Recent Patent Trends: Quantity Over Quality?

By Russell Binns ( March 13, 2018, 6:17 PM EDT) -- By many accounts, 2017 was a banner year for patent sales. In addition to the number of sales building on a strong trend over the past three years, patent portfolio offerings have increased year over year from 841 portfolios in 2014 to 1,415 portfolios in 2017; and likewise the number of deals transacted have increased each year from 734 in 2014, to 843 in 2015, to 966 in 2016. While we don't have final 2017 numbers yet, we were ahead of pace with 979 deals for transactions recorded by the end of the year. We also saw an increase in offerings of larger patent portfolios in 2017. Clearly, many companies are choosing to clean house, perhaps in an effort to get better control of budgets. Others that might otherwise retain assets and try to license or litigate appear to be selling....

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