An auction is also called public sale.  It is a publicly held sale at which property or goods are sold to the highest bidder

An exclusive right to the benefits of an invention or improvement granted by the concerned authority for a specific period of time, can be termed a “Patent”

Article 27 (1) TRIPS establishes a general principle of eligibility for patents:

Patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in

All fields of technology, provided that they are new

Involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application

The sale of Patents through a public auction to the highest bidder is termed“Patent Auctions”.

The goal of a Patent Auction is to provide a platform through which the patent holder is fairly compensated & the corporate users have access to technology at minimal cost.

The patent auction model was introduced by Ocean Tomo in 2006.

In the first 8 auctions, 243 sets (or “lots”) of patents were sold, of these 90 were sold by individuals.

Gained more importance in the recession period

Sales Value, License Value, Litigation Value

Size of the Market & the Opportunities offered

Sales figures of comparable Transactions

Nature of the industry

CPA, the world's top intellectual property (IP) management specialist and the leading provider of outsourced legal support services, in conjunction with Ocean Tomo, hosted India's first ever "Live Intellectual Property Auction - Asian Simulcast and Symposium" in Bangalore, on June 26, 2008.

Nearly 65 lots of IP assets were offered for sale in 20 categories including smart cards, manufacturing and automation, online and mobile commerce, lighting technology, telemedicine, computer systems and software, digital media systems, domain names, security and authentication systems, messaging and electronics and handheld devices.

The symposium attracted participants from academia, government, large corporations and SMEs and also featured prominent speakers and senior IP professionals addressing the importance of India as a global player in the IP marketplace.

The acquisition of a patent can provide the basis for expansion into new markets.

Patent auction is a swift and effective way to find a purchaser or a licensee for Company’s IP rights.

Provides a platform to small scale or individual investors to showcase their inventions and at the same time look out for prospective buyers.

Forms substantial part of assets of a company and thus increase the valuation.

Generate revenue, which can be helpful in recession

Patent auctions set a very tight time frame for bidders’ due diligence.

Result in creation of patent trolls

An efficient model which could minimize the losses of both parties in a patent auction, has not been implemented.

As the economic relevance of patents increases, the structures for trading and monetizing patents are growing accordingly.

Create a stronger awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights.

Create commercially viable opportunities for Research institutes & Universities to showcase their work. This would generate money for their future work.