Intellectual Ventures, a start-up specializing in intellectual property, has proclaimed its dedication to inventing new technologies.
And it has amassed quite a large patent portfolio, as well.
The company, founded by former Microsoft scientists Nathan Myhrvold and Edward Jung, has acquired thousands of patents in the past few years, according to sources close to the company. Some sources have further narrowed the figure to between 3,000 and 5,000 patents.
Many were bought from companies still in business, such as Ramtron International. Others came from inventors with expired patents or from listing companies such as General Magic. Although Intellectual Ventures has been open about its patent buying activities, its portfolio's size had been unclear. Earlier, some had estimated its patents to number in the hundreds.
A patent portfolio of thousands is somewhat unusual for a company with around 50 employees. To put it in perspective, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2004 granted IBM 3,248 patents, the most it issued to any company in the world last year. Matsushita and Canon landed in second place and third place with 1,934 and 1,805 U.S. patents, respectively.
Intellectual Ventures' patent portfolio also appears to be quite large compared to other intellectual property firms dedicated to buying third-party patents. Acacia Research, for example, has acquired a total of about 120 patents.
The surge in the Intellectual Ventures' patent portfolio is likely to fuel tech industry speculation about the company's business plans. Some executives have worried, privately, that it will seek royalties. Since few companies pay royalties voluntarily, a push on licensing could prompt a rash of lawsuits.
While most individual patents do not result in royalties or lawsuit verdicts, the rare diamond in the rough can really pay off. Forgent Networks has garnered around $100 million in royalties revenue from the so-called JPEG patent. With further lawsuits pending, Forgent has said that the patent could ultimately bring the company $1 billion.
Peter Detkin, managing director for Intellectual Ventures, asserted that the speculation doesn't really mesh with the company's plans, which revolve around finding and promoting promising ideas.
"Our mantra is we invent and invest in invention," Detkin said. "There are a lot of small inventors out there that do not have the time, resources or expertise to be compensated for it."
Patents can be used in a number of ways, he added.
"We could do spinoffs. We can do licensing. We could work with other industry organizations," Detkin explained. "We work with both small inventors and large companies."
Although litigation is always a possibility in the IP business, Detkin indicated that Intellectual Ventures' intent is not to use its patent portfolio as an engine for lawsuits.
Conceivably, the acquired patents could also be exploited to prevent litigation. The company's investors include
Software patents are a plague on the industry. It's only a matter of time before the system implodes under the weight of all the lawsuits. Patents might be fine for other industries but serve no purpose besides lining the pockets of lawyers in the software world. They are only slowing down the innovation in the U.S. and those coutries foolish enough to follow us. This company is an example of everything that is wrong with the system.
The saddest part of this is that for 95% of companies which are being demanded royalties from it is cheaper to pay up the demanded fee and be done with it than take the matter to the courts and have the patent found invalid or your software found non-infringeing. The complex nature of software and the fuzzy language of many patent applications make it both extremely expensive to fight this stuff in court and extremely hard to be sure of the outcome. When will this madness end.
The US patent office and patent process are completely broken down now. US patent office is issuing patents not because you have created something, but just because you have best (most paid) lawyers. This is true: you can in fact get a patent on an idea, not an invention. It is like Edison getting patent on the idea behind light bulb, without actually making and selling it. Anyone who has invented something real knows that ideas are "dime a dozen, what matters is to manufacture those ideas into reality.
Thanks God for European Union which has at least for now resisted to give value to the Hoax patents that are issued by the US patent office.
Web giant is spending $120 million to beef up its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to filings with the city reviewed by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
US patent office is issuing patents not because you have created something, but just because you have best (most paid) lawyers. This is true: you can in fact get a patent on an idea, not an invention. It is like Edison getting patent on the idea behind light bulb, without actually making and selling it. Anyone who has invented something real knows that ideas are "dime a dozen, what matters is to manufacture those ideas into reality.
Thanks God for European Union which has at least for now resisted to give value to the Hoax patents that are issued by the US patent office.