A IP Prism’s patent scoring system is a great example of a machine learning-based technology that can be used to both (a) help companies manage their patent portfolio. (B) help companies extract value from patents that have expired.
The IP Prism marketplace makes it easy to monetize patents that are no longer needed.
In the past few years, the world has seen an explosion of companies that want to patent their products. From Apple to Facebook to Uber, it’s been a popular trend. But some of these companies are so big and successful that they have developed a sizable patent portfolio that they want to protect. In other cases, the company is in such desperate need of cash that it has little choice. If it doesn’t pay up, it may go out of business before its products are even available for sale.
Both options are unpleasant for shareholders and unprofitable for customers, but neither is obviously preferable.
For companies that have done well in the market, such as Apple or Facebook (the latter recently acquired Oculus), this dynamic makes perfect sense. But for startups who do not yet have any track record and need to acquire patents. In order to get started with building their products, this situation can disastrous.
The problem lies with many common-sense rules of thumb regarding patenting:
• You should not use your patents unless you can make a credible case for them being useful and necessary (as opposed to being merely “cool”).
• You should try to spend as little money on pre-sales as possible (i.e., no more than $1 per user). Otherwise, you might lose out on high-dollar customers who don’t care about price or convenience.
• If you must spend money on pre-sales, avoid buying bad or expired patents — or at least buy them cheaply so you don’t end up paying too much later on.
IP Prism’s scoring system can help companies align their portfolios with current business priorities.
IpPrism, a startup focusing on patent pruning and product market fit, has just released its new scoring system. What is it? IP Prism’s AI-based scoring system can help companies align their portfolios with current business priorities. Using the platform’s patented algorithm to derive a score for each patent in a portfolio, companies can easily identify. Which patents are most important and which ones can prune away to reduce the cost of developing their products?
Their goal is to address the growing trend of companies making strategic decisions around their product portfolio before they have fully worked out next steps — leaving behind expensive feature development. It is not align with current business goals. The score provided by IP Prism allows companies to analyze the value of each patent within their portfolio and decide. Which patents should remove from that portfolio as well as when it’d be worth it to do so? This allows businesses to make smart choices about whether it makes financial sense to invest in building out a new feature or whether they should focus on other more strategic opportunities.
What makes this system especially useful are two things: first, using technology (AI) rather than human experts eases the process of managing the individual patents in a company’s intellectual property portfolio; second, the platform supports easily capitalizing on patents being shed from one company’s portfolio without having to deal with expensive legal fees by allowing companies to make use of those patents earlier than they otherwise would have done.
IP Prism makes it easy to identify and capitalize on opportunities in the patent market.
IP Prism’s marketplace allows investors to easily invest in patents expiring at a low cost, or to buy patents that are available for sale.
The product has been around since 2016. It is one of the easiest ways to find an opportunity in the patent market. Most of it from investors like Shasta Ventures, Eventbrite, and Google Ventures.
IP Prism can help companies save money by reducing the number of patents they need to renew.
IP Prism’s marketplace was introduced in 2017. It is the only marketplace for patent portfolios that is specifically designed to support strategic pruning (the practice of trying to reduce the number of patents a company owns). The marketplace allows companies to easily find and buy patents they no longer need but can’t get rid of.
In the case of this article, there are three types of patent portfolios:
• The first type is the portfolio that a company has on hand but which is not yet worth renewing. In this case, the company can choose either to buy back the patent at a good price or hire a lawyer to help them.
• The second type is a portfolio that a company has bought from an acquirer (perhaps following an acquisition) and needs to sell back in order to cover expenses associated with keeping it current. In this case, IP Prism helps companies buy back their old portfolio from an acquirer at a good price and then re-sell. It as part of their overall business strategy (perhaps with subsequent amendments).
• Finally, there is the third type, where companies hold patents only for those granted in markets where they are not yet dominant (e.g., Europe or Asia). In these cases, IP Prism offers its services as part of its overall strategy and helps them sell its old portfolios by helping them identify new revenue opportunities in those markets without having to sell them all at once.
“Patent X LLC owns several patents that have been granted since 2001 covering various technologies related to Nanotubes. These include 1) A method for synthesizing Nanotube Materials. 2) A method for fabricating Nanotubes. 3) A method for producing Nanotube Spheres. 4) A method for producing Nanotube Wires. 5) A process for making Nanotube Composites. 6) A process for making Nano Tube Experiments. 7) An apparatus used in making Nano Tube Experiments.”
IP Prism allows companies like Patent-X LLC , who have made some interesting discoveries over time. We are now looking for ways to make more money outside these markets, to find patent portfolios.
IP Prism can help companies avoid costly litigation by identifying potential problems with their portfolios.
Most companies have seen the benefits of having a patent portfolio and there are many places where this can use. However, it’s not always clear how a company can use the portfolio effectively. For example, someone might say: I want to know what patents I own because I want to license them to my customers. But this sounds like you want to control your market share so you can control your revenue, not so much because you want to protect your intellectual property rights.
In fact, that’s part of the reason why companies like Google and Apple are so successful. They have designed products to be as ubiquitous as possible. So they have something called a “market share” throughout the industry. So you don’t need a patent portfolio or at least one that is focused on your customers. But instead just need to target those patents that don’t affect the customer in any way. If a customer needs an accurate date of purchase but doesn’t care about being protected against reverse-engineering).
IP Prism is a valuable tool for any company that wants to maximize the value of its patent portfolio.
It has often been said that the patent system is broken. In many fields, the system is so broken that it inefficient to fix it.
In those fields, the focus should be on developing new technologies. While patents may not be a perfect solution for every problem. Their value is high enough to justify keeping them in place in some areas of technology.
While this may seem counterintuitive, it’s a common strategy. The patent system allows companies to protect their investment in research and development (R & D) and intellectual property (IP). Which allows them to gain leverage over competitors. By having such a big R & D advantage, a company has an incentive to keep these investments (and thus the IP) rather than letting them expire after 10 or 20 years.
One way that companies can mitigate this problem is through strategic pruning. Reducing the number of patents they hold in certain areas and focusing on more fundamental innovations instead. Such strategic pruning could even help level the playing field for smaller companies. Who are trying to compete against larger players that have an unrivalled R & D advantage.
However, strategic pruning may lead to less innovation. Overall one possible reason for this is that strategic pruning tends to have a strong economic cost. Because there are usually no new products develop on top of existing ones. Increasing demand for patent rights means that firms have little incentive develop new products for they don’t already own patents. This is especially true if competition in your field exists between large incumbent firms. Who can afford access to new technologies on top old ones and small start-ups who can’t afford access at all?
