Posts Tagged: "No-Fault Patent License"

Most patent owners and users cannot bear the costs or risks associated with enforcing and licensing their patents. The potential cost of this waste to the American economy has been estimated to be as large as $1 trillion annually, representing a five percent reduction in potential GDP… using conservative assumptions of the impact on the economy of increased innovation, could generate social benefits ranging between $100 and $200 billion per year. This estimated range easily could be surpassed if the U.S. can achieve enhanced licensing of existing patents, and if any market solutions also enable the dissemination of more knowledge that could increase the numbers of patented innovations themselves.

“Our promise to the small or medium size operating company is we will give them a simple and affordable way to understand the patent environment they’re doing business in, to find the hundred patents that are most statistically relevant to their product line. And provide them with either a license or a warranty that allows them to reduce the risk they’re facing on those one hundred patents. And if you’re a small or medium size operating company who is coming to understand that every business needs an IP strategy these days as IP becomes a more important part of markets and the economy then this is a very affordable and simple entry level strategy for understanding and dealing with patent risk. And that puts you in a much better position arguably than the position that you’re in right now which is you know very little about the risk you’re facing and you can do nothing about it.”

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com. Walker, with over 700 patents and pending patent applications, is one of the most prolific living inventors in the world. He is embarking on the monumental task to commoditize patent licenses in a way that streamlines the process, keeps costs down, maximizes the number of licenses and charges a low flat fee. A daunting task no doubt, but his methodology is unique and seems to me to be more likely to succeed than any other efforts, which really bear no resemblance to the Patent Properties model. Still, to call the task difficult is an understatement, but if anyone has the ability to pull it off it would be Jay Walker.

Simply stated, Jay Walker is one of America’s best-known business inventors and entrepreneurs… Recently I had the opportunity to interview Walker, along with the CEO of Patent Properties Jon Ellenthal. While nothing was ruled out of bounds for the interview we spent much of our time discussing his attempt to create a no-fault patent licensing system that will help innovators monetize patents through a uniform licensing regime that offers a variety of peripheral benefits to those who take licenses… In this interview with Jay Walker we discuss his effort to monetize patents, patent trolls, patent reform and the importance of patents in general.

This No-Fault licensing system will price its license products based on the likelihood that a company is using a patented technology rather than on a legal standard of absolute certainty… In order to accomplish the ultimate goal, the Patent Utility will select statistically relevant patents for No-Fault licensing by using sophisticated software. The software compares the terms and concepts in millions patent claims in currently unexpired patents against the terms and concepts in the specifications of a company’s specific product line or service. It then scores all 2.1 million unexpired U.S. patents on a scale from 1-100 depending on their statistical relevance to the product or service.