Hop-On Inc (HPNN)

[PRmaniac]

No, a provisional means nothing. It has no legal protection at all. Peter was touting provisional in 2021. Apparently he never actual filed anything and never applied for real patents, which cost money. He never got a penny for his previous patent claims.....nothing.

Peter Michaels, Hop-on's CEO who several years ago drew lots of media attention but few sales with his plans for a disposable mobile phone, is back with a new scheme. This one, however, won't need any factories or retail sales channels, only lawyers.

A month after receiving federal patents for a couple of mobile phone designs, Michaels is demanding royalties from major handset manufacturers, wireless carriers, and retailers that he claims are making money from his ideas.

“I do have lawyers,” he told InformationWeek. “And we have resources to lock asses with these guys. We have the resources to defend our rights.”

While some CEOs would try to work out this dispute privately, Michaels issued a press release last week warning the mobile phone industry that he wanted payment. Michaels' decision to go to the media is reminiscent of 2001 when he convinced Time Magazine that his $30 disposable phone was worthy of being named one of the year's best inventions, even though Hop-on, the company he founded in 1998, hadn't sold a single phone. Indeed, three months later in March 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a prototype of the phone was a jury-rigged Nokia phone with a plastic facade.