With a well-structured plan, your patents can turn into valuable assets. Creating a patent monetization strategy helps companies capitalize on their assets by critically evaluating a patent’s market potential.
Patent Monetization
Embracing patent monetization has proved a valuable pursuit, showing around a two-times return on investment when done well.
Before any patent can prove profitable, it must be subjected to a rigorous valuation. This valuation should be thorough and ongoing. Additionally, the entire intellectual property portfolio must be well-managed. A well-managed portfolio of patents may become one of a company’s most valuable assets.
To make any money off an asset, it’s important to understand what you have first. Understanding an asset means identifying what it is and how it fits into the context of the market.
Maximizing valuation requires meticulous planning and a structured approach.
Patent Valuation
Patent valuation is a function of legal and compliance departments. As such, it has sometimes been viewed as corporate defense or, in the case of intellectual property, a protection of ideas. Patent holders assume a defensive stance in safeguarding patent innovation. Overt patent usage by business entities generally earns enough revenue to cover patent maintenance costs. Turning a profit on patent-holding requires a proper valuation of the intellectual property in your portfolio. Most patent holders aren’t aware of how valuable their portfolio of patents could be, but with proper management that can change.
Ushering your intellectual property from the liabilities column into the assets column, and realizing the potential royalties, requires a dramatic change in how you view patents. A strong valuation strategy, aligned with your business goals and the market where you operate, empowers your assets portfolio. Managing your portfolio properly creates tools to identify opportunities and implement profitable licensing.
Patent Monetization Strategies
A strong patent monetization strategy helps you dramatically increase the value of assets you already own. At the same time, you can assess future patent opportunities.
The first step is to audit your entire intellectual property portfolio–everything you have and everything in your plans. Then examine the market and determine how the intellectual property in your portfolio fits into existing and upcoming markets.
The second step in your patent monetization strategy is the valuation process. This process consists of identifying patents that represent untapped revenue potential, such as discovering an overlooked detail about the market or figuring out the patent was always more valuable than it appeared. Obscure details can contribute to a patent valuation, which is why having a company like UnitedLex develop a meticulous strategy for you is desirable. With a systematic approach, UnitedLex watches the market and continuously assesses your patent portfolio.
In addition, we:
- Classify all technical applications and relevant categories to your patents
- Identify the patents intrinsic to your business that have high value
- Investigate patent ranking
An effective patent monetization strategy can raise the net worth of your company without changing the core business of your organization. Therefore, it can be a worthwhile endeavor for your business.
Patent Monetization Services
Bringing outside evaluators in to figure out the value of your portfolio has several advantages. UnitedLex takes a detailed look at your portfolio and makes a valuation based on technical relevance, how easy it is to enforce intellectual property protection, and how it applies to the development of technology in the future.
If, for example, new technology has been determined to have low relevance to the development of future technology, it will have less current value. Similarly, new technology that demonstrably pushes the landscape will have a higher valuation.
With the use of a strong ranking algorithm, UnitedLex considers subjective inputs and objective parameters, and then develops valuations. Patents rank in three tiers based on patent score. High-value patents typically rank in the top 10 to 20% on this scale, and the bottom 10 to 20% have much lower values.
For a more detailed explanation, download our whitepaper.
Patent Brokerage
As with any other litigation-heavy service, there are two possible ways of going about it— figure it out for ourselves, or we can employ a broker with the savvy, the contacts, and the motivation to understand the layers involved. In the same way you hire a broker to get the most out of a mortgage, buying a car, or acquiring insurance, a patent broker helps you get the most out of your patents. More than that, working with a patent broker can maximize revenue from intellectual property already in your portfolio.
At UnitedLex, we help prepare compelling licensing and packages. With expertise in patent monetization, both technical and financial, our Intellectual Property team is ready to deliver patent valuation and royalty analysis, customized to your specific needs for patent defense, identification, and litigation.
Using whitespace studies and detailed analysis of the competitive landscape, UnitedLex has positioned itself to handle third party conflicts and conduct lapse analysis and due diligence for portfolio acquisition.
Making an upfront investment in patent development can create the potential for a dramatic increase in capital assets. Evaluating a patent’s worth in relation to business goals requires rigorous evaluation and management.
With more than 3,000 legal, engineering, and technology professionals globally, UnitedLex enables legal organizations to thrive in the Digital Age. Over the past 15 years, we have successfully delivered eDiscovery, Source Code and Document Review, Intellectual Property Management, and Contract Lifecycle Management Improvement services to over 25% of the Global 500, 30% of the Fortune 50, and 50% of the Am Law 100. Contact UnitedLex to learn more about transforming your Intellectual Property function and our broader programs for Digital Legal Transformation.
