IPwe: Patents-Reducing Costs and Enhancing Returns Leveraging Exponential Technologies

IPwe

Erich Spangenberg, CEO, IPweErich Spangenberg, CEO
 
C-level executives have begun to ask questions about the cost and return associated with patents. For most companies, intangibles are the largest part of their balance sheet and patents are a large part of intangibles. For the typical company, patents can be a material part of the assets on the balance sheet. Historically, it has been an asset class that has avoided the scrutiny and metrics other assets are required to meet.

IPwe leverages exponential technologies to provide relevant information and metrics about your patent portfolio and to facilitate reducing costs and, for those that desire to do so, enhance returns. Today, AI permits anyone to capture a basic level of understanding of what a patent is about and its key attributes. For executives, this includes high-level ratings and profiles that can inform decisions. For your internal IP professionals, it improves their efficiency and permits them to focus on high value issues. Once decisions are made, blockchain technologies facilitate substantial reductions in cost and unlock commercialization and financial opportunities without requiring additional corporate resources. IPwe uses these exponential technologies to power its patent platform. The IPwe Patent Platform is where these AI tools can be accessed without charge and the transactional services obtained in a model where there is only a fee if a transaction is successfully completed.

In a conversation with CIO Applications, Erich Spangenberg, the CEO of IPwe shares insights on the company’s commitment to fostering innovation by helping a broader group within companies easily become informed about patents and to lower costs and enhance returns.

What is the major pain-point that CIOs face in the IP management space, and how does IPwe mitigate them?

What the CIOs typically are not interested in, is another “solution” that charges a fee before the CIO can show a return. We believe that the cost of patent ownership is too high, and the returns are too low. There are no metrics that are agreed upon to measure ROI in the patent space—it might be cash returns, jobs created, products launched or some other metric. But the only metric many companies use is how many patents they have or obtain, which is not relevant in an AI enabled world. Using AI you can quickly assess validity and relevance and even proxies for value that permit you to ask critical questions of your IP professionals.

By reducing costs and enhancing returns, companies are able to redeploy this capital for alternative needs. What percentage of your patent portfolio is working for you or important to your company? A few years ago, that was a difficult and expensive question to answer—today, sophisticated AI tools let you answer that question within a reasonable level of certainty in seconds.

IPwe combines the information and tools to identify, research, understand and transact in patents. We enable traditional transactions (licenses and acquisitions) and empower new classes of transactions like financings, maintenance fee payments and insurance.

Please elaborate on a case example where IPwe has been at the forefront in solving its clients’ needs.

A large company came to us and they acknowledged that neither they nor their supplier network had anticipated or prepared for an important change in technology that was becoming prevalent in their industry. The investment in this technology area is massive and they confronted risk from the incumbent innovators of this technology as well as billions of start-ups investors. At a zero cost, we identified patents they may want to acquire or license to bolster their positioning in this technology area. At a cost far lower than this company can achieve using current solutions, we are now in the process of completing several acquisition and licensing transactions across the IPwe Platform. A few years ago, this exercise would have entailed more time, more resources and a far greater financial commitment.

We are able to give our AI and other analytic tools away for no charge because in a prior business we had generated staggering returns that paid for this AI system many times over


Another large company contacted us and had a portfolio of 10,000 plus patents and 50 people who worked in their patent group. They had never sold or licensed a patent. Their annual budget for HR and related patent costs was significant. They wanted help in identifying areas where they could reduce costs— abandon low-value patents and reduce the fees associated with maintaining the patents—and enhance returns involved in licensing and sales. Within a few days, they were able to use our AI tools to gain a much better view of the strengths and weaknesses of their portfolio in absolute terms and relative to their competition. Using this AI-based information, their in-house team and IPwe worked together to confirm the AI results were accurate. Within a couple of weeks, the company had a very clear picture of its portfolio and from this analysis came many actionable ideas to reduce costs and enhance returns. The portfolio could easily be reduced in size without any material risks to “freedom to operate” concerns. Areas of potential risk are being intelligently evaluated with far better information than previously available. Sales and licensing will generate several millions of dollars a year. Patent based financing alternatives are for the first time being evaluated.

What are the factors that steer IPwe ahead of the competition?

IPwe has several advantages that are difficult for competition to address. Our fee structure where we only make money if you make money is not a common pricing practice, and it is difficult for competitors to match success based performance pricing when it is not a method they are comfortable with. We are able to give our AI and other analytic tools away for no charge because, in a prior business, we had generated staggering returns that paid for this AI system many times over. Our top AI people are world class and most companies simply can’t afford this type of talent.

No other competitor in the market can say they have completed over 1,000 licensing transactions, completed over $300 million of licensing and sale transactions as a principal or been involved as a principal in over $2 billion of capital raising and IP financings—there is a reason the largest companies in the world and governments come to us for IP transactions. Last but not certainly the least, we are global, with operations in the US, EU and Asia. We have had offices in China and the EU for over ten years and work with the top companies and governments around the world.

What lies ahead in the future for IPwe?

We are entirely customer driven, and since our offerings do not exist in the market, we tend to spend time educating the market and focus more on IP owners that understand that they need assistance to improve productivity of the patent asset class. If your company is elated with the cost and performance of your patent assets, then we wish you continued success.

For those that are not sure or believe there are areas for improvements—we are available to talk!

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