A patent owner that wants to sell their patents faces buyers that are looking more closely at the strength of the patent offering. For a seller to maximize their return, they should plan on doing more work ahead of an offering to entice buyers. As a first step, it is important to understand who your buyers will be so that offerings are tailored to the target audience. Is the buyer a patent ass... »
The U.S. Supreme Court’s KSR decision has left an impression that any claimed invention based on a combination of known, related features is likely obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The recent Fox Factory, Inc. v. SRAM, LLC (Fed. Cir. May 18, 2020) decision is a heartening reminder that is not always the case. In Fox Factory, the Federal Circuit affirmed a Board holdin... »
This is a super interesting patent-as-property case. In 2018, Christy filed a class-action lawsuit asserting that the cancellation of its patent via Inter Partes Review was taking subject to the due process requirements of the Constitution as well as the Fifth Amendment requirement of “Just Compensation.” The Federal Circuit offered a very low quality opinion on the issues here. In particula... »
Legislators in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America are currently focused on regulators, respirators, and masks. These devices are critical in the fight for life that millions are facing at this moment. However, these are not the only devices affected by the crisis. Indeed, the production of everything from MRI machines and bedpans to pharmaceuticals and surgical instruments has ground to a hal... »
A patent trend is a steady increase or decrease over a period of time that pertains to the filing of patent applications in a certain industry or field. For example, if you walk into a grocery store today, you’re likely to find a variety of meat-free options for vegans. Veganism has been around for a long time, but it wasn’t until a few decades ago that companies started patenting their ... »
The IP monetisation space is a relatively young one, but Snow notes that expectations are increasing year on year. The first driver for change is the need for higher quality assets; this is evident from patent owners wanting to target their highest value patents for monetisation purposes or patent investors acquiring assets of the highest strategic importance. In addition, timescale is key for bot... »
Federal courts have recognized that patent holders are usually not entitled to the total revenues associated with a patent-practicing end product. By extension, they are wary of patent holders’ attempts to use total revenues as the royalty base, even if the patent holder applies a discount (or “royalty rate”) to adjust for the value of the patent. Such an approach can confuse jur... »
Coming out of the pandemic, licensing will see much greater scrutiny and negotiation activity around the so-called “boilerplate” provisions, like force majeure; choice of law provisions; frustration or purpose and/or impossibility of performance standards; insurance; letter of credit; jurisdiction for disputes; and limitation caps on damages. The COVID 19 crisis has brought out the best in licenso... »
Strategically effective patent portfolio development and management is vital to the financial success of any company, particularly technology companies. With studies finding that as much as 84% of the market value of companies in the S&P 500 is derived from intangible assets, intellectual property represents a large proportion of that value. In particular, patents are essential to maintaining ... »
The downturn in the secondary patent market has been well documented. Beginning in 2006 with eBay v MercExchange, legislative and judicial patent reforms weakened the asset class and disrupted the burgeoning patent monetisation ecosystem that had flourished in the early 2000s. Now that the impact of decisions like Alice and legislative creations such as inter partes review has been digested by the... »