Big news: The USPTO issued patent number 10,000,000 for “COHERENT LADAR USING INTRA-PIXEL QUADRATURE DETECTION”.  As an inventor on an old LIDAR patent, I’m excited to see this technology reach this milestone.  The USPTO also used this event as an opportunity to highlight patents through history.  Others, however, are criticizing the new cover design, which includes the following promise: “having title to this patent the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention.”  Since the Supreme Court’s eBay decision in 2006, which eliminated injunctive relief, and the Court’s Oil States decision, which held that patents are not a property right, the patent cover’s promise is hollow and incorrect.  Regardless, the milestone is noteworthy.