"creating a market place for patent files (both pending and granted) that have been “slated to be abandoned” by their owners".The monetisation of both applications and granted rights that are heading for oblivion is an interesting proposition: the fact that an application is about to be dropped or a patent not renewed is not necessarily a reflection on its inherent validity, commercial utility or anything else, but its strategic value to a purchaser, either as a stand-alone or more probably as part of a portfolio of patents, may be substantial. Inevitably the development of a market for such patents as a separate subclass will depend on the cooperation of patent attorney firms and in-house legal teams, since the fact that a decision has been made not to pursue an application, or to allow a granted patent to lapse, is not publicly available. This blog will watch developments with interest and will be happy to relate any readers' experiences of trading with lapsing patents and patent applications.
You can check out the Market2IP website here.
Here's a little known fact: At least in the U.S., after a patent has expired (note: this may not apply where patent went abandoned due to non-payment of maintenance fees), the patent owner can sue, but a defendant cannot bring a declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement.
ReplyDeleteKind of changes the dynamics of negotiation with potential licensees. Patentee is almost guaranteed their choice of forum.