Stuttering
05-03-2004, 02:14 PM
Anti-stuttering device inventors fight ECU over
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Two scientists who helped invent a device that allows stutterers to speak normally are embroiled in a fight with East Carolina University over copyrights related to their creation.
The device is called SpeechEasy, and it resembles a hearing aid. Stutterers who wear it hear a slightly altered and delayed playback of their voice.
In the mid-1990s, ECU professor Michael Rastatter recruited Andrew Stuart and Joseph Kalinowski, speech and hearing researchers working in Canada, to form a stuttering-research group.
The inventors hit on the idea for SpeechEasy when they reviewed research that showed people who stutter often speak normally when speaking in unison with others, such as during a prayer or pledge. SpeechEasy's inventors say it helps more than 80 percent of the people who use it.
ECU took ownership of the technology, which is standard with campus discoveries, and obtained a patent. Since then, all three inventors have clashed with the school over SpeechEasy's profits, and Stuart and Kalinowski sued the company ECU created to market the device, accusing it of copyright issues.
"It doesn't matter if a business comes out of a university or someone's garage. When things move forward, there are going to be some hard feelings here and there. It's not unique to universities," Marti Van Scott, ECU's Office of Technology Transfer director, told The News & Observer in a story published Friday.
Van Scott said hearing-aid companies didn't want the technology because its potential market was small. So the school asked local business people about creating and financing a new company to market products useful to people with disabilities, including SpeechEasy and a wheelchair treadmill for which ECU holds a patent.
Janus Development Group Inc. was created in 2000 and obtained an exclusive license to develop and market SpeechEasy the next year.
The device was a media hit, and profitable. Janus doesn't disclose how much it makes, but SpeechEasy has generated $260,000 in royalty and license income for ECU and the inventors as of this month, the university reported.
Initially, ECU had an ownership stake in Janus, but SpeechEasy inventors did not. The scientists were supposed to receive a portion of ECU's royalties and license income, an amount that as of this month totaled $16,775 each.
The scientists had to push ECU to get a fairer deal, Stuart said.
"We certainly don't mind other people making a profit in business. That's what investors do all the time. We're glad the university has garnered national and international recognition," Stuart told The News & Observer. "But we'd like to be recognized and rewarded for what we've done."
In late 2001, ECU agreed to divest itself of its 10 percent ownership so Janus could divide it among Stuart, Kalinowski and Rastatter.
Stuart said the copyright disagreement began late in 2003, after he, Kalinowski and graduate students wrote training materials for people Janus trained to dispense SpeechEasy all over the country.
The inventors withdrew their help when they and Janus couldn't agree on terms to collaborate on SpeechEasy's international sales. Stuart and Kalinowski filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Janus of using its copyrighted training materials without compensating them.
Attorney Jennifer J. Bowman, who represents Janus, said the company paid the inventors for the materials in dispute, and they are not the type an author can copyright.
Stuart said the two sides were close to a settlement this week.
But he said he isn't sure he will ever again get involved in commercializing an invention, even though several patents are pending for SpeechEasy variations.
"We're somewhat bitter and somewhat hesitant to move forward," he said. "That's unfortunate for everybody."
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Two scientists who helped invent a device that allows stutterers to speak normally are embroiled in a fight with East Carolina University over copyrights related to their creation.
The device is called SpeechEasy, and it resembles a hearing aid. Stutterers who wear it hear a slightly altered and delayed playback of their voice.
In the mid-1990s, ECU professor Michael Rastatter recruited Andrew Stuart and Joseph Kalinowski, speech and hearing researchers working in Canada, to form a stuttering-research group.
The inventors hit on the idea for SpeechEasy when they reviewed research that showed people who stutter often speak normally when speaking in unison with others, such as during a prayer or pledge. SpeechEasy's inventors say it helps more than 80 percent of the people who use it.
ECU took ownership of the technology, which is standard with campus discoveries, and obtained a patent. Since then, all three inventors have clashed with the school over SpeechEasy's profits, and Stuart and Kalinowski sued the company ECU created to market the device, accusing it of copyright issues.
"It doesn't matter if a business comes out of a university or someone's garage. When things move forward, there are going to be some hard feelings here and there. It's not unique to universities," Marti Van Scott, ECU's Office of Technology Transfer director, told The News & Observer in a story published Friday.
Van Scott said hearing-aid companies didn't want the technology because its potential market was small. So the school asked local business people about creating and financing a new company to market products useful to people with disabilities, including SpeechEasy and a wheelchair treadmill for which ECU holds a patent.
Janus Development Group Inc. was created in 2000 and obtained an exclusive license to develop and market SpeechEasy the next year.
The device was a media hit, and profitable. Janus doesn't disclose how much it makes, but SpeechEasy has generated $260,000 in royalty and license income for ECU and the inventors as of this month, the university reported.
Initially, ECU had an ownership stake in Janus, but SpeechEasy inventors did not. The scientists were supposed to receive a portion of ECU's royalties and license income, an amount that as of this month totaled $16,775 each.
The scientists had to push ECU to get a fairer deal, Stuart said.
"We certainly don't mind other people making a profit in business. That's what investors do all the time. We're glad the university has garnered national and international recognition," Stuart told The News & Observer. "But we'd like to be recognized and rewarded for what we've done."
In late 2001, ECU agreed to divest itself of its 10 percent ownership so Janus could divide it among Stuart, Kalinowski and Rastatter.
Stuart said the copyright disagreement began late in 2003, after he, Kalinowski and graduate students wrote training materials for people Janus trained to dispense SpeechEasy all over the country.
The inventors withdrew their help when they and Janus couldn't agree on terms to collaborate on SpeechEasy's international sales. Stuart and Kalinowski filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Janus of using its copyrighted training materials without compensating them.
Attorney Jennifer J. Bowman, who represents Janus, said the company paid the inventors for the materials in dispute, and they are not the type an author can copyright.
Stuart said the two sides were close to a settlement this week.
But he said he isn't sure he will ever again get involved in commercializing an invention, even though several patents are pending for SpeechEasy variations.
"We're somewhat bitter and somewhat hesitant to move forward," he said. "That's unfortunate for everybody."
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