Blog
See what we’ve been up to and learn more about the thinking behind our work.
Bloomberg/BNA Publishes First Quarterly Brokered Patent Market Data Report
Bloomberg/BNA (paywalled) has begun publishing the ROL Group data on the brokered patent market. This information brings much needed transparency to the market for buying and selling patents and we are glad to be able to help.
“Helping Companies Buy, Sell and Monetize.” Richardson. IPBC Barcelona 2016 (June 2016)
Panel discussion on the patent market, corporate buyers and sellers.
“New Patent Broker Listings Jump in First Quarter.” Marks. Bloomberg BNA (June 2016)
Bloomberg's reporting of the quarterly patent market results including transactions involving Panasonic, Intel, Huawei, and Korea Telecom.
“Negotiating With Intellectual Ventures (IV)? What About Their Other Funds?” Richardson et. al. IPWatchdog (May 2016)
Intellectual Ventures has multiple funds. If you have to take a patent license, how do you account for their smaller funds (ISF & IDF) during a negotiation.
Negotiating with Intellectual Ventures (IV)? What about their other funds?
So, what happens when you are negotiating patent peace with Intellectual Ventures (IV) and they cannot guarantee peace?
“How Intellectual Ventures Is Streamlining Its Portfolio.” Richardson et. al. IAM Magazine (May 2016)
We followed up on our 2013 paper investigating Intellectual Venture's patent portfolio to understand what, why and when IV bought, sold and litigated patents. By comparing Intellectual Venture's 2013 assets with its 2016 assets, it is possible to draw conclusions about what you can do to help yourself should IV come knocking.
High Value Patents: Does family size matter when looking for better patents?
In the second part of our two part blog post series at IP Watchdog, we document our efforts to develop, and refine, a patent ranking system based on our unique database tracking over $7B of patents that companies are trying to sell, or have sold.
“Patent Market 2015 – Buyers, Sellers & What Are They Paying.” Richardson. IPBC Korea (April 2016)
What is the current trend of the brokered patent market, and how can you as a buyer or seller exploit the current patent climate? We look into market pricing, litigation risks, NPE activity and more to help you decide your best patent options for 2015.
“The Yahoo Patent Portfolio: What Is the Market Price Today?” Richardson et. al. IPWatchdog (April 2016)
How much is Yahoo's patent portfolio worth? Business Insider reports that it could generate up to $3B. We disagree, and we use data to show why. With an estimated street price of $772M (high of $1.15B, a low of $393M), Yahoo has a valuable asset, just not a $3B asset.
Yahoo's Patent Portfolio - What Is the Market Price Today?
Business Insider reports that Yahoo's patent portfolio could generate up to $3B. We disagree and we use data to show why. With an estimated street price of $772M (high of $1.15B, a low of $393M), Yahoo has a valuable asset, just not a $3B asset.We often see patent prices stated without any data to back up the analysis. We think this needs to change.
How Intellectual Ventures Is Streamlining Its Portfolio
Our latest paper on Intellectual Ventures has been published in IAM Magazine (Issue #77). We look at how IV's strategy has shifted, how to reduce your risk of exposure to their portfolio, and what the future might hold for them.
“Finding the Best Patents – Forward Citation Analysis Still Wins.” Oliver et. al. IPWatchdog (March 2016)
How do you find the highest quality patents reliably and efficiently? We share our methodology and have made the code and model available under a Creative Commons license.
“High Value Patents: Does Family Size Matter When Looking for Better Patents?” Oliver et. al. IPWatchdog (March 2016)
We’ve identified five primary factors for consideration in patent ranking. In this article, we'll analyze how independent claim count, claim 1 word count, and family size & international filings can help to eliminate less useful patents quickly and efficiently.
Finding the Best Patents – Forward Citation Analysis Still Wins
“We would like you to find the best patents in this pile of 50,000 candidates. Oh, and we need it done for $30K.” We hear requests like this so often we’ve built processes and tools to help us address them.
“Modeling the Value of a Strategic Patent Portfolio for High-Tech Companies.” Oliver et. al. IPWatchdog (February 2016)
Are you looking for a financial model to explain your patent development and acquisition programs? We show how to answer your CEO’s, or GC’s, question about how much to spend on patents.
“The 2015 Brokered Patent Market: A Good Year to Be a Buyer.” Richardson et. al. IPWatchdog (February 2016)
In many ways, the patent market is where the rubber meets the road in terms whether patents are valuable. It is the place where individual patents are assigned a price and also where companies often go for business solutions to patent challenges. We believe that shedding light on this market brings greater liquidity to patents as business assets, and brings all inventors and patent professionals more mindshare with business leaders.
“So, You Want to Buy Patents – 10 Best Practices in Corporate Patent Buying.” Richardson et. al. IPWatchdog (January 2016)
By adopting a few best practices, you can design and execute a successful patent buying program for your company.
To Our Clients, Team and Families, Thank You! ROL Group Celebrating 7 Successful Years
Erik and I wanted to thank our clients, team, friends and families for all the support over the last seven years. Thank you for helping the ROL Group to achieve important milestones.
“The Brokered Patent Market in 2015 – Driving Off a Cliff or Just a Detour.” Richardson et. al. IAM Magazine (January 2016)
Asking prices are down, but the patent brokerage business is not in as poor health as it may first appear – especially for a select handful of players.
Q3 Patent Sales Decline More Than Expected
Our Q3 sales analysis shows a slowing in patent purchases. The first half sales were 139% of 2014 sales, suggesting a big year for sales. Q3 shows a slowdown matching Q3 2014. We have seen Q3 slowdowns before, but this slowdown misses the first half 2015 sales boost. In Q3, we saw 24 sales compared with 25 sales for the same period last year. Q4 will tell us whether the first half of 2015 was an anomaly.