AST Announces IP3 2017 Results
AST Announces IP3 2017 Results
Strong Participation from AST Members and High-Quality Patent Submissions Underscore Desire for Fixed Price, Fixed Term Patent Buying Programs
February 6, 2018 – AST, the leading provider of proactive patent risk mitigation solutions, today announced the results from IP3 2017, a fixed price, fixed term, collaborative patent buying program. Launched this past August, IP3 2017 built upon the success of last year’s IP3, which was a first of its kind industry purchase program designed to give sellers an easy way to access the secondary market by streamlining the process of selling patents with a fixed price, rapid response model. IP3 2017 provided patent sellers the opportunity to offer their patents for purchase to AST’s full Membership – dozens of the world’s most successful companies across multiple industries. IP3 2017 attracted strong interest from buyers and sellers and results indicate a desire for more innovative solutions like IP3 in the future.
Like the inaugural IP3, IP3 2017 attracted strong interest from both patent sellers and Members. Participants in IP3 2017 included 15 operating companies including Google, IBM, Microsoft, Ford, Honda, and Cisco with nearly $2.5 million spent to acquire 70 active assets. Assets not acquired through IP3 2017 can still be purchased through AST’s standard buying process. Unlike IP3 2016, which was open to AST and non-AST Members and sought patent submissions across all technologies, IP3 2017 was a narrower program and sought submissions limited to the following technologies:
- Internet of Things
- Wireless
- Content Delivery
- Networking
- Communications
“We designed IP3 2017 to be a more focused program that attracts high quality submissions within a subset of technologies, and we are all very pleased by the number and quality of patent submissions we received,” said Russell W Binns, Jr., CEO of AST. “Interest among our Members in IP3 2017 also exceeded my expectations, with 15 global leaders in their fields collaborating to buy active assets.”
“We received positive feedback from our Members regarding the new structure to the fixed price, fixed term program, particularly the specific technology focus which we believe encouraged a higher quality, concentrated set of patent submissions. Further, the strong set of submissions we received indicates the continued desire to sell patents in an efficient manner with no hassles and minimal effort,” Binns continued.
AST believes fixed price patent purchasing like IP3 is a worthwhile ongoing part of its business and the success of IP3 2017 validates this strategic direction.
Binns added, “We believe that fixed price programs like IP3 offer buyers an attractive, efficient model to purchase small, more straight-forward portfolios at good prices. We believe that buyers are better served by an approach like AST’s standard purchasing program when they are considering extremely high-value strategic deals where complex agreements and negotiations are required. Planning for IP3 2018 is underway and we are excited to work with our Members on this year’s program.”
Results Summary
Submitted Category Breakdown
The category ‘Communications’ was the leading seller submitted technology category for IP3 2017 with 231 lots with 258 patent families. Communications covers technologies related to the transmission of data over a wire-based communication technology including telephone networks, cable television or Internet access, and fiber-optic communication.
Content Delivery had the most worldwide assets – 547 active assets in 194 lots. Networking lots were comparatively larger lots with over three families on average.
| Seller Submitted Category | Valid Lots | Patent Families | WW Assets |
| Communications | 231 | 258 | 506 |
| Content Delivery | 194 | 238 | 547 |
| Internet of Things | 70 | 102 | 221 |
| Networking | 47 | 158 | 198 |
| Wireless | 98 | 123 | 258 |
| Grand Total | 640 | 879 | 1730 |
Purchase Summary
- 19 Portfolios purchased in IP3 comprising: 70 active patent filings in 19 families
- Average 3.6 assets per family compared to 1.84 for IP3 2016
- 8 lots with single US patent, 5 lots with two US filings, 6 lots with 3+ US filings
- One lot with 14 and another with 21 US filings
- 2 lots with foreign filings
- 16 different sellers and 6 brokers
- 15 out of 19 purchased deals are from Brokers/Intermediaries
- Type of Sellers –
- 12 lots from NPE/PHC
- 3 lots from Practicing Entities
- 2 lots from Universities and one each from Individual Inventor and Law Firm
- 37% or 7 purchased lots were previously seen by AST
More than half of the purchased lots are Communications related:
Purchase Price by Technology Category
| Seller Submitted Category | IP3 Purchased Deals | ||||
| Deals | Patent Families | Average Price | Median Price | ||
| Communications | 10 | 10 | $157,000 | $127,500 | |
| Content Delivery | 6 | 6 | $113,333 | $107,500 | |
| Internet of Things | 1 | 1 | $100,000 | $100,000 | |
| Networking | 1 | 1 | $25,000 | $25,000 | |
| Wireless | 1 | 1 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |
| Total Reviewed Deals | 19 | 19 | $127,632 | $100,000 | |
IP3 2018
AST is currently reviewing IP3 2017’s process to determine necessary adjustments to the program. IP3 2018’s technology areas and submission timeframes will be decided in the coming months.
A more detailed results summary for IP3 2017 can be found here.
About AST
AST is the leading provider of proactive patent mitigation solutions. We offer a highly efficient, cost-effective and proven method of mitigating the risk of patent assertions and litigation avoidance by enabling our Members to collectively purchase assets available on the secondary 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 include top global companies from a wide range of industries including Ford, Google, Honda, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Philips, SAP, Sony, Uber and Verizon. For more information on AST please visit http://www.ast.com.
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