I've not gotten bubkis (save my usual salary) extra for my five (six?) patents. I don't even keep track.

Having a patent's a nice ego boost, but the value of any patent is a function of a)what it covers (how broad it is) b)how strong it is (likelyhood of standing if challenged) and, most importantly c)how much money you have to prosecute or defend it.

I agree that patent filing should be a business, not engineering decision. Paying for filings seems like IBM's old practice of paying coders per line of code.

-Zeke