Patent Auctions Going Upscale

I just received my post-card invitation to Ocean Tomo Intellectual Capital Equity Live Patent Auction April 5-6, 2006 at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco. At $500 for admission plus another $500 for the auction catalogue, it sounds a bit more like a fine art auction than an industrial technology fair. They even have sponsors, an "awards ceremony and gala dinner" on the night before the auction, and a "networking cocktail reception" after the last bid. And you won't want to miss the "one-to-one due diligence meetings" throughout the schedule (where I suspect that the patent holders will be happy to discuss target enforcement markets.)

According to the Ocean Tomo website,

These [auction catalogue] books will include Ocean Tomo Patent Ratings IPQ ("Intellectual Property Quotient") reports on each patent, patent family or pool of patents that are listed in the auction.

Ocean Tomo Patent Ratings has developed the first tested and proven
software platform for OBJECTIVELY assessing patent quality, valuation, trends,
and competitive landscapes for patents, patent portfolios, and patent related
entities. Our customizable data solutions deliver actionable data to
Intellectual Property decision makers. This patented platform is the most
sophisticated and accurate patent rating system (the Intellectual Property
Quotient or “IPQ”) for objectively scoring and rating patent quality based on a
proven statistical methodology. Ocean Tomo Patent Ratings is uniquely positioned
to help its partners to objectively evaluate and monitor their patent portfolios
and to specifically identify those patents and patent opportunities having the
highest probability for economic success.

“The current transaction market for patents is highly illiquid,” states
Dean Becker, Vice Chairman of Ocean Tomo. “We believe there is a significant
unmet need for making the patent transaction process more efficient from the
perspectives of time, effort and cost. Ocean Tomo Auctions are designed to
facilitate transactions and unlock significant value.”

A simple list of patents being auctioned, with hyperlinks to the USPTO website, might go a long way in that regard. Of course, if you have to ask for patent numbers, then maybe you shouldn't be playing the game.