Are You Looking To Sell Your Patent To Google?

From 8-22 May, US online search giant Google will open a streamlined portal for patent owners to let Google know about patents they are willing to sell at a price they set.

On 27 April, Google announced its new program entitled Patent Purchase Promotion, which it will run as an experiment inviting patent holders to sell their patents.

This program is part of Google’s initiative to promote new models for sharing intellectual property across a variety of technology areas. It runs a number of programs including the Open Patent Pledge, the release of open source software, such as Android and VP8, and participation in community licences, such as the Open Invention Network License.

“Unfortunately,” the announcement said, “the usual patent marketplace can sometimes be challenging, especially for smaller participants who sometimes end up working with patent trolls. Then bad things happen, like lawsuits, lots of wasted effort, and generally bad karma. Rarely does this provide any meaningful benefit to the original patent owner.”

The Patent Purchase Promotion purports to “remove friction that exists in the secondary market for patents” and is promised to be simple, easy to use and fast.

“Hopefully this will translate into better experiences for sellers, and remove the complications of working with entities such as patent trolls,” the announcement said.

The portal for submissions by interested patent holders, who wish to sell their patents, will be open from 8 May through 22 May.

Once the portal is closed, Google will review all submissions and by 26 June all applicants will be notified of either Google’s tentative decision to purchase their patent or rejection. If successful, transaction will be finalised by 22 June and payment will be done by late August.

While this program intends to simplify the process, Google warns that it is yet a process requiring formal agreements and strongly encourages obtaining advice from an attorney.

According to the Patent Acquisition Agreement, sellers will retain a licence back to their patent.

The program is limited to US patents and excludes design patents. “We will see what level of interest we get in the program, and future iterations might very well accommodate such transactions,” it states in the Frequently Asked Questions section.

“We view this effort as an experiment,” Google said. “We certainly hope that it is a successful one.”

Elena Bourtchouladze (LLB, DEA) holds a PhD degree in Public International Law from the Graduate Institute (Geneva) with focus on the WTO TRIPS Agreement and WIPO Conventions. She is a researcher at IP-Watch, and has experience in regulatory and litigation at a multinational company and an international organisation.