IP P®OSPE©TIVE

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 returns on investment. IV seeks to distinguish themselves from other IP investors, such as the previously introduced Royalty Pharma and Altitude Capital Partners, in that IV invests in intellectual property by funding the creation process. IV employs a full roster of scientists, physicists, programmers, and more, to innovate and invent. Their creations are added to a formidable catalog of over 20,000 pieces of IP that are then monetized through enforcement practices and other commercial exercises.  They have been called a “patent troll” by many in the industry, but there are just as many who refute this title for IV.  It really depends on the definition of “patent troll”, as IV encourages innovation and competition from the creation side (instead of just buying up patents), but discourages it from the perspective of utilization as operating companies are often at a disadvantage.  Still, IV seeks to combine capitalism and money with intellectual property in a creative capacity, moving this niche field forward and forcing others to follow suit.