IP P®OSPE©TIVE

When the line of traditional investment opportunities curtails, creative alternative investments must be found. I like to think that, currently, one of the most creative alternative investments that provides an option for great return (but with significant risk) can be found in commercial-stage intellectual property. Investing in inventors, universities, and start-ups involved in the innovation-to-commercialization process offer a unique but catchy investment opportunity, and Paul Capital has taken note. The self-proclaimed "alternative investment firm" offers a branch that focuses on financing royalty products, ... Read More

Acacia Technologies LLC, or otherwise known as the licensing company under the umbrella of the publicly traded Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTG), is "in the business of acquiring, developing, licensing and enforcing patents." (from Acacia's website)  With over 100 patented technologies in their repertoir, Acacia generates revenue through licensing patents for "primarily individual inventors and small companies with limited resources to deal with unauthorized users."   According to Acacia's Fact Sheet, the firm has generated revenue through at least 52 different licensing programs, which ... Read More

For this week's IP Market Player of the Week, I am stepping away from the sector of the IP market focused on managing, exchanging, and/or investing in IP as a tradable asset, and stepping into the sector of the IP market focused on brand creation.  While IP Prospective allocates a lot of its attention to the former, which covers patents and an occasional copyright, intellectual property in the shape of a brand name holds just as much or more value in many cases. The ... Read More

I have chosen CONSOR as this week's IP Market Player of the Week because CONSOR was chosen this week by Washington Mutual to value WaMu's intellectual property for bankruptcy purposes. Besides IP valuation services, CONSOR provides IP litigation support by way of expert testimony, as well as services pertaining to licensing and other transactions, including M&A and restructuring events. When it comes to picking apart a mess of a company like WaMu at the Chapter 11 stage and trying to put a value ... Read More

Calling themselves an "intellectual property investment bank", Silicon Valley-based Inflexion Point Strategy, LLC "represent[s] technology companies and institutional investors in the acquisition and sale of patent portfolios having strategic value and in the sourcing and execution of IP-intensive M&A transactions."  Inflexion Point grabs hold of the growing notion that IP is much more than a bundle of legal rights, and they are one of the leaders at the frontier of the IP market that continues to push the idea that IP is a ... Read More

When Marty Pichinson spoke at last week's Ocean Tomo conference in San Francisco on the topic of monetizing IP in distressed markets, I knew I wanted to feature his company next.  The man exudes the combination of IP market knowledge and personable confidence that can win over a crowded conference room, as well as a potential IP buyer.  Marty is the Co-Managing Director at Sherwood Partners LLC, which is a full service business consulting firm that deals in many markets besides just the IP ... Read More

You can't discuss the burgeoning market for IP investing without mentioning Intellectual Ventures (IV). Since 2000, IV has built a portfolio of thousands of patents alongside investments estimated at close to $5 billion from large Fortune 500 companies, among others, including Sony, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and eBay. Why do so many lucrative investors throw money at IV? It is simple. They have an inventory of dynamic and strategic patents and a team of prosecutors to enforce those patents, resulting in large ... Read More

I would introduce the purpose and activities of Altitude Capital Partners myself, but an Amicus brief filed by Altitude Capital Partners (along with Ocean Tomo, Inflexion Point Strategy, IPotential, and others) with the U.S. Supreme Court in KSR International Co., v. Teleflex, Inc., introduces Altitude better than any summary I could come up with.  Therefore, Altitude Capital Partners invests in patents as well as the firms that own them. By specializing in the valuation and enforcement of intellectual property rights, Altitude serves, as one ... Read More

A first-mover and current trend-setter in the intellectual property management and valuation fields, Ocean Tomo is changing the way the world looks at IP.  First started in 1987 as a firm that provided IP valuation opinions, Ocean Tomo is now the nation's first intellectual capital merchant banc with a large bag of services.  The company provides expert testimony services, IP valuation services, IP investment services, as well as general counsel and assistance related to any IP transactions.  However, none of these, in my ... Read More

 PatentFreedom is a full service establishment offering subscription-based assistance in fighting the threat of non-practicing entities (NPE's).  NPE's are a growing threat to operating companies with patent portfolios of their own, in that NPE's don't hold their patents for core operational purposes, but instead use strategic enforcement activities such as licensing and litigation to turn a profit.  This use of patents has grown into a threatening phenomenon in the technology industries at an alarming rate.  PatentFreedom sets out to educate operating companies ... Read More