There are about 30,000 to 40,000 patents for sale on the open market at any moment. Traditionally, most patents for sale stem from distressed tech companies.
Patent assertion entities (PAEs, sometimes referred to as “patent trolls”) take advantage of the situation by buying up patents that provide fodder for patent lawsuits.
“They can just find a halfway decent looking patent for $50,000 or $100,000, and then they can threaten a high tech company with a $100 million lawsuit,” said Ken Seddon, CEO of the nonprofit LOT Network focused on protecting companies from the threat of PAE litigation.
Get the full story form our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.