AST seeks patents from AI and blockchain in latest purchase programme

Allied Security Trust (AST), an organisation that provides solutions for mitigating patent risk, has called for breakthrough technology owners to participate in the latest phase of its Industry Patent Purchase Program (IP3 2018).

The 2018 programme, announced yesterday, May 22, allows participating patent owners to access a pool of potential patent buyers, including AST’s membership and other technology companies.

AST’s current members include heavyweights from numerous industries, with Google, Ford, IBM and Uber being just four names on the list.

Now in its third year, the programme is this time seeking patents from the following technology areas: artificial intelligence/machine learning; augmented reality/virtual reality; automotive/transportation services; blockchain; internet of things (IoT)/connected devices; smart home; software/web services; and wireless.

In 2017, the programme covered IoT, wireless, content delivery, networking and communications. There were 640 valid submissions/deals, AST said in a press release earlier this year.

The programme is based on a fixed-price, fixed-term model where patent sellers and brokers can submit patents for sale at a price they set, from July 9 to July 20. Sellers need only to identify the patent family and price at which they are willing to transact, AST explained.

Russell Binns, Jr, CEO of the not-for-profit organisation, said IP3 presents patent owners with an efficient and hassle-free way to sell their patents quickly.

“Based on market demand following our successful IP3 2017 programme, we are excited to expand our buyer pool for IP3 2018 by inviting operating companies outside AST’s membership to participate in the programme and collaborate alongside AST members,” he said.

Kurt Brasch, patent transactions lead at Uber, explained that the fixed price concept is “very beneficial to both buyers and sellers”, with the transaction time being “dramatically reduced”.

At the end of the submission period, AST, its members and “additional participating operating companies” will review all the submissions and let the submitters know whether there is interest in a purchase by October 2, 2018, “if not sooner”.

“AST will also let submitters know whether there is no interest in a purchase through IP3 as soon as possible, and no later than October 2, 2018,” the organisation added.

Original article may be found here.