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Kent Richardson

Partner, Richardson Oliver Law Group LLP

Kent Richardson counsels clients on a variety of patent and business matters including patent buying, selling, licensing, valuation, prosecution and operations. Kent has licensing and marketing patent portfolio experiences resulting in more than $600M of patent license bookings. Kent has served as an expert witness on patent monetization and licensing practices in cases in England and the United States, and he is also currently a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to founding the ROL Group, Kent was the General Manager of ThinkFire Services USA, Ltd’s Silicon Valley office. Kent has worked in various senior management roles with such growth businesses as Sezmi, Constellation Capital, Rambus, Numerical Technologies. Kent is a member of the California Bar and a United States Patent and Trademark Office registered patent attorney, and holds five US patents.

Contact Kent via e-mail at kent@richardsonoliver.com, or the Internet at Richardson Oliver Law Group.

Recent Articles by Kent Richardson

Quickly Modeling Patent Value

Imagine you are presenting to your boss and requesting approval of a $2 million purchase of four patent families. Already savvy about market prices, she is focused on the impact of the purchase to the business. Her question: “So what are these patents worth and what will the impact be of the purchase?” Unless you have done some sort of valuation to quantify the worth of these patents for the business, you may find yourself talking vaguely about synergies or avoided costs. This is because getting a valuation typically takes time and can be expensive. But what if there was a way to quickly model the worth of the patents to us?

Quickly Modeling Patent Market Prices

Imagine you have found four patent families that address a specific risk to your business, and you are about to ask your boss to approve buying those patents for $2 million. Her questions might include, “What’s the going rate for patents?” Similarly, if you were working with your company’s accounting team and moving four patent families from your corporate parent to a subsidiary, the accounting department might ask, “What is the ‘fair market value’ of these patents for transfer pricing?” A preliminary issue arises: what are you really being asked for? This confusion in part stems from the common use of “price” and “value” nearly interchangeably in day-to-day conversations.