Inventors and Patents From the City of Westlake Village

A recent report from the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows that five patents were granted in the City of Westlake Village in the past three months. This is an increase from two in the previous months. One of these patents was granted to the MannKind Corporation on Feb. 24, 2020, for its patented technology that helps people with Parkinson’s disease. Since 2009, the number of approved patents has increased steadily. It has grown from 225,000 in 2009 to over 285,000 in 2019.

Fairchild Semiconductor

The Fairchild Semiconductor history goes back to the early years when the company created the first transistor. The company was one of the first to sell its transistors to major companies, including IBM and the United States military. The transistors were made of silicon, but had reliability issues when they were first developed. This was resolved when Jean Heomi invented the planar process, which made the transistors more reliable. This allowed Fairchild to become a leading manufacturer of electronic circuitry.

The company’s semiconductor division grew rapidly, doubling its sales every year. By the mid-1960s, it comprised about two-thirds of the parent company’s sales. In 1966, Fairchild was ranked third in sales, behind Motorola and Texas Instruments. In 1997, the company was sold to Citicorp Venture Capitol for $550 million. The company then began acquiring companies and making chips again.

Fairchild Semiconductor is known for its revolutionary products and processes. Its employees invented multiple chips, manufacturing processes, and products. The company has been an American technology leader for over fifty years. It is still a popular destination for Silicon Valley residents.

The company has been one of the original Silicon Valley companies and has had a major impact on computing today. However, in September 2016, it was acquired by ON Semiconductor for $2.4 billion. As a result, the company’s name changed from Fairchild to ON Semiconductor, and its operations became known as the ON Semiconductor.

Monsanto Technology

Monsanto is notorious for its alleged abuse of legal rights. In 2009, a documentary called David versus Monsanto exposed a farmer’s land, which had been contaminated with proprietary GMO crops from Monsanto. The farmer sued the company and was found guilty of patent infringement, but the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in Monsanto’s favor. This documentary sparked backlash against the GMO industry. A commenter on the documentary said that people should avoid GMOs because of Monsanto’s “unbelievable greed.”

Monsanto obtained patents for their proprietary crops, and then sued innocent farmers to stop them from selling their patented products. Those farmers did not want to stop Monsanto from making money off of the crops they sold, and Monsanto fought their cases in court. One of these farmers was Percy Schmeiser, who treated a neighbor’s land with Roundup, enriched his canola plants, and replanted the same seeds without any licensing agreement.

EndoStim

The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded three patents to people in Westlake Village in June. That’s down from three in June of 2017. The patents are for detecting automatic driving, a battery for cell phones, and a pulse-rate modulator. Another patent was filed by Avinew, Inc. on May 11, 2020. Over the last 10 years, the number of patents approved by the U.S. has steadily increased, rising from 225,000 in 2009 to over 285,000 in 2019. However, some critics say that the patent system is too slow for medical breakthroughs.

DataDirect Networks

In 2006, DataDirect Networks was founded with the help of Westlake Village residents, and has since grown to be a global technology leader. In 2007, the company was awarded a prestigious patent for its PB8Xu, a wireless PBX that is the size of a small office. It is one of the most innovative products on the market.

DataDirect Networks was awarded a patent, number 8-719-520, for a system for data migration and data integrity. It was developed by three men and one woman in Laurel, Maryland and Westlake Village, California. The patent also has 11 co-inventors who have worked together to create an innovative data migration system.

Bank of America

A patent awarded to AppFolio describes its process for automatically collecting information from third-party systems and providing it to a customer. It also covers metrics, false acknowledgements, and auto-completion for information input over a network. Inventors and Westlake Village residents Deviprasad Jena and Michael David Whitt worked with InventHelp to create this technology.