What is the business model at Intellectual Ventures?
Our overall investment strategy looks beyond the immediate horizon and focuses on technology-related problems that will need a solution 5–10 years from now. There are many avenues we can pursue, and the particular direction we take will depend on the inventions, the marketplace opportunity, and most importantly, timing.
How will Intellectual Ventures make money?
We will use our diversified invention investments as a foundation for a variety of business pursuits. We expect to focus on a number of commercialization avenues and market opportunities, including: starting spin-off companies, doing joint ventures with other companies, and/or licensing inventions to product development organizations.
Are you going to make money through litigation?
Our focus is on the business of invention. While litigation is possible in any business, it is not a goal of Intellectual Ventures. Litigation takes a lot of time, costs a lot of money, and most importantly, takes attention away from the core business.
Do you plan to make or sell products?
The novel thing about our business is that invention is our product. We plan to focus our energies on inventing since that is our core strength. While our focus is not on traditional “product development” and the activities that typically go along with that business model, it’s always conceivable we will follow some of our inventions through the entire manufacturing process via spin-off ventures or activities of that nature.
Who are your investors and how much money have you raised?
Our investors include institutional investors, individuals and corporations. Like most privately held companies, however, we don’t disclose specific details about our financials or our investors.
What is the difference between an invention and a patent?
In the simplest form, an invention is the idea and a patent is the formal property right to that idea. At Intellectual Ventures, we invest in invention because we believe it’s the highest-value activity a company can support, yet it’s an activity that is most often overlooked, under-funded, or done as a sideline, and nearly always taken for granted. Because of that, many great ideas go unpatented.
What type of people work at Intellectual Ventures? Is it just a bunch of lawyers?
IV is a very unique mix of scientists, technologists, business leaders, strategists, biologists, mathematicians, programmers, attorneys, IP experts, and support staff. The primary driver of our success is the wide variety of talent who work together as a team, studying and exploring hard technical issues and coming up with new ideas.
Who are your inventors? Can I join?
We are very fortunate to have access to a wealth of inventive energies. The inventors we work with include some of the greatest minds in science, technology, academia, and corporate America. Currently, we aren’t hiring staff inventors, but feel free to submit a résumé for consideration (jobs@intellectualventures.com). Unfortunately, we cannot personally reply to every e-mail we receive, but every e-mail is read and every résumé is reviewed.
How do you come up with your invention ideas?
IV’s invention efforts center on “invention sessions” which are multidisciplinary brainstorming events focused on a particular set of issues and possible solutions. IV typically hosts several 1–2 day invention sessions per month.
How do ideas get turned into inventions?
During and after the sessions, the invention team determines the feasibility and originality of ideas through research and discussion with the inventors. These activities eventually culminate into the drafting and filing of patent applications. Once filed, it typically takes 18 months until that application is published, at which point it is then available for public viewing. It is usually about six or more months after the application has been published before the patent is reviewed and issued. For more information on the patent process, see here: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html
Do you provide resources to inventors or help promote invention outside of Intellectual Ventures?
In an effort to share some of what we’ve learned, we have added a resource link on our Web site that has pointers to articles and resources we thought fellow inventors would find useful.
What do you think of the proposed changes to patent law and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office?
We are strong supporters of the USPTO and the patent law system. While we believe improvements can be made to the existing system, they should be made to protect the property rights of all inventors and not just big corporations. It is important that any changes maintain the property rights of small inventors who are the driving force behind much of the world’s innovation.
Will you look at my invention or hear my ideas for inventions and let me know if they are good ones?
Given our intense curiosity here, it’s always hard to turn away an opportunity to hear good ideas. And while we are interested in hearing about new ideas and inventions, we are very careful to only look at inventions that have already been protected or disclosed publicly in some way (i.e., published in a public forum or protected by a patent application or an actual patent).
If you wish to send us information that is already public that you think would be of interest to us (for example, published papers, patent numbers, or published patent applications), please send your inquiry along with a list of the publicly available information to inventions@intellectualventures.com.
How many patents does Intellectual Ventures have?
Intellectual Ventures has built one of the largest and fastest-growing invention portfolios in the world, with more than 30,000 IP assets currently under active management. We’ve invested in a diverse range of technologies, including software, eCommerce, financial services, consumer electronics, wireless, networking, semiconductor, computer hardware, consumer electronics, biomedical, energy, and materials.