Seems Sony stiffed the man responsible for the tiny laser in the PS2. :dammit: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100820a3.html He won 5 million yen or $50,000..... Sony probably spends more on green tea in a month. Guy was asking for 100,000,000 yen compensation. Bet the lawyer fees were past 100,000,000 yen. :lol:
You of all people should know that the dollar is not worth anywhere near Y100, the dollar amount is closer to $58,000. So the guy who is either left Sony or have retired has won basically a years wages. Pity the article doesn't go more into detail... most of the time if a employee makes something which is patented he gets his name on the patent but the company owns the technology.
I read this on a Japanese news site yesterday or was it the day before? Anyway, even in Japan 5 million yen isn't that much. Maybe he can buy a nice car and thats about it. When I say nice car I don't mean top end Euro sports cars either but more of a top end Toyota. 5 million yen, shit the guy probably got paid that or more in 1 year. I know the rich bastards that live next and opposite my house do!
It's just rough approximation, I'm not going to check a daily exchange rate. My bad for not putting in an appx.
The original was just as shitty for lasers too so it makes no difference really :lol: Still, shitty or not this isn't the first time Sony have been in the news for shafting their employees. The amount of money they made from the first two PlayStation consoles and they only offered the creator of one of the vital components 5 million yen is disgusting. He should have got at least 50 million yen and a tutorial on how to make a reliable laser from JVC Their lasers are rock solid. Yakumo
Hard to comment w/o knowing more about their arrangement, but if he was under Sony's employ at the time, he'd legally be entitled to very little. This isn't the West. Japan is not known for awarding individuals with obscene winnings from lawsuits against corporations... or anyone for that matter. While this guy may have deserved it, I like how it curbs the whole sue-first-ask-questions-later culture like the one the US has created for itself.
To me, someone earns a salary for doing a job at a company. If that job is to engineer a component of a device, then why the heck would they get a windfall just because the device sold well? Also, I heard Japan does not really recognize performance related pay. Didn't the creator of Pacman nothing beyond his usual wages?
I kind of find it funny that so many people are frustrated over burnt out PS2 lasers. Out of the four PS2's I've owned over it's history, the only problem I've faced was a fan burning out in my 39001. I also own a SCPH-1001 PS1 that's still kicking after 8 years of use. If anything, I've had far more problems with the later PSOne.
