Now, I would usually make a topic like this a “Let’s Talk,” but and however, I spent over four hours arguing with friends about how much money Melinda got in this movie. To be fair, the person I was arguing with had never seen the movie before this argument, so they did not have a chance to get in on the internet arguments of who was right or wrong in this situation. Either way, we spent way longer than I expected to discussing whether Melinda deserved more and for that reason alone, I stand in the fact that she did. Let’s explore why.
I’m going to start with the counter argument from my friend. He believes that Melinda deserved something but not the $10 million she got. He says, contrary to me, that Melinda can only get what she got and nothing more due to the fact that the battery thing was his idea and the company is leasing the idea that came from Robert. In his argument, her spending money on parts for him to create the battery means nothing due to the fact that the idea is what he believes is what they have and not the physical battery. He also adds that she asked for the divorce before the final deal was made so she holds no claim to the money he got after their divorce. He also believed that the $10 million she got was very generous and almost ten times what she was asking for in the movie. Ok, so there’s his argument.
MY argument is that the idea and research that was leased is based on work Robert did with that battery which his wife bought parts for. In addition, she also, in the beginning of their marriage, participated in experimental tests with him. I believe that if Melinda didn’t help him build this battery that there would be no future deal worth millions of dollars. I think that, yes, the $10 million, buying mom’s house back, and the roses were a grand gesture and he should have done those things based on how much stress and strife he put on this marriage. But and however, I believe that when Melinda went back to court, she should have argued that since she was the sole financier of this project that has now made millions, she should be entitled to a percentage of what Robert gets from his deal. I would argue that without Melinda’s contribution Robert would have no research, no battery, and no money. He didn’t have money to begin with so I can infer that he wouldn’t have been able to fund his research. I took marriage out of it. I treated them as two individual people.
My friend believes that Robert would have found a way to fund his experiment, the idea would have come into fruition, and he would still make millions. I disagree. I also didn’t care that the company didn’t use the physical battery. The research and all things tied to the idea were based on experiments Robert did with money he received from Melinda.
In saying all that, I would ask what you all think, but I am going all in on the fact that Melinda could have gotten more money if she presented a better argument in court. The argument she presented, if you recall, was that the deal was made while the two were still married because she believed this was an addendum to the original offer he turned down before they got divorced. This was not the case. Either way, I vote she could have gotten more. At that point, it was a joint venture. They were in it together.
BLACK WATCH 