Has anyone experience of selling patents? Any advice?
Businesses sold with patented technology and a sales track record for products covered by those patents often sell for much higher prices than the patents alone.
At first, this might seem counter-intuitive until you understand an important truth about patents: they are nothing more than a negative right. The negative right granted by a patent is to prevent others from selling a thing covered by the patent.
To make money from a patent there is a lot more to it than merely the patent. You need to ensure that you have a clear road to make the thing covered by a patent without infringing other people’s IP as well. Regulatory compliance is also a common headache for new products.
The patent says nothing about whether there will be a market for the product covered by it, whether there are practical or legal barriers to its use and exploitation, how easy it will be for competitors to design around the patent and whether an actual product will have market traction.
If you want to make money from your patent by selling it, you will find it much more appealing for purchasers if you offer to sell a going concern that has a track record of sales of the product(s) covered by the patent and/or licenses under the patent.
