I have a patent/employment related question that I'd love to get some advice on.
I worked for a well-known tech company. During my tenure, I filed for many patents on the company's behalf. IIRC, the company gives you ~$1k for filing a patent, and additional ~$10k once the patent is approved. I unfortunately no longer have access to the official patent policy.
I received the initial reward of $1k for each of my patent filings. However, I left before the patent was granted. I only realized today that these patents have all been approved by USPTO as of earlier this year.
My questions are:
1. Should I still be entitled for the final reward from the company?
2. If so, I'd love to hear HN community's advice on how I should approach the company to seek the reward.
I feel like I am not alone in this because patents takes a long time to approve and people move around in our industry. So I hope the answers to these questions can help others too.
Many thanks in advance!