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1、IntermediariesfortheIPmarketAndreiHagiuDavidYoffieWorkingPaper12-023October12,2011Copyright?2011byAndreiHagiuandDavidYoffieWorkingpapersareindraftform.Thisworkingpaperisdistributedforpurposesofcommentanddiscussiononly.Itmaynotbereproducedwithoutpermissionofthecopyrightholder.Copieso
2、fworkingpapersareavailablefromtheauthor.1IntermediariesfortheIPmarket2AndreiHagiuandDavidYoffieIntroductionSomeassetsaretradedinliquidmarketswiththehelpofmany,thrivingintermediaries:housesandapartments,financialproducts,books,DVDs,electronicsandallsortsofcollectibles.Intellectualpro
3、perty(IP)ingeneralandpatentsinparticulararenotamongthoseassets.Infact,onecouldarguethatthemarketforpatentsisoneofthelastlargeandinefficientmarketsintheeconomy.Therearesomeobviousreasonsforwhythepatentmarketishighlyilliquid:IPistheultimateintangibleassetandextremelyhardtovalue.Moreov
4、er,thereareveryhighsearchandtransactioncostsonbothsidesofthemarket(inventorsorpatentownersandoperatingcompaniesorpatentusers/buyers)andtheriskoflitigationmakesallpotentialparticipantsevenmorecautious.Despitethesedifficulties,therecouldbeattractiveopportunitiestocreateintermediationm
5、echanismstomatchpatentcreatorswithpatentusersandfacilitatetransactionsbetweenthem,therebyallowingeachsidetospecializeinwhattheydobest(creatorstoinnovate;userstobuildproductsbasedontheIPembeddedinthecorrespondingpatents).Andindeed,duringthelast5-10yearsavarietyofnovelandintriguingint
6、ermediarieshasemerged,allusingdifferentbusinessmodelswhileattemptingtobringmoreliquiditytothepatentmarket.Amongtheseintermediaries,onemightexpecttoseeprominent,eBay-likeplatformsfacilitatingpatenttransactions.Atleastthrough2011,thishasnotyethappened.IPtransactionplatformshavefailed,
7、remainedsub-scaleortransformedthemselvesintobrokersorCraigslist-likelistingportals.Instead,“merchant”-likeintermediarieswhoacquireandmonetizepatentshaveachievedmarkedlysuperiorscaleandwieldsignificantinfluenceinthepatentmarketandrelevanttechnologysectors:NPEs(or“patenttrolls”),defen
8、sivepatentaggregato