Earlier this month House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte (R-VA) named Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) Chairman of the IP Subcommittee on the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Issa is well known as a successful inventor, patentee, and businessman, having founded Directed Electronics. Ocean Tomo research presents a strong case that Issa is right for the job given the quality of his inventions as well as his experience in USPTO procedure and later use of his inventions as financing collateral. A summary of our research follows. It will be fascinating to watch Issa manage continued questions of patent reform given this unique background.
Of the 37 patents issued to Issa, 7 are currently active utility patents. The technologies that Issa has contributed to include: alarm sensors, embedded code, security system channel expansion, spare cell charging and transmitters. Issa’s four most highly rated patents are summarized in the table below. When analyzed by the Ocean Tomo Ratings™ System, these patents were found to have an average OTR™ Score or quality ranking of 166.5, putting these patents among the top 3% of all issued US Patents.
Issa successfully commercialized his core inventions at Directed Electronics, becoming the nation’s largest manufacturer of vehicle anti-theft devices. In the process of building his portfolio he had experience in responding to the USPTO as the 5,990,786 patent, an advanced method of indicating incoming threat levels on an electronically secured vehicle, withstood multiple office actions. More recently, Issa’s patents have been used as collateral with several assets currently pledged with a security interest to Wells Fargo.
As shown in the two patent landscapes for alarm sensors and embedded code, Issa’s inventions are likely well known as his technology average Ocean Tomo Relevance™ Score is close to many companies including: Stanley Black & Decker, Emerson Electric, Chamberlain and Lear to name a few.
In an interview by Sean Lengell of the Washington Examiner, Issa revealed that his favorite patent “didn’t make me a nickel. Years ago I patented a security system inside a car battery. And it was ingenious because if the car battery wouldn’t deliver power you couldn’t start the car. … The only problem was you had to go into the car battery business to make it, and I patented the product but I didn’t have the capability of making batteries, and I couldn’t get a battery maker to make it.” Query as to how Issa would now view licensing of his patent to battery manufactures who came to adopt his vision at a later point?