Gordon Gould: The Long Battle For The Laser Patent

Victory, at last
For almost three decades, Gould watched as manufacturers around the world exploited the technology that "struck Gould with the force of a revelation."¹ But Gould, backed by his employer, TRG, battled the courts for years until October 1977, when the U.S. Patent Office finally awarded him a patent on the optical pumping of lasers. In the end, all four of the patent applications Gould filed decades earlier were granted.

By April 1988, when Gould's use patent was approved, optically pumped amplifier patents covered 80% of the lasers made in the United States. The market for lasers had ballooned to more than $500 million per year. Suddenly, Gould was a multimillionaire.¹

Gordon Gould died on September 16, 2005. His patent wars continue to inspire debate today about patent law.

References

1. Taylor, N. LASER: The Inventor, The Nobel Laureate, And The Thirty-Year Patent War
2. en.wikipedia.org, Gordon Gould, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Gould

See Associated Figure