Auctioning patents
from businessweek:
Chicago-based Ocean Tomo is part of a cottage industry of firms that want to cash in on patents. Traditionally, patent deals have been shrouded in secrecy and burdened by steep transaction costs. The primary method of extracting value, beyond selling a product based on an invention, has been licensing patent rights. But licensing negotiations are often arduous and need to be backed up by a willingness to litigate, which is expensive. [IPBiz: what about IBM's approach?]
NEW EXPOSURE. Auctions could help foster "the emergence of a liquid market" for buying and selling patents, says Kappos. So far more than 1,200 patents have been submitted to Ocean Tomo for sale from such companies as AT&T (T ), BellSouth (BLS ), American Express (AXP ), and Kimberly-Clark (KMB ).
If auctions become a regular feature of the patent world, they would help establish prices and a marketplace. "I see this as a great opportunity [as] an independent inventor to really get exposure to a large base of companies that could commercialize my patents," says William L. Reber. Now on his own after working as an engineer for Walt Disney (DIS ) and Motorola (MOT ), Reber is the creator of 48 patents he's putting up for sale at the auction.
Kimberly-Clark will sell patents on a new shrink-wrap that it has decided not to commercialize, and BellSouth will auction off 20 patents in areas no longer part of its core business, such as search-engine technology. "We think this is a good avenue to explore," says Bill Hartselle, a managing director in BellSouth's patent marketing unit.
Chicago-based Ocean Tomo is part of a cottage industry of firms that want to cash in on patents. Traditionally, patent deals have been shrouded in secrecy and burdened by steep transaction costs. The primary method of extracting value, beyond selling a product based on an invention, has been licensing patent rights. But licensing negotiations are often arduous and need to be backed up by a willingness to litigate, which is expensive. [IPBiz: what about IBM's approach?]
NEW EXPOSURE. Auctions could help foster "the emergence of a liquid market" for buying and selling patents, says Kappos. So far more than 1,200 patents have been submitted to Ocean Tomo for sale from such companies as AT&T (T ), BellSouth (BLS ), American Express (AXP ), and Kimberly-Clark (KMB ).
If auctions become a regular feature of the patent world, they would help establish prices and a marketplace. "I see this as a great opportunity [as] an independent inventor to really get exposure to a large base of companies that could commercialize my patents," says William L. Reber. Now on his own after working as an engineer for Walt Disney (DIS ) and Motorola (MOT ), Reber is the creator of 48 patents he's putting up for sale at the auction.
Kimberly-Clark will sell patents on a new shrink-wrap that it has decided not to commercialize, and BellSouth will auction off 20 patents in areas no longer part of its core business, such as search-engine technology. "We think this is a good avenue to explore," says Bill Hartselle, a managing director in BellSouth's patent marketing unit.
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 7:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home