4 ms·

I've always wondering how large companies buy and sell patents in bulk like that. Do they just point at a filing cabinet and say, there's 650 patents in there,

I've always wondering how large companies buy and sell patents in bulk like that. Do they just point at a filing cabinet and say, there's 650 patents in there, it's yours for 550M$, take it or leave it. Or do they have an army of lawyers pour over them one by one?

eblume 14y ago
It's a bit of both. I don't work in legal but I see them going at it from time to time when patent stuff comes up. There is definitely 'the filing cabinet' (more like a room) and it contains one of several copies of the important documents - but the lawyers are the interface to those documents. Sometimes I can't help but feel that most lawyers do not much more than present an obfuscation layer around standard forms.
- rollypolly 14y ago
  Sometimes I can't help but feel that most lawyers do not much more than present an obfuscation layer around standard forms. I bet non-technical people also have that feeling about engineers. "It took you a second to change the behavior of this. You're obviously not working very hard." ..when in reality, it took a lot of effort to make a system flexible enough to adapt its behavior quickly to changes in requirements. ...but I'm getting off topic now. :)
  - eblume 14y ago
    No, it's a great point, and one well taken.
  - fleitz 14y ago
    Great point, my lawyer has saved me much more than she costs because she alerts me to things I had no idea I was even doing incorrectly. Things like an audit waiver so I don't have to pay an auditor to audit my own companies' finances. Its not about how much a lawyer costs, its about how much they make you.
r00fus 14y ago
No need for an army of lawyers. Most patent shops, either NPEs (ie, trolls) or large corporations big patent warchests will use legal case management software, eDiscovery systems, and patent ownership/submission tracking software. In short, patents, like people, offices and other "assets" are managed using enterprise software. I would assume that it's pretty easy for a company to take a set of claims/wording (ie, patents asserted in Yahoo's suit) and search using their systems against a corpus of both internal (patents, etc) and external sources (case findings and news - ie, like Lexis Nexus) the best fits to meet a given "need" - either the company is being sued, filing suit, or in this case, helping an ally/customer (note: Microsoft also owns an not-insignificant chunk of Facebook).

eblume 14y ago

It's a bit of both. I don't work in legal but I see them going at it from time to time when patent stuff comes up. There is definitely 'the filing cabinet' (more like a room) and it contains one of several copies of the important documents - but the lawyers are the interface to those documents. Sometimes I can't help but feel that most lawyers do not much more than present an obfuscation layer around standard forms.

rollypolly 14y ago
Sometimes I can't help but feel that most lawyers do not much more than present an obfuscation layer around standard forms. I bet non-technical people also have that feeling about engineers. "It took you a second to change the behavior of this. You're obviously not working very hard." ..when in reality, it took a lot of effort to make a system flexible enough to adapt its behavior quickly to changes in requirements. ...but I'm getting off topic now. :)
- eblume 14y ago
  No, it's a great point, and one well taken.
- fleitz 14y ago
  Great point, my lawyer has saved me much more than she costs because she alerts me to things I had no idea I was even doing incorrectly. Things like an audit waiver so I don't have to pay an auditor to audit my own companies' finances. Its not about how much a lawyer costs, its about how much they make you.

r00fus 14y ago

No need for an army of lawyers. Most patent shops, either NPEs (ie, trolls) or large corporations big patent warchests will use legal case management software, eDiscovery systems, and patent ownership/submission tracking software. In short, patents, like people, offices and other "assets" are managed using enterprise software. I would assume that it's pretty easy for a company to take a set of claims/wording (ie, patents asserted in Yahoo's suit) and search using their systems against a corpus of both internal (patents, etc) and external sources (case findings and news - ie, like Lexis Nexus) the best fits to meet a given "need" - either the company is being sued, filing suit, or in this case, helping an ally/customer (note: Microsoft also owns an not-insignificant chunk of Facebook).