Carol-Anne Krech

Patent aggregating companies are institutions that aggregate patents for different purposes. From a managerial perspective as well as a theoretical perspective, it is interesting to understand what value such novel business models provide to inventing companies. In this paper we focus on the question how patent holders can use patent aggregating companies as means to capture value from their inventions. Therefore the business models of patent aggregating companies need to be understood. Existing literature lacks a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the patent aggregating companies' business models. The empirical data presented and discussed in this article was collected over a five-year (2009-2014) period in semi-structured interviews with patent aggregating companies' incorporating personnel and in an extensive analysis of secondary data. We conclude our study by identifying four groups of patent aggregating companies based on the values provided to the original patent holders: the guarders, the shielders, the funders and the earners.

Patent trade has attracted increasing attention from practitioners as patents gain in importance as a means to technology trading. However, this topic is still widely neglected in the academic literature. A market is required for trade to occur. The better a market is organized, the more likely demands and offers will be met. We found that no organized market for patents has yet evolved. Because the structuring of this market may contribute to economic growth and the achievement of technology policy goals, we develop the framework for an organized patent market. The empirical data presented and discussed was collected by semi-structured interviews among 58 experts in the field of intellectual property rights and secondary data analysis. We identified limitations in the current patent market that can be addressed by the concept of an organized patent market consisting of the Patent Asset Market and the Patent Financial Market. We found that an organized patent market creates value by enhancing market transparency, improving resource allocation, and providing an additional source of innovation funding

Decorated with the Knut Holt Best Paper Award