Chapter 8 · Vote for My Rival? Watch Me Revoke 32 Patents

Chapter 8

The tenth day.StellarTech sent me a formal legal notice.The reason? They claimed ending the patent license hurt the company, and demanded I restore the license and pay for their losses.Susan smacked the letter down on the table."Bullshit," she said."Can we win this?" I asked."We'll win without even trying," Susan said, flipping open the original license agreement and pointing to clause 7.3. "It's plain as day: the licensor can terminate the agreement with thirty days' written notice. You sent your notice seven days ago, so it kicks in after thirty days. They've got that window to migrate their data. If they're still using your patents after that, it's infringement—and we can sue them for it.""Do you think they can migrate everything in thirty days?" I asked.Susan laughed."If Michael really had that kind of skill, he wouldn't have needed Emily's vote to get the job," she said.No point correcting her—Emily wouldn't be my wife much longer anyway."Send them a response," I said. "And don't bother being polite.""Don't worry," Susan said.That afternoon, I signed the investment deal with PrimeEdge Capital. Ten million dollars landed in my account.Skyline Data officially launched.We rented an office in a startup hub on the Eastside. Thirty square meters, one big table, three computers.Just the three of us: Henry, Susan, and me.Three people, three screens."What's our first product going to be?" Henry asked."Enterprise-grade data security gateway," I said, pulling up an architecture diagram I'd put together three months ago. "Nobody's got a solid solution for this yet. With my encryption patents as the core, we can deliver triple the security of anyone else, for half the price.""Where are we getting our clients?" Susan asked."The clients StellarTech just lost," I said. "Their systems are a mess right now, so those clients are hunting for something better. We'll scoop them up."Susan and Henry exchanged a look."Alex," Henry said quietly, "aren't we kind of kicking them when they're down?""Yeah," I said. "Got a problem with that?""Nope," he said, pushing up his glasses and already typing. "Let's get to work."

Chapter 8