it has been said over the years that these companies have bought out private citizens plans in which the citizen made amazing discoveries such as 150 MPG cars and cars that ran on whatever as fuel. If these companies go out of business wouldnt that mean they lose those plans and that the people are free to design these cars without being bought out by dictatorship auto companies?

This really is a good question. What happens to a patent when the company that owns it ceases to exist?

i would like to know this answer also. hopefully the patent is cancelled for those bastards so those private citizens can role out my wind powered ufo

but seriously. i can see 200 mpg cars rolling out as soon as these idiots go under

I worked in Advanced R&D as a contractor, and I asked this question one time. The truth is that most of those stories are nothing but urban legends. There were a few people who attempted to make cars that ran on water or various thinned mixtures of gas, but most had issues with the engines catching on fire or having zero horsepower. Think about it; why should the Automotive companies care about the gas industry, obviously the gas industry could have cared less about running the automotive industry into the ground with excessive gas prices.

Originally posted by Johnmike
This really is a good question. What happens to a patent when the company that owns it ceases to exist?

It would be sold as an asset - either to one of the failed company's creditors, or at an auction of some sort with the $ going to said creditors.

A big company like that isn't just going to disappear. If one of the big 3 goes down, you can bet good money it's going to be bought up by either one of the others, or by a major Japanese automaker, especially Toyota. I'm pretty sure all their patents would go to that company.

Not that I believe any of that stuff anyway. I've seen hundreds of these claims of over-unity, ridiculous gas millage, etc; most are fraudulent, the rest are genuinely hopeful, but get nowhere.

Originally posted by mdiinican
A big company like that isn't just going to disappear. If one of the big 3 goes down, you can bet good money it's going to be bought up by either one of the others, or by a major Japanese automaker, especially Toyota. I'm pretty sure all their patents would go to that company.

Not that I believe any of that stuff anyway. I've seen hundreds of these claims of over-unity, ridiculous gas millage, etc; most are fraudulent, the rest are genuinely hopeful, but get nowhere.

Yes exactly, if the companies go under they will be bought up by another company for pennies on the dollar.

Proof of that is what happened with the banks. If they didn't get bailed out, they were bought up for cheap. You have to wonder with all this new money floating around if someone isn't already slated with interest in buying them up.

I work in the auto industry a bit, not for the automakers themselves, but I do business with them. I know one of them is in the process of making a huge huge advertising buy. I was contacted by google last week about adding more of their ads to one of our sites as part of the package. I do not know which automaker it was making the buy. Haven't heard if the bailout is important for the buy or not.

[edit on 20-11-2008 by badmedia]

I'd think the patent would be sold as an asset.

I love the stories about hidden patents being bought up by ... insert industry here.

If there was a 200 mile carburetor or quick charge, ultra powerful battery; believe me, these would be on the market.

I have a cousin that sold a patent to GM back in the mid 60's. It was a patentable modification to existing carburetors. GM used the addition for years on several models to improve mileage. Charlie didn't have to work much after that and still just tinkers around on stuff. I know patents get bought and then used, I've seen it.