Business Opportunities Weblog

September 3, 2008 by Angela Shupe | 1 Comment

All great inventions start as an idea, but how many of those ideas have already been patented and have started to take form? Not all ideas are unique, but when you have one it is important to make sure to get the right paperwork done so your idea won’t be stolen by the next person who thinks of it. If you’re thinking about launching your idea into something bigger, It’s very important to make sure that it is truly unique before you try to go anywhere with it.

Patents.com is a search directory and community where people can go to search for patents that have already been filed. They also offer a unique IP Exchange section which is best profiled in the interview below. Thankfully we were able to get into contact with Rob Monster, the chairman for Patents.com, to find out some more information about this unique tool.

What is Patents.com? What are some of the things a person can do when they become a member?

Patents.com is the destination portal for patent search, patent community, and for patent sales and licensing through our patent exchange. A person can search worldwide patents in their native language, create a profile, claim patents to their account and profile, interact with other members in the patent community, and post patents on the Patent Exchange to generate leads for the licensing and sale of your patents.

What inspired you to start a patent search website?

There are more than 30 million patents on record in the various patent offices around the world. To date, nobody had put all of them in one database. Moreover has taken on the audacious goal of translating all patents into multiple major languages of business and science. We started Patents.com first and foremost to fill this void in the market.

What is IP Exchange?

Most patents never get licensed or sold. One of the reasons why is because most licensing activities are managed through agents who are focused on larger value transactions. As a result, the little guy is not able to participate. We think that is a missed opportunity.

The Patent Exchange is a platform for patent owners to post their patents as available for license or sale to generate leads and close licensing or sale transactions. The platform enables those interested in purchasing or taking a license to monitor patents and activity.

Is there something in particular that you feel this website has and the competition lacks?

We are bringing a global approach by providing more documents in more languages combined with a patent community and Patent Exchange. For calibration, the nearest competitor has 19 million patent documents. At scale, we will have 450 million documents – 30 million patents translated to a whopping 15 languages providing the world with unprecedented access to patent data. In addition, the Patent Exchange is based on a business process for which we ourselves have used the patent process to protect.

What previous experience did you have that you were able to bring with you into the start up of Patents.com?

The management team has direct experience in international markets and translation technology, patent law and transactions, and patent data. We brought these elements together with a premium domain confident that the growth of international patent activity and patent filings generates a need for global data, community, and interaction.

How long did it take to organize and build a directory of this size?

The team was assembled in late 2007 and the site launched with our Beta version this month. As you might imagine for a project of this complexity, we spent a considerable amount of time and energy building the platform by which patent data from various patent offices are integrated and available in the various language portals. Our platform has been designed to expand with the continued growth of new patent documents and additional language portals.

When you look back, is there anything you might have done in error that you wish you could go back and change? What have you learned from those experiences?

When the various members came together under Patents.com we already had US patent data available for searching. We could have made the US data available sooner while we built the technology which enables us to integrate and translate international patent data into our various language portals, as well as the community and Patent Exchange platform. However, in the end, we have been able to launch with a product that truly speaks to our vision for the world of Patents. And so while the journey was longer, the resulting product is more representative of the vision we set out for ourselves.

What are some of the goals you have for your website?

Our goal is to become the definitive place for everything related to patents. We will be the place to go for Patent search, patent transactions, patent news, events, resources, finding lawyers and consultants and interacting with members of the patent community. The pace of innovation is rapid, and the most difficult phase is now behind us. We are building on a very solid foundation.

If someone is interested in advertising with you, what kind of options are available?

We offer premium sponsorships, run of the site advertising or targeted section advertising. We can handle most advertising styles, formats, and sizes. Interested parties should contact us at:

Tel: 703-444-0051 or advertising@patents.com

Do you have any future plans to expand on your website in other ways?

Absolutely! We will be adding several community features to help users interact with one another, find experts, ask questions, and stay up to date with patent news and resources. We also will continue to add international patent data and language portals.

In Interviews | 1 Comment
Tags: Internet, Patents, Search