Calling All Patent Owners - Google, IBM, Ford, Cisco and Other Leading Global Companies Want to Buy Your Patents - Through the New IP3 Purchase Program by AST

NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling all patent owners! Some of the world's largest companies have combined resources to buy your patents. Industry Patent Purchase Program, IP3, announced today by AST in collaboration with a diverse group of global companies, is a new streamlined and easy way for patent owners to sell their great patents to buyers. IP3 creates a patent marketplace that brings together a pool of significant money from companies including Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, SAP, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Verizon, Cisco, Arris, leading cable service providers, and many other multinational companies to purchase patents in a format that allows sellers to set their own price for their patent assets and reduces the time and complexity usually associated with patent transactions. 

IP3 builds on the success of Google's innovative 2015 Patent Purchase Promotion (PPP), and seeks to attract the submission of high quality patents from patent owners across a wide array of industries during a limited time period. Some of these industries include:

• Enterprise software
• Communications
• Networking
• Semiconductors
• Automotive
• Content delivery
• Cloud computing

IP3 is an effort to simplify sellers' access to the secondary market by eliminating the common hassles associated with it, such as hiring experts to prepare evidence of use of the invention or hiring lawyers to instigate litigation.

IP3 eases the burdens for sellers of transacting patents. We know that sellers and buyers alike find the secondary patent marketplace challenging at times. Sellers can occasionally end up losing out on returns from their quality assets through contingency arrangements, unnecessary litigation, wasted enforcement efforts, and the lost time associated with waiting for a return, while their patents are sitting on a shelf, adding doubts – particularly among smaller patent owners – that the patent marketplace can still operate fairly and effectively for everyone.  

In short, sellers need only identify the patent family and price at which they are willing to transact, IP3 does the rest. 

"AST is always looking for innovative ways to make the patent marketplace work better for our members and patent sellers," said Russell W. Binns, Jr., CEO of AST. "Our IP3 program is a first of its kind industry program designed to give sellers an easy way to access the secondary market by streamlining the process of selling patents. At the same time, it alleviates many of the problems associated with the secondary market by providing a safe, transparent and rapid process for all parties. Last year Google had great success with their Patent Purchase Promotion by simplifying the process. IP3 goes a step further, giving sellers the ability to reach across multiple industries and make the patent marketplace operate more efficiently for everyone." 

"IP3 brings together IP buyers and sellers in a way that facilitates a near-frictionless marketplace for patents. Last year's Patent Purchase Promotion proved that demand exists in the marketplace for a mechanism to efficiently sell patents. We expect the comprehensive group of companies partnering with IP3 will encourage a large number of sellers to participate which in turn will help promote innovation throughout the economy," said Allen Lo, Deputy General Counsel of Patents for Google.

"Intellectual property is a significant part of today's economy," said Alexandra Cordes, Vice President and Head of Strategic IP Initiatives at SAP SE. "With IP3, we will get quick and easy access to additional high-quality patents that can enhance one piece of our overall strategy of delivering high-valued enterprise software products to our customers. IP3 increases our buying power and provides us with a cost-effective solution to acquire additional patent rights."

So how will IP3 work?

From May 25, 2016 to June 8, 2016, IP3 will open a simple portal for patent holders to identify patents they are willing to sell at a price they set. At the end of the submission period, we'll review all the submissions and let the submitters know whether we're interested in buying their patents by July 29, 2016. If we contact you about purchasing your patent, we'll work through some additional diligence with you and look to close a transaction in short order. We anticipate that all transactions and payments will be completed by the end of September 2016.

You can find more detailed information about IP3 on our website ip3ast.com including the submission form (which won't go live until May 25), the applicable patent purchase agreement if IP3 agrees to buy your patent, and other important information. There's also some terms and conditions that you should make sure you fully understand before participating. We encourage participating sellers to consult with an attorney. Throughout this process, IP3 reserves the right not to transact for any reason.

We hope that patent owners like you consider submitting some of your great patents to IP3. By simplifying the process and keeping to a relatively short diligence window, AST hopes this program will be a big step forward in helping remove friction from the patent secondary market.

About AST

AST is the leading provider of proactive patent defense solutions. We offer a highly efficient, cost-effective and proven method of mitigating the risk of patent assertions and litigation by enabling our Members to collectively purchase assets available on the open market. Because we are an independent, not-for-profit cooperative, we provide a trusted and fully transparent way for Members to analyze patent purchase opportunities including triage, evaluation and acquisition services. AST's Members currently include top global companies from a wide-range of industries including ARM, Avaya, Ford, Google, Honda, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Phillips, and Sony. For more information on AST please visit http://www.ast.com.

Cindy Stoller
Vice President
FEVERPRESS
phone: 917-331-0418
[email protected]

SOURCE AST

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