ICAP Ocean Tomo Announces New University Tech Pool Program

CHICAGO, Feb. 28, 2011/PRNewswire/ -- ICAP Ocean Tomo today announces the new University Tech Pool program developed to address unmet needs in the tech transfer market. This program will draw relevant patents from multiple universities to create comprehensive patent portfolios which will be offered to the market at reasonable licensing terms. Information on the program for both potential university participants and end-licensees will be available online in the coming weeks and at the annual AUTM conference February 28-March 1st in Las Vegas, where ICAP Ocean Tomo CEO Dean Becker will be available to explain to university tech transfer professionals how the program works.  

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Businesses rely on tech transfer

Corporations have increasingly relied on universities, research institutions, and small businesses for R&D over the last two decades, but there have been few tools available to university tech transfer offices seeking to expand their licensing business. Exclusive to university tech transfer offices, ICAP Ocean Tomo's University Tech Pool program helps multiple tech transfer offices facing the same market challenges leverage their particular research strengths. This program will expand their capabilities and reach, and improve the efficiency of tech transfer to the private sector resulting in incremental revenue for participating universities.  

The total is greater than the sum of the parts

The program will create discrete portfolios with a number of issued patents and pending patent applications drawn from multiple universities and research institutions, each of which will be closely related to an emerging technology area. By aggregating patents within a technology sector across multiple universities, tech transfer offices will be able to generate revenue from portfolios that they could not sell individually.  

The first set of ICAP Ocean Tomo's University Tech Pool licenses will be offered to the market in connection with ICAP Ocean Tomo's November 2011 Live IP Auction in San Francisco.  ICAP Ocean Tomo expects as many as ten portfolios in the fields of high tech, life sciences, energy, and cleantech will be made available. The window for patent submissions will open in April 2011. Resulting University Tech Pool licensing deals will be available for potential licensee review in September 2011.

"This new program is good for both universities and the overall market," said Dr. Cameron Gray, ICAP Ocean Tomo Senior Vice President, "It is hard to coordinate a market offering with patent representation from multiple universities, but the universities need and have asked for such a vehicle and we expect a very favorable market reception. From the end-licensee's perspective, the University Tech Pool program solves problems of access and transactional certainty. University Tech Pool licenses represent an attractive entry point for companies and investors looking closely at emerging technologies."

To learn more about the program:

Contact Cameron Gray of ICAP Ocean Tomo at [email protected] or +1 (650) 421-3089.

About ICAP Ocean Tomo LLC

ICAP Ocean Tomo is the intellectual property brokerage division of ICAP and the world's premier patent auction firm.

About ICAP

ICAP is the world's premier interdealer broker and provider of post trade services. The Group matches buyers and sellers in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, foreign exchange, emerging markets, equities and equity derivatives through voice and electronic networks. ICAP plc was added to the FTSE 100 Index on 30 June 2006. For more information go to www.icap.com.

SOURCE ICAP Ocean Tomo