I think you may just own that patent.
Yeah, I know, but the company was too stupid to take real advantage of the technology (in favor of my prior invention) because they were afraid of it (they said it was too sophisticated for their O&M people; in reality it was too sophisticated for management :-). I told them, up front, if they didn't pursue it, they'd be broke in five years because the high material cost of the older technology would create a market opening for the Chinese. They had 60% market share so they blew me off. I built the first unit, proved that it worked, and quit.
They hired a Belgian engineering firm to try to duplicate the principles. The Belgian engineers got a bad case of NIH and failed. The managers had too much pride to hire me as a consultant and the firm that built the unit refused to make another system without me (there's nothing quite like treating prototype metal workers and machinists like the artists they are). The managers were stuck.
Five years later, they went bust because the Chinese had taken over the market. The new technology machine ran the entire time, 24/7, 350dpy without a hitch.
yes he does own that patent, is it worth anything?