Kevin O’Keefe asked me for my thoughts about LegalForce, a company with quite a bit of recent (self fed?) hype. My comment (for Kevin): “I’ve never heard of them.” I’m pretty skeptical that there is much of a market for “patent marketplaces” where people can post patents for sale. A quick scan of the patents for sale on eBay for (in my best Dr. Evil voice) “one million dollars” is a clue.
Freeth Cartwright LLP does have a complete review of the site: New website about IP: LegalForce
The comments are open if any of my readers have other thoughts/comments/reviews…
[Update] See also:
- http://271patent.blogspot.com/2007/03/patent-brokerage-gains-addition-with.html
- http://venturebeat.com/2007/03/05/legalforce-a-marketplace-for-patents/
- http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2007/03/03/opml-chapter-17-legalforce-ip-marketplace-as-open-patent-market-for-licenses/
Related posts:
There is no comparison with what eBay is doing and what LegalForce is attempting to do. The posts of patents on eBay are unvalidated. Its difficult to assess the value of a patent, and that is the biggest barrier to entry in this field. eBay is not equipped to offer the services required to valuate and examine patent histories to verify ownership, authenticity and value.
LegalForce seems more equipped to do this, they seem to be backed by patent attorneys and venture capitalists involved in IP. However, their website is still in development based on my initial review, needs more refinement to really dramatically change the way patents/IP is bought and sold. That being said, I like their interface, concept, and believe it will work.
John Moore,
Patent Attorney
>eBay is not equipped to offer the services required to valuate and examine patent histories to verify ownership, authenticity and value.
I don’t see where anyone could possibly be qualified to perform this valuation function short of a CAFC panel after completing a de novo claim construction.