Anybody even halfway paying attention to the news these days will be familiar with patent-trolls and the never-ending quest for patent-owners seeking to protect their ideas from others wishing to capitalize on them. Google understands better than most, and wants to do their part to put an end to that ridiculous (and confusing, and expense, and frustrating) game. By creating a sort of patent marketplace, current patent-holders interested in selling their intellectual property rights can open a dialogue with Google (who just might be interested in buying it).
This patent purchase initiative is a little bit white knight (saving smaller innovators from the expense of possible patent-troll litigation while also making it more likely that good ideas have the requisite production power behind them)… but it’s not without benefit for Google if they can purchase inspiration and turn it into a resounding success.
It also shouldn’t be discounted, that a single patent may not hold much use to a company or individual –but it may be of significant assistance to a company like Google who could apply the innovation to another product or service already being developed.
Google will begin accepting patent holder submissions on May 8, 2015 and continuing until May 22, 2015. Anybody participating can expect a response by June 26, 2015 (with payout to follow sometime in late August 2015).
They may buy none. They may buy all. They may run this program once, again and again. It’s all an experiment.
It should go without saying that there are plenty of details included in the fine print –be sure to take a closer look before you make a decision regarding the future of your patent.
Jillian Koskie is an experienced software developer, content writer, project manager and usability design expert. With over 17 years in these roles, Jillian has enjoyed applying her skill-set to assist clients and users across a wide variety of sectors including: legal, health, and financial services. Combining these professional opportunities with a love of technology, Jillian is pleased to contribute articles, opinions, and advice to numerous news outlets, websites, and publications.