De Broncode - de Merkplaats

De Broncode: the difference between billions and bust

Written by Eric Smit, De Broncode tells the tale of Jan Sloot, an ordinary television repairman from Nieuwegein who invented an encoding technology that could have taken the world by storm. An invention that intoxicated the international business community in imitation of Roel Pieper, the first person to sing its praises. It was an invention that was worth tens of millions or more. But most of all, it was an invention that was kept so painstakingly secret by Jan Sloot that after his sudden death, the encoding technology seemed to have died with him.

De Broncode is a book about the dream shared by many of finding the gap in the market and becoming excessively wealthy. Yet few people actually succeed. Jan Sloot, however, was such a person. As a result of his invention, it would have been possible, amongst other things, to compress all movies ever released onto one single CD-ROM. However, the billion dollar question remains. What could this would-be billionaire have done to deal with his invention in less paranoid fashion? In other words, how could Jan Sloot have made sure that nobody else would run off with his stupendous invention?

The answer to this question is amazingly simple. At the stage during which people began to take an interest – or actually before that – he should have applied for a patent in order to licence his invention. The source code application was eminently suitable for patenting. Through a patent, Sloot would have secured the exclusive rights to his invention. Consequently, he would have been able to show all his cards to investors and interested parties. As an additional advantage, he would have saved himself a great deal of stress. What is more, he would not have taken the source code into the grave with him.

Written by Eric Smit, this believable yet incredibly tragic story is a faithful account of actual events that will shortly grace the silver screen. Recently it was announced that Rinkel Film Productions ( www.rinkelfilm.com), a client of de Merkplaats, has bought the movie rights from Reinier Selen and Edwin van Meurs (famous for, amongst others, Van God Los & Off Screen). Pieter Kuijpers (Van God Los, Off Screen) is to direct the movie.

In order to prevent people from making the same mistakes Jan Sloot made, de Merkplaats has come up with the novel idea of offering anyone who visits for an intake session or applies for patent research (a so-called Global Patscan) a free copy of De Broncode.

Have a nice read!