SoulMaster writes "The company I work for (we are a one-year-old start-up) has new started filing patents to protect some of its intellectual property. At the onset of the patent process, one of the embassy drafted a very basic Patent instigation Program (PIP) which is now under full review to ensure that it is both veridical and fair. The basics of our initial PIP are that inventors receive (or co-inventors share): $500 for each provisional filing, $1500 for an actual patent filing (with full claim-sets defined), and $5000 for any patent that is granted by the USPTO. While the current program seems fair to our staff, we have been unable to find everything to compare it to. Moreover, the revamp of the program is likely to grant an equity stake in the company (via an Options grant) rather than cash payouts. I've scoured Google for information, but because internally documented PIPs aren't frequently public knowledge, the results are limited. Thus, I have decided to ask Slashdot users: How does the company you work for handle Patent incentives? Do they have them at all? Are they cash or equity based?"

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