In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I kno him well and ued his stuff early djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jonathan B Spira <jspira () basex com>
Date: April 15, 2006 7:03:45 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent


Dave

IP readers will learn from this tale.

Regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Szívélyes üdvözlet/Cordialement/ 
Cordiali saluti/Saludos/Vänliga hälsningar

/s/ Jonathan
Jonathan B. Spira
CEO and Chief Analyst
Basex, Inc.
y jspira () basex com
( +1 (212) 725-2600 x113
8 http://www.basex.com


April 16, 2006
In Silicon Valley, a Man Without a Patent
By JOHN MARKOFF

MENLO PARK, Calif.

GEOFF GOODFELLOW is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who came up with an  
idea that resulted in a $612.5 million payday. But he will never see  
a penny of it. He remains little known even in Silicon Valley and,  
perhaps most surprising, he doesn't really mind.

And herein lies one of the stranger tales about innovation and money  
in the world of technology.

A high-school dropout, Mr. Goodfellow had his light-bulb moment in  
1982, when he came up with the idea of sending electronic mail  
messages wirelessly to a portable device — like a BlackBerry. Only  
back then, there was no BlackBerry; his vision centered on pagers. He  
eventually did get financial backing to start a wireless e-mail  
service in the early 1990's, but it failed.

So, in 1998, he moved to Prague and bought a bar. While he was there,  
the BlackBerry did come along. Tending bar, he believed that everyone  
had forgotten that he had initially come up with the idea of wireless  
e-mail.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/technology/16wireless.html? 
_r=1&pagewanted=print


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