Håkan Lans
Anders Håkan Lans (born November 2, 1947) is a Swedish engineer and inventor who invented the graphic processor for colour computer graphics (U.S. Patent 4,303,986 Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display). He has also designed a digitizer cursor for a Graphics tablet.[1]
He invented the STDMA datalink (Self organising Time Division Multiple Access) which is a critical part of the AIS system. The idea is to use a combination of the GNSS system and VHF radio communications to show the user the exact position, direction and velocity of not only the own vehicle, but also for crafts positioned nearby. The system has been declared as the world standard for both marine- and aviation by the United Nations (IMO & ICAO). The system is widely used in ships and aircraft .
The past 10 years of his life has been spent on a complicated legal dispute concerning the patent on colour computer graphics. Several companies, including Compaq, Gateway and Hewlett Packard had not paid royalties, and allegedly infringed on the patent. The companies were then sued for patent infringement by Lans, as a private person. The defendants counterclaimed that the patent was assigned to Uniboard AB, a company wholly owned by Lans. The judge ruled that this was the case and thus Håkan Lans lost the case. This has led to another dispute between Håkan Lans and his previous attorney Louis Mastriani who Lans is now suing for misconduct. Lans has also sued his lawyer in Sweden, Talbot Lindstrom.
He has his own company, GP&C Systems International AB.
Patents
Håkan Lans has three patents in the U.S.
- 4,303,986 ”Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display”
- 4,717,928 ”Arrangement for producing a pattern on a light-sensitive surface”
- 5,506,587 ”Position indicating system”