Season 5, Episode 12. Patent Paydays: When Employee Ingenuity Strikes Gold

Genius doesn’t come with a price tag until someone tries to take it from you. When brilliant minds create groundbreaking innovations during employment, who truly owns these inventions? This fascinating legal arena pits creators against corporations in battles that can span decades and result in multi-million-dollar verdicts.

Meet John Peterson, the engineer who refused to surrender his weekend projects to a convenience store chain that claimed everything he created, even off the clock. His story of fighting Bukies’ overreaching employment contract offers a masterclass in standing up for your intellectual property rights. Then there’s Professor Shanks, whose glucose biosensor technology earned his employer £24 million. In comparison, he received nothing until a twenty-year legal battle culminated in a £2 million award and a landmark UK Supreme Court decision on “outstanding benefit.”

From patent grammar wars where a single verb tense determined ownership of HIV diagnostic technology to post-employment clauses that tried to claim an inventor’s future ideas, we explore the fine print that can make or break inventor fortunes. We’ll take you around the globe from Germany’s sophisticated formulas for inventor compensation to China’s statutory minimum payouts, revealing how different legal systems value creative minds. Whether you’re sketching brilliance on napkins or developing prototypes in corporate labs, understanding your rights as an inventor has never been more crucial. As workplace innovation drives the modern economy, the law is finally catching up to ensure the minds behind the magic receive their fair share.

From Spark to Impact, the Conscious Path of an Idea Intangiblia™

In this special episode, Leticia Caminero steps into the guest’s seat to explore the ideas behind her book Protection for the Inventive Mind. Through an honest and reflective conversation, she shares how creativity, human-centered design, and intellectual property come together to turn fragile ideas into real, sustainable value. This episode is an invitation to think differently about innovation, protection, and the courage to build with intention.Ever had an idea feel bright in the shower and dim by lunchtime? We open the door to a different path: a living, pencil-in-hand guide for taking an idea from spark to market with intellectual property as structure, not handcuffs. Leticia moves from host to guest to share why she wrote Protection for the Inventive Mind and how it helps creators make small daily moves that reduce anxiety, protect originality, and build sustainable income.We walk through the mindset shift that turns books into workspaces and readers into builders. Instead of chasing a finish line like “file the patent,” we reframe protection as a bridge to value—licensing, partnerships, investment, and fair deals. You will hear how to sequence complexity, choose what to cut without losing the soul of the idea, and align patents, utility models, or industrial designs with a clear strategy. The String of Thought method takes center stage: an honest chain that captures fear, sparks, contradictions, and breakthroughs without polishing too soon. That chain becomes both creative x-ray and strategic map, revealing what deserves protection and where the market fit can take root.From user-first thinking to documentation practices that stand up in conflict, we stitch together design thinking, practical IP, and monetization in a humane way. This is about creative justice: giving your idea the structure it needs to breathe, be recognized, and be paid. If you are tired of vague advice and hungry for a process that respects both magic and rigor, this conversation will meet you where you are and move you one concrete step forward today.If this episode helps you see your idea more clearly, share it with a friend who needs a nudge. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the next small step you will take.Send us a textCheck out "Protection for the Inventive Mind" – available now on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. The views and opinions expressed (by the host and guest(s)) in this podcast are strictly their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the entities with which they may be affiliated. This podcast should in no way be construed as promoting or criticizing any particular government policy, institutional position, private interest or commercial entity. Any content provided is for informational and educational purposes only.
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