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The Best Way to Sell a Patent?

Many patent owners, once they decide to sell a patent, automatically think of participating in a patent auction. However, patent auctions are rarely the most efficient way to sell patent(s) or other forms of intellectual property. The problem with a patent auction is that if exactly the right buyer for the patent for sale does not participate in the auction, the entire process is a waste of time!

A patent has tremendous value to the business or other entity that needs it, while a patent has virtually no value to a business that does not need it. It is really that simple. A business may spend millions of dollars purchasing a building even though it is not exactly the right building. It purchases the real estate, then modifies or completely renovates the structure to meet its needs. It adds or removes offices, warehouse or manufacturing space, meetings rooms, or retail space. It takes down or puts up walls, refinishes floors, changes wall coverings, adds or closes windows and doors, and so on. In fact, the purchaser of a building can make an unlimited number of changes to its new acquisition. It does not have to be the perfect building for a business to buy it, so there are lots of prospective buyers!

The exact opposite is the case with patents. A patent owner cannot modify its newly acquired asset. As a result, the patent has to be exactly what the buyer is seeking, or it has no value. A patent auction only works if exactly the right buyer is at the auction, and exactly the right information about the patent is presented to exactly the right buyer! What are the chances of that happening?

A Better Way to Sell Patents

For the patent owner that wants to sell a patent, the contingency patent brokerage model that IPOfferings developed and pioneered is far superior. After analyzing your patent and the technology it covers, IPOfferings creates a specific and focused patent marketing package and a marketing program for that specific patent or portfolio. IPOfferings then identifies specific, pre-qualified buyer-candidates. Under this system, businesses with a need for your patent are introduced to your patent, and they have in front of them what they need to know about your patent to make a buying decision.

Broad Coverage that No Other Patent Brokerage Firm Has!

Each month, IPOfferings sends out our monthly e-letter, IP MarketPlace, to a combination of business executives and IP professionals. IP MarketPlace promotes the newest patents we have for sale, and revisits or highlights patents in our Patent MarketPlace. The subscription list for IP MarketPlace has been developed over several years, and there are now over 10,000 opt-in subscribers to IP Marketplace. This proprietary list of prospective buyers is an asset that no patent broker has!

Better than a Patent Auction

When a company decides to acquire a patent, the actual patent is often just 10% or less of the company’s total investment. For a business to acquire a patent, and then turn that patent into a new product, requires not just the patent, but a significant investment by the organization in research, design, prototyping, engineering, testing, manufacturing, sourcing, packaging, promotion, marketing, merchandising and sales. That’s why most companies that acquire a patent have a three to nine-month selling cycle because it simply takes that long to get input from every business unit and department that will be involved in developing a new product and getting them all on board.

If a patent auction is held before a company has had all the meetings, done all the preparation and built a consensus to make the decision to acquire a patent and develop a new product based on that patent, the company will pass up the auction and move on to other projects. That is why the point-in-time aspect of a patent auction works against the patentee and is just not the smart way to go.

Putting together an effective marketing program to support a comprehensive selling effort can often result over several months in the development of several interested prospects, and that creates something that is far better than an auction: A bidding war for your patent! And a bidding war for your patent will insure that you optimize the value of your intellectual asset.

Also, if your patent is listed at a patent auction, and you receive no bids, or very low bids, the perceived value of your IP is significantly diminished, making it even more difficult to sell your patent!

IPOfferings operates most often on a partial contingency basis. We charge nothing to analyze your patent, and if we decide to represent you in the monetization of your patent or portfolio, we charge a modest fee to create the marketing package, and research who the best buyer or licensee candidates are. IPOfferings earns a Success Fee out of the revenue we generate for you, the patent owner! So we have a vested interest in the most efficient and effective method to monetize the patents we represent at the highest possible price!

It costs nothing to find out if IPOfferings can represent you in the sale of your patent. Call us at 845-337-6911 or e-mail us at [email protected].

For additional information, please download our Patent Brokerage Services Data Sheet.