Patent acquisition services: A market solution to a legal problem, or nuclear warfare?

We study the novel business models of patent acquisition services and assess their implications for intellectual property markets and patent litigation. Through qualitative case studies and descriptive analyses of patent and litigation data, we find that the most recent innovations in the area of defensive patent acquisition business models are indeed distinct from offensive models and from practicing entities’ strategies in the markets for intellectual property. There is also substantial variation among the defensive business models themselves, in particular, depending on their for-profit vs. non-profit objectives, and public vs. private ownership. In the patent and litigation data, defensive acquisition services stand out particularly in terms of the higher quality of their patents and their impact on the settlement and timing of lawsuits. We finish by discussing the broader context of the patent wars, and how defensive patent acquisition business models may endogenously evolve or be forced to change through competitive and regulatory pressure. 1 This paper has benefitted from interviews and email exchanges with seven intellectual property management professionals representing IP intermediaries, operating companies, R&D specialists, and consultancies. These individuals requested to remain anonymous, for which reason we have indicated as “practitioner interview” when specific information was obtained through these conversations.