危 wēi  danger

In tough economic times many businesses ‘refocus’ on their core.  This frequently includes ceasing to develop new offers or entering new markets, halting R&D initiatives and selling off non-core assets, including dormant intellectual property (IP).  Often this IP is tough to value and is sold below value.

机 jī opportunity

iPotential and other intellectual property brokers realized that this dormant IP and its sale presents a huge opportunity, particularly in the downturn as more and more owners are keen to raise cash (often at the behest of the administrators).  iPotential brokers deals between investors (often hedge funds) and sellers (often technology companies) and takes a slice of the deal.  iPotential estimates that IP sales reached $4b last year and Coller Investments, an investment firm that has bought up many IBM patents, estimates that the market is growing at 20-30% per year.

how about…

• monetizing dormant intellectual property through a broker
• reapproaching ‘orphan’ technologies periodically (in light of changing context)