top of page

EMPOSIS

PATENT VALUATION PLATFORM

emposis is our patent valuation platform based on the biggest and unique patent value database.

If you are interested to have a deep look into patent values of single patent families, certain technology fields or companies worldwide and the huge analysis-potential in different applied scenarios, receive an online-demo here.

See what is possible by looking behind the scenes of companies - see arising trends in a foreign company, see value trends of patent families, and their most current market value. Check the value that was calculated for your last invention. Perform value-cost analysis or find the most valuable patent in a similar technology. Compare complete patent portfolios e.g. in certain technology fields of different companies.

See the value of Standard Essential Patents (SEP). See a risk analysis of companies or how efficient their IP management is.

The name emposis is a hybrid word creation based on the Greek words "empiria" (experience) and "gnosis" (knowledge) that perfectly match the mission of the valuation principle:

empiria - experience. This word fragment links to the database with traded patents, the monetary valuation systems refers to. The system is trained by these empirical data.   

gnosis - knowledge. This word fragment links to the indicator based methodology: patent data are transferred to patent-information by analysing the bibliometric data of patents. Based on valuation studies these bibliometric data are brought into a value context so that certain mathematical formulas are transferring these on an information level - indicators. Based on the indicators and the empirical trained algorithm these are transferred to value ranges and a set of qualitative key figures that document the qualitative and monetary value of a patent - the knowledge-level.

All patent values offered are fair market values when a patent family is considered to be a traded good. But value is not price. A finally paid price may e.g. include strategic interests in a certain technology or a single patent family, i.e. in order to lock out competitors. 

Find more details of the valuation method itself.

See examples of patents that have been valued in the database and the "real market price" that was paid for them.

The use and background of the methodology will become familiar by browsing through typical questions and answers.

Explore our business models to bring yourself in position to benefit of the unique patent value information, like others companies or business data providers already do.

Not only patent data providers are our customers, we also collaborate with the worldwiede biggest business data providers to enrich their company profiles with essential hidden asset and innovation potential information sourced by patent values.

PATENT VALUATION 

EXAMPLES

Patent valuation is underlying confidentiality. Even most M&A deals are kept secret. Only some become visible and some are even announced in the news. Here in some cases the success of patent valuation using the emposis database can be proved. 

In collaboration with big IP-transaction agencies, IP consulting companies, patent attorneys, IP departments of big sized innovative companies and scientific IP researchers, transaction data, valuation details and methodologies have been processed, back tested and calculated. Also the currencies for the certain year of trade must be considered: All values in emposis are in Euro.

Here are just some examples that have come visible in the public. emposis offers current data as well as historical valuation data, back to the year 2010 - so it is seeable what emposis calculated for a certain year, when a patent was factually  traded. 

The patent values are offered in a value range. The value range is determined by the medium failure that occurs due to the mathematical similarity algorithm.

Patent valuation offers a realistic value impression which is very conservatively calculated. However, a value is not a price that is finally paid. Often a paid price include additional services or even much higher prices are paid when a certain patent has a high strategic meaning, i.e. to lock out certain competitors. So even failure rates of 100% is an excellent result. A patent valued with a cost approach or an income approach (see FAQ) result often in failure rates that are much higher than 1,000 %

*) USD- values were recalculated to EURO based the exchange rate for the trade date.

examples
key-figures

QUALITATIVE & MONETARY VALUATION

The qualitative result of the indicator based method are different key figures, for each of them multiple indicators are used:

  • Market Attractiveness: shows from an IP point of view how many competitors are active and innovations are made in the different technical fields of the company

  • Market Coverage: shows the sizes of the market that is covered with the IP and in how many countries the IP guarantees protection.

  • Technical Quality: shows the degree of innovation that can be derived from a company’s IP

  • Assignee Score: takes the R&D behaviour of the company itself into account that result into IP

  • Legal Score: shows the legal strength of IP in terms of its degree of protecting effect

  • Total IP Quality: is composed by all other key figures above into account stands for a complete qualitative picture.

  • IP-Efficiency: indicates the value distribution over the portfolio - is there only one high value patent among others of poor value, the IP efficiency is bad.

  • Innovation Culture: gives an impression about the relative amount of innovators (inventors leading to high value patents) in the company

  • Diversification Degree: indicates the different business fields a certain company applies patents in and their attractiveness. 

The principle of determining a value based on indicators is not new. The value of a property, for example, is determined in the same way: Location, square meters, year of construction, number of rooms, furnishings, etc. are nothing more than value indicators. And without ever having seen a specific property, a value range can already be determined. For this purpose, catalogs and databases are available in the real estate industry for different regions - for different years. The calculated value is a market value. It does not have to correspond to a price that will be paid later. As a rule, a seller has a higher price expectation than a buyer, so the price is usually a negotiated result. Indicator-based patent valuation follows the same principle: it takes into account a range of electronically available data and is thus neutral to the interests of a seller or potential buyer. Patent value indicators include the age of a patent, the type and scope of the patent family, or forward and backward citations. 27 different patent- and company-specific value indicators are used in the IP-BI methodology. These different indicators, which can also influence each other, are also applied to a reference database of traded patents, and an ML algorithm develops the respective value forecasts. Here, IPBI together with the German based InTraCoM GmbH has in the past built up its own database of traded patents based on M&A transactions, various patent valuation projects, patent sales as well as patent auctions.

​

The evaluation was performed for all patent families in the database. The database covers the most important 159 countries worldwide. If the patents belong to a specific company that holds several patents, additional information is also available, such as the so-called "IP efficiency" of the respective applicant. A set of patents, e.g. for a specific technology field or a combination of different companies, can be compiled into individual sets. For these sets or for a single company analysis, the information is aggregated into a set of company-specific IP-related metrics.

The values "Market attractiveness", "Market coverage", "Technical quality", "Applicant assessment", "Legal assessment", "IP efficiency", "Overall IP quality", "IP efficiency", "Innovation culture", "Degree of diversification" are calculated on a scale from 0 (lowest value) to 100 (highest value).

On a company level there is an additional key figure shown: the IP Efficiency discribing the value-distribution over the IP portfolio.

Are patents (granted or applied) older than 2 years, then a Value Trend of the patent family is also offered.

All data is updated at least twice a year. Then all patents worldwide are evaluated qualitatively and monetarily with the IP-BI algorithms on internal high-performance computers.

BUSINESS MODELS

emposis
Patent valuation platform

The emposis patent valuation platform is a ready to use tool, that can be directly started in most available browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari).

Before you start we recommend to receive a short introduction by one of our experts, because the platform offers many different opportunities and functions. Request here a short introduction into the platform and a demo account  if you are keen to test it.

credit models

Our business model offer simple pay-per-use options where users buy a certain amount of credits (credit models).

flat fee model

Additionally we offer flat rates where an unlimited number of queries can be performed within a certain period.

patent valuation data
Individual data services
API model
data model

The patent valuation data that are offered are worldwide unique. Customers are Data providers (Business Data, Patent data, financial data) or companies with patent management solutions. Here customers are addressed who decide for internal database solutions, regular data feeds i.e. for their patent management system or who intend to enrich their existing data with additional patent valuation information i.e. to complete a company profile.

Here we offer different models depending on what information is needed. The pricing structure depends on the kind of data delivery (data tests or API-data on request) and the scope/amount of data that is needed (qualitative data, monetary data, time slides etc.). Also we customize specific solutions for certain needs, i.e. if the data must be implemented into an existing infrastructure or certain data feeds i.e. for patent management systems are needed. Please get in touch with us directly and discuss what is most suitable for you. 

Q-A
business-models

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Is there a public reference database of all patent transactions available?

A public database of all patent transactions is not available: Most transactions are embedded into (confidential) M&A deals where the transaction conditions are not public and so either not the patent values. Also direct patent transactions are normally confidential information because the contracts may include additional aspects, e.g. sale and lease back, payment in stocks or certain payment terms etc.

How is the portfolio value for the chosen company or individual set calculated?

All patents worldwide have been valued by IP-BI. All the patents are directly linked to an owner. All values of all patents that are linked to the same owner are summed up and result in the patent portfolio value of a certain owner (company or natural person). The same with a set of patents: Monetary values are summed up, the qualitative values are an average of the chosen set of families.

Why is there variation in value over the years of a single patent family or a set or families or a company?

The patent values of a company changes over the years due to different reasons:

1. New patents have been filed by the company

2. Patents ceased due to different reasons (age, fees were not paid, litigations etc),

3. Companies or parts were acquired, sold or dissolved,

4. Patents were acquired or sold

5. Each patent family value itself changes from one year to the other. This has very different reasons, i.e. the remaining term is shortened over lifetime (lowering value), the procedural state changes for application to grant or family members are added (increasing value).

What kind of IP can be valued? Are trademarks and design patterns also valued?

Within the emposis database all patent applications, granted patents and utility models are valued. Trademarks, design patterns are not valued within emposis.

How reliable are the calculated values?

As mentioned in the methodology description all calculated values are based on empirical data (reference data). This means that a calculated value range covers exactly the values that have been realized by transfers in the past of similar patents (similar in terms of the indicators that have been extracted by the patent). So the value range is very realistic and the best available approach compared to all other available value determination methodologies. An indicator-based method is strong and absolutely tamper proof so the approach is good for a value impression as the value-interval delivers. But of course it also has its limitations especially when single patents are rated. But the experience shows an extremely good and unrivalled hit rate.

What kind of value is calculated here?

Here, within the indicator method, a fair market value approach (market analogy) is used. It calculates the value of an IP as if it would be a traded good. Here the value is determined exactly for the intended use: to get it traded, if needed (i.e. in terms of M&A, securities, sale and lease back, licensing, liquidation etc.). So the value is very close to a final price determination. The indicator based method for value determination described before follows this approach by referring to prices of traded patent in the past.

What are the advantages compared to other valuation methods?

The indicator-based valuation approach in the emposis database is a market value  approach, calculating a potential transfer value if a patent would be traded from one owner to another.

The income approach measures the income that is made or is supposed to be done in the future using a certain patent. This is strongly related to the product portfolio and the market access or reputation a certain company has. So the income approach is assignee-linked. As long as patents are not yet utilized and no income data are available, the approach is very time demanding in terms of data collection and delivers very vague results since all data (shares, market development etc.) have to be estimated.

The cost approach measures the costs that were needed for the invention (including development cost, excluding research cost). But unfortunately invest is not proportional to intellectual outcome. On the other hand a random or side invention may lead to a great success there are many historical examples (i.e. Viagra, Penicillin, Microwave, Xray, vulcanisation of rubber, post-it) – so the cost approach wouldn’t lead to a satisfying result.

How can risks in terms of a wrong calculation be handled?

The method and the implementation were done according to current highest quality standards. So a full FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, according to QS9000) has been performed. Different methods to lower risk on the data level, the indicator level and even the value calculation level have been implemented. The algorithm is being trained regularly in order to adjust the value calculation or to improve it. All these measures and the total method itself lead to the most reliable approach for patent valuation so far.

valuation-methods

REQUEST A DEMO

Please fill out your data in the form to the right or send us an email and we will get in touch with you shortly

request-a-demo
bottom of page