ON Semiconductor Products & Patents Which Protect Them

1 has expired and 1 will expire on June 2, 2015

17% of ON Semiconductor’s Patents will expire before  09/05/2018

39% of ON Semiconductor’s Patents will expire before  12/11/2019

53% of ON Semiconductor’s Patents will expire before 10/21/2020

                                                              

	Patent	Expires
1	5,502,370	Expired
2	5,760,639	June 2, 2015
3	6,133,626	10/17/2017
4	6,137,696	10/24/2017
5	6,137,702	10/24/2017
6	6,177,782	01/23/2018
7	6,188,189	02/13/2018
8	6,208,538	03/27/2018
9	6,246,388	06/12/2018
10	6,271,735	06/12/2018
11	6,285,569	09/04/2018	17% Expired
12	6,344,379	02/05/2019
13	6,362,067	03/26/2019
14	6,362,644	03/26/2019
15	6,373,734	04/16/2019
16	6,385,060	05/07/2019
17	6,385,061	05/07/2019
18	6,392,906	05/21/2019
19	6,424,205	05/21/2019
20	6,429,709	08/06/2019
21	6,448,625	09/10/2019
22	6,469,567	10/22/2019
23	6,480,043	11/12/2019
24	6,492,679	12/10/2019	39% Expired
25	6,518,737	02/11/2020
26	6,528,987
27	6,556,083	04/29/2020
28	6,583,019	06/24/2020
28	6,587,357	07/01/2020
30	6,597,221	07/22/2020
31	6,605,978	08/12/2020
32	6,633,193	10/14/2020
33	6,633,271	10/14/2020	53% Expired

 

"Edge Funds" -Spoofing by any other name?

          The article in the Wall Street Journal, As ‘Spoof” Trading Persists, Regulators Clamp Down, is about edges.  The “Russian” is accused of having an algorithmic edge, the ability to manipulate commodity prices by flooding the market with orders. Big banks were fined for having a trading edge in the commodity arena. So, is having an edge illegal? After all, hedge funds and big traders have had edges for years! They have vast wealth, smart employees, technology (algorithms too, no doubt), and recently, an accommodative Fed policy. According to David Einhorn, “Both poker and investing are games of incomplete information…you are looking for situations where you have an edge,” And hedge funds, due to their edges, are very adept at finding such situations.

            For example, recently, I watched the stock price of a company fly to highs it hadn’t seen in seven years. There had been no real changes to the company’s fundamentals. The company had a high debt to equity ratio, a climbing level of short interest, and little analyst coverage except for a few Hold ratings. What was the catalyst for this meteoric rise? A hedge fund discovered, using its many edges, that it was situated for easy profit…for them.

             First, the hedge fund bought 15 million shares of that obscure company’s stock. Next, the purchase was made public in its 13-F. The purchase in the 13-F was announced on CNBC. Then, the analysts stampeded into the picture. Even though nothing had really changed about the company, the analysts raised their ratings from a Hold to a Buy. New analysts jumped in with Buy ratings. The stock climbed to two-year highs! Then, the company announced a BIG buyback of their stock at the new highs! Thanks to an accommodative Fed policy, the money was cheap to borrow for the buyback. On that news, the stock price rockets up to key technical levels. That triggers the algorithms of traders everywhere to buy, buy, buy! --- sending the stock climbing high, high, high! And that smart hedge fund? While all that crazed buying is going on, it is not only selling shares but betting the stock will fall by purchasing PUT options against it! The hedge fund made, at least, $70.5 million in profits as the stock price climbed and will make $70.5 million in profits, or more, when the stock price falls to its former levels or lower.

            Hedge funds and big money traders have their trading edges and the “Russian” has his. Should edges be regulated or punished?  Benjamin Franklin offers food for thought, “A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”  Could the fall of the Empire of Those with Edges cause the stock market to crash to a level that actually reflects the true valuations of the companies it represents? And… are we ready for such a fall?

Mary M. Glaser

Weatogue, CT