IP Watchdog: US close to innovation heart attack, warns Priceline founder Jay Walker, by Gene Quinn
This post originally appeared in the IP Watchdog on December 9, 2015
On Tuesday evening December 8, 2015, Jay Walker, a prolific patented inventor and billionaire businessman, was named National Inventor of the Year by the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Educational Foundation at their annual celebration in Washington, DC. Walker, the man behind Priceline.com, began his 12-minute speech by thanking the IPO for naming him Inventor of the Year “because until now my tombstone was going to say, The Man Who Hired William Shatner.” Laughter abounded through the Old Patent Office Building, the site for this great event, which is today host to the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum.
Over the past several years I’ve gotten to know Walker a bit. Always on display are a sharp wit and a self-deprecating sense of humor, witnessed by his explaining to the audience that he was not wearing a tux because although he may be a genius that side of him is not always evident. His tux remained safely packed in his travel bag next to the door at home in New York, which he somehow managed to leave en route to Washington, DC.