Can you buy patents

At a later point in time, Tynax shifted things around and renamed its marketplace as Tynax Patent library. Accurately named, the marketplace has more of a library like feel to it. The technologies are categorized, each category listing subclasses, which further lists the patents available for sale in that particular niche.

It covers hundreds of technologies under which patents could be listed, just like a real library. BTW, Sellers can create an account for free and list their patents, post registration. Post successful sale or license transaction, Tynax collects a fee, which is calculated by taking into account, a certain percentage of the transaction cost.

Serving the purpose with which it originally started, Tynax also offers the option to act as a broker for the seller, at an additional cost and a page long contract. The buyers have to enter a simple membership agreement first, with confidentiality provisions, and provide Tynax with a list of competitors they seek protection from. Tynax then does its work. According to their website, the annual cost of membership of patent library is roughly the same as the cost of prosecuting a single US patent.

Got thousands to spare? As they say, good things come at a cost. IPwe, at its heart, is an automated transaction platform, perfectly safe and secure for patent analysis, transactions, and other related services.

IPwe also provides access to its analytics tool to business people, for free of charge to answer simple questions like the worth and validity of a patent. Experts can use the tool to get details and insights at whichever level necessary. The platform also enables its members — which includes patent owners, innovators, legal advisors, service providers, regulators, finance providers, and investors — to complete acquisitions, licensing and financing, paying maintenance fees and other types of transactions.

The platform tries to reduce costs by harnessing the power of AI in the identification of patents to buy and sell, and in both buyer and seller diligence. It also offers services like contract preparation, patent office recording, contract compliance, and management and annuity payment at a small cost Not disclosed. Given the lack of clear information on the fees charged by the platform, we would refrain from stating whether or not it provides a bang for the buck.

But Sara, it is definitely worth checking out, at least for the sake of the cool website design. I mean, how many websites can boast of having a theme inspired by Sci-Fi movies? Post submission, each IP in question is analyzed in detail. If accepted, executive summaries and claim charts are prepared. These comprise the catalog , which is featured in the sealed bid. These bids are then either auctioned or privately sold. Just like its predecessor, ICAP post holding an auction, publishes about the same in digital media , in form of promotions or advertisements.

Buyers have the option to privately buy patents or publicly bid for it during an auction. They pay a commission based on terms of the contract.

Primarily a patent brokerage firm, IP Offerings follows an in-depth analysis and marketing process post submission of a patent by a seller. The focus is mainly to sell the patents to potential buyers in a swift manner. There are no front costs involved, as IP Offerings work on a contingency basis. Post a successful sale, IP Offerings are paid by the sellers, a pre-decided percentage share in the revenue generated.

For the service, they charge a monthly retainer plus a success fee post successful acquisition of desired patent or technology. They have brokered hundreds of deals till date, one of them received a bit of media attention too.

Which one? Guess from the list. Providing patent brokering and patent licensing services to patent owners for years altogether, IPIG is an expert in patent monetization. Each of the aforementioned services is provided to sellers on a contingency basis, with no upfront costs.

It is also a client-friendly company, giving patent owners complete control over the process. IPIG have a solid track record of deals, making them a good choice as a brokerage partner. If you have a high-quality patent, Transactions IP can successfully sell it. Sellers can submit their patents for consideration to Transactions IP and post analysis, their team would get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.

Which means — if your patent is valuable, it is going to be a breeze. It follows an in-depth process post understanding the needs of the buyer and carries out its execution.

They charge buyers a combination fee which is calculated by including hourly fees and a success fee percentage. The positive — You, as a buyer, get to decide the budget before going ahead with the process. Jokes apart, the tech giant is in fact interested in buying your patents. It first started its patent purchase program in May of for a three-week window.

The program was deemed a success and Google has kept its patent purchase portal open for submissions. If you had plans of selling your patent to Google and retire early, you are living in an illusion.

AST started as an experiment, in , to protect its members from wasteful litigation. Over the decade, AST has received and processed more than 6, lots comprising over , patent assets.

All this with inputs from members. Our interactions with AST are always positive and professional. They are serious when they buy. Once they make an offer I have great confidence that they will be able to close the deal. AST follows a cost-sharing model, pooling funds from several interested parties to acquire patent rights. Any IP which is submitted for sale is evaluated by all the members, and only if parties are interested, AST goes forward with IP acquisition.

This is a gain for both sides as sellers can get a good price for their patents, while buyers will be set back by an amount which is way less when compared to costs accrued when acquiring rights directly.

The defensive aggregation company, which shares a business model similar to AST was found a year after the former with the intent to reduce the risk of NPE patent assertion and litigation.

Though the company offers the option to either buy insurance or become a member to avoid wasteful litigation, RPX additionally also offers patents for sale. The company lists patent portfolios for sale on its website, highlighting the exemplary patents in the portfolio. Once you have decided which portfolio you would like to buy, you could fill the buyer information form and a representative from the organization would reach out to you.

However, it is not clear whether or not RPX charges any commission or fee on the transaction for the buyer side. You could find out more by contacting the RPX team. Then revisit the program quarterly. Setting realistic expectations about timing, costs, success will ensure that the money for the purchases will be available when you find the patent you want to buy. A great source of potential patent purchases may be right down the hall from you. Your corporate development department regularly evaluates other companies for potential purchase.

If they pass on buying a company, the patents may soon be available for purchase. Establish a communications channel where your corporate development is providing you with the names of companies they have evaluated and whether there might be some interesting patents there.

Importantly, this source of buying opportunities is typically not available to other buyers, and you will have an inside track on making a purchase. There is a vibrant community of regular patent sellers and patent brokers.

Establishing good relations with this community helps ensure that you receive packages on a timely basis. Specific actions you can take to facilitate your package analysis processes include establishing NDAs with the brokers, contacting brokers with general buying criteria we would like patents generally in this technology area, these countries, this age , and establishing agreements that prevent damages clocks and willfulness arguments to be used against you by you simply reviewing any patents for purchase.

With more than a potential deal a day hitting your desk, multiple deals in diligence, questions out to brokers about other deals, and managing the package flow can be challenging, patent buying can quickly turn into an operational mess. We recommend that you tag and track basic information about patent packages you receive. You will know which packages are of interest, passed packages, and be able to determine efficiencies. Here is a short list of some of the information that we track.

Limit the amount you commit to diligence on a particular package. Set capped or fixed price diligence projects for multiple defined diligence stages. This allows you to effectively budget how much you spend on diligencing packages by considering the fact that just a few packages will make it through the complete diligence process.

After that, we recommend package specific diligence, if any more is needed. One challenge that we find when working with new buyers is a something that we all face — we can always find problems with any patents. After more than 20 years of writing and reviewing patents, we do not remember finding a patent that did not have some issues.

To help with buying patents, we recommend adopting a slightly different perspective; one that you likely take with your own patents. Were the issue to be spotted by an opposing party, what response would you give and how well do you believe the response addresses the issue?

For example, assume the most important claim has an indefiniteness issue. We believe that the reference is duplicative of reference XYZ. If no reasonable response can be found to the issue raised, then pass on the patent package.

Also remember that by the time you have reached these types of diligence questions, you have successfully eliminated many patents that will not satisfy your business needs. The patents you are currently reviewing are ones that if reasonable responses can be found to issues, then the patents should fit your business needs.

You will not win them all and you miss some patents. The program you are setting up is focused on finding the best patents at the lowest cost. This means that some patents will slip through the net but that you will have an optimized program. Analyzing how you are doing allows you to improve your program. Keeping track of the number of deals you have reviewed, how much money you are spending, and what successes you have had allows you to tune your buying program and adjust to market and business strategy changes.

The best practices above do not focus on pricing and closing patent purchases. There are significant challenges and opportunities in those areas; however, we find that clients are often more challenged with the overwhelming number of potential deals, executive buy-in, and diligence efficiency. That said, there are ways to help yourself.

Corporate patent buying benefits from the adoption of a few best practices. By gaining internal support for your program, eliminating patents that do not fit your business needs, and implementing diligence management practices, you can efficiently find and buy patents. Kent Richardson counsels clients on a variety of patent and business matters including patent buying, selling, licensing, valuation, prosecution and operations.

Kent has served as an expert witness on patent monetization and licensing practices in cases in England and the United States. Kent has worked in various senior management roles with such growth businesses as Sezmi, Constellation Capital, Rambus, Numerical Technologies. Contact Kent via e-mail at kent richardsonoliver.

Erik Oliver counsels clients on patent, licensing and trademark matters. He brings more than ten years of patent prosecution, litigation, and licensing experience and a track record of millions of dollars in both patent and technology licensing deals.

Erik has held various senior positions with a range of responsibilities at Rambus Inc. You can reach Erik via e-mail at erik richardsonoliver. Once the fee is paid, the patent is renewed. It is possible for the patent owner to reinstate the patent, if it expires, by paying a surcharge in addition to the maintenance fee.

It's also possible for the patent holder to put the expired patent up for sale and sell the patent and their rights to someone else who could renew the expired patent by paying the fees. It is not possible for someone else to refile for an expired patent—that application would be denied, since there is an existing invention recognized by the USPTO. If the maintenance fees are paid, a utility patent lasts for a total of 20 years. The patent expiration date for design and plant patents is 14 years after issuance.

After a patent has been in place for 20 years for utility patents and 14 years for design and plant patents, the invention becomes part of the public domain. This means the invention no longer has patent protection and is no longer off limits, so anyone can make, use, or sell the invention without infringement.

Once you've located a patent that has expired, you can contact the patent owner and negotiate a sale. You can buy the invention and all rights to it, including the patent. You then renew the patent by paying the lapsed fees. If the patent is past the or year mark depending on the type of patent , you cannot renew the patent, but you can still own the product and any other materials and information you purchase from the inventor.

Managing and protecting your intellectual property—whether it is your own that you create, or someone else's intellectual property that you purchase—is important. You may want to work with an online services provider to help ensure that your intellectual property is adequately protected.

Contents 2 min read. Brette Sember, J. How much does it cost to get a patent? Patents give their owners the right and legal authority to manufacture, license, or otherwise utilize a particular invention.

Just like these other assets, a company can seek to purchase patents that may be useful or beneficial to them. Once an inventor or inventors have legally acquired a patent for their invention , they have a very limited period of time in which they can make money from their exclusive rights before the patent expires.

For this reason and others, inventors often sell their patents to the highest bidder — usually a company that is better equipped to manufacture or market the invention to the public.

Rights concerning patents may be bundled out in the form of licenses for limited, particular use. Choosing the patent to buy is best done carefully — by reviewing both current and former issues of the USPTO newsletter, which is published weekly and announces weekly patents that have been issued. Individual, unique announcements about newly-minted patents from the U.

Patent and Trademark office include the contact information of the owner of the rights and basic schematics of the newly-patented invention.