4th February 2019

Cipher n/d powered by AST – data for evidence-based decisions

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Patents are notoriously hard to value, which makes licensing (and cross-licensing) of large patent portfolios exponentially harder. In most markets, price discovery is facilitated by a mass of accessible information about comparable transactions. This luxury is not afforded in the world of patents, as the vast majority of licensing deals are confidential.

On a positive note, there is a broad measure of agreement on the approach that needs to be taken, and a simple formula that takes into account the numerator (number of patents the licensor holds), denominator (number of patents in the world relating to the product), the significance of each component to the product, the quality of the portfolios, the royalty rate, and the product revenue.

This approach is not new, but by automating some of the most time consuming parts of the analysis, Cipher n/d opens up this capability to many more IP teams that don’t have the resources to attempt this analysis manually. It maps patents to the AST Product Taxonomy, and shows the denominator, removing the time-consuming, tedious, and error prone mapping task.

AST product taxonomy

When used in combination with revenue and royalty data, this opens the door to evidence based decisions to enhance internal war games and provides an objective basis to present portfolio wide views in negotiations. The benefits flowing from this approach are very significant – small margins make a big difference when dealing within populations of thousands of patents and billions of revenue.

For more information about Cipher n/d Powered by AST, get in touch.

 “Our collaboration with Cipher provides an unbiased view of companies’ patent portfolios by using our industry accepted taxonomy that can be used as a reference point to add rationality to licensing negotiations”

Russ Binns, CEO of AST.

About AST

AST is the leading provider of proactive patent mitigation solutions. AST provided a trusted and transparent way for members to analyze patent purchase opportunities. AST’s members include global companies from a wide range of industries including Cisco, Ford, Google, Honda, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Philips, SAP, Sony, Spotify, Uber and Verizon. For more information visit AST.com

With Cipher you can…

Portfolio Optimisation connecting cogs

Optimise your portfolio

Ensure you have the right portfolio to meet your strategic patenting objectives.

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Understand who’s doing what by automating patent to technology mapping.

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Model cross licensing

Combine patent and revenue data to determine rational licensing outcomes.

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Manage your budget

Justify patent budgets and communicate the impact of your investment.

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Conduct due diligence

Automate manual reviews for efficient execution of M&A and licensing transactions.

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Tackle inbound patent assertion

Be prepared with evidence to create a fast and effective threat assessment.

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Benchmark your portfolio

Assess your portfolio in comparison to other owners through your technology lens.

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Identify opportunities to create value through licensing or sale of patent assets.

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Predict technology trends

Track new technologies and discover the unknown owners of future innovation.

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Understand the materiality of your threats to define your risk mitigation strategy.

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