numbers of US patents and INPADOC patents is often related to the same invention being patented in several countries, see also patent families
References
- ^ a b Issued US Utility Patents of Kia Silverbrook
- ^ a b c Kia Silverbrook Patents registered at INPADOC
- ^ US Patent Applications of Kia Silverbrook
- ^ Fairlight website
- ^ 1984 Billboard magazine article on Fairlight CVI
- ^ CiSRA web site
- ^ Silverbrook Research web site
- ^ a b Memjet web site
- ^ Hyperlabel web site
- ^ Netpage web site
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Receiving U.S. Patents in 2001
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Receiving U.S. Patents in 2002
- ^ 2003 Top Patent Owners
- ^ 2004 Top Patent Owners
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2005
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2006
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2007
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2008
- ^ Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2009
- ^ Top Global Companies Ranked By 2010 U.S. Patents
- ^ IFI CLAIMS® 2011 Top 50 US Patent Assignees
- ^ US Utility Patents assigned to Australian entities in 2011
- ^ Is Silverbrook's high speed Memjet printer a hoax? Texyt 23 March 2007
- ^ Memjet: ink-on with the world's fastest printer Engadget Jan 6 2011
- ^ Memjet website awards page
- ^ 2012 Edison Awards
- ^ Kaiser foundation alleges fraud in lawsuit after $610M investment
- ^ Genius Or Scoundrel - Patently, Someone Is Wrong Sydney Morning Herald, 16 April 2012
- ^ "Silverbrook returns Kaiser hardball play" Print21, 22 March 2012
- ^ "Silverbrook statement cites poor commercialization of Memjet technology in Kaiser lawsuit", Wirth Consulting, 20 April 2012]
- ^ Luke Hopewell, "Printing deal secures 300 research jobs", ZDNet, 7 May 2012.
- ^ "Kaiser-Silverbrook lawsuit settled, Memjet to get Silverbrook IP Portfolio", Wirth Consulting, 8 May 2012
- ^ "Memjet acquires Silverbrook staff under agreement" Print21, 7 May 2012
- ^ Silverbrook Patents assigned to Kodak
- ^ Silverbrook Patents assigned to Canon
- ^ Silverbrook Patents assigned to Rank Cintel
- ^ Silverbrook Patents assigned to Silverbrook Research
- ^ Scientific papers co-authored by Silverbrook
- ^ You really can find identities of top patent holders USA Today, 13 Dec 2005
- ^ Masters of invention Portfolio, 15 October 2007
- ^ Inkjet, laser, Memjet? Fast color printers on tap The Washington Times, 7 January 2011
- ^ IFI CLAIMS Announces Top Global Companies Ranked By 2010 U.S. Patents IFI Claims Patent Services, 10 January 2011
- ^ The Ten Greatest Inventors In The Modern Era Business Insider, 6 May 2011
- ^ The Best Inventions of 2011 ... So Far PC Magazine, 9 June 2011
- ^ List of the top ten US patent grantees for 2007 StrutPatent.com website
- ^ List of the top ten US patent grantees for 2008 StrutPatent.com website
- ^ List of the top ten US patent grantees for 2009 StrutPatent.com website
- ^ List of the top ten US patent grantees for 2010 StrutPatent.com website
- ^ List of the top ten US patent grantees for 2011 StrutPatent.com website
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