PATENT MARKET TRACKER™

MID-YEAR 2016 KEY TRENDS

 Last year, Innography launched its
inaugural Patent Market Tracker™ (PMT)
report, a twice-yearly analysis of the key
trends and market conditions driving
CONTENTS
the patent marketplace, including which
technologies were transferred and key
1 
Executive Summary players selling and buying patents. These
reports provide valuable insights for
2 P
 atent Acquisitions
companies tracking the development of
3 T
 op Segment Mover: new products and potential likelihood
Medical
of enforcement actions using purchased
4 
Top Segment Mover: technologies.
Chemistry & Physics

5 Patent Market Tracker:
Unprecedented Insight
The Mid-Year PMT update
covers US patent purchases and
sales for the first six months
of 2016, revealing a 44 percent
drop in patent transfers January
1 through June 30, compared to
the prior period.
The Electronics and Computer
Hardware sectors, which
saw notable growth in 2015,
declined in the last six months,
potentially influenced by
the weak pace of growth in
China, and Beijing's efforts
to reduce the country's
reliance on manufacturing.
The upcoming US presidential
election may also play a role, as
corporate leaders hesitant to
invest in equipment await the
outcome and assess the global
economy’s prospects.
Meanwhile, Medical and
Chemistry & Physics
sector growth accelerated,
as increased regulation
continues to squeeze revenue,
competitive pressure drives
increased market consolidation,
and M&A becomes the
new R&D status quo – with
companies racing to fill product
pipelines faster than R&D
departments can develop them.
Innography provides this
summary update to PMT trends
twice per year. For additional
analysis or the full PMT data set,
which is updated each month,
please contact Innography at
pmt@innography.com.

© 2016 Innography. All rights reserved. 1

 PATENT MARKET TRACKER™ MID-YEAR 2016 KEY TRENDS | WHITE PAPER

PATENT ACQUISITIONS
Adjusting for the impact of the Hewlett-Packard
split , patent transfers decreased 31 percent,
but continue to outpace the first half of 2015
by 6 percent. The technology sector struggled
most in the first half of 2016, with Electronics
(-14%), Computer Software (-5%) and Computer
Hardware (-4%) seeing notable declines.
Meanwhile, transfers in Biology, Medical, Health
& Pharma (6%), Chemistry & Physics (6%) and
Industrial Tools/Resources (4%) all increased,
highlighting the growing strength of these fields.
To determine which companies are driving
the biggest change in IP transfers, Innography
mapped patent class codes to Sectors, and
identified the top Buyers (assignees) and Sellers
(assignors) in the reassignment records.

Figure 1: Aggregate Patent Transfer Volume 2012-1H2016 (red), HP extracted and highlighted (blue).

Figure 2: Change in patent transfers as a proportion

1
In 2015, Hewlett Packard split into HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), involving a large volume of patent transfers from Hewlett Packard to HPE.
Because the terms of this transfer, as part of the split, or as part of an asset purchase, are not definitively known, PMT traditionally includes this data.
* Based on the 6 month moving average of patent transfers as of 12/31/16 and 6/1/16.

© 2016 Innography. All rights reserved. 2

PATENT MARKET TRACKER™ MID-YEAR 2016 KEY TRENDS | WHITE PAPER

TOP SEGMENT MOVER: MEDICAL

The biggest purchasers of Medical, Health, Biology
and Pharma patents (“Medical”), were Gearbox,
LLC (9.7%), Masimo Corporation, (2.9%), Mariel
Therapeutics, Inc. (2%), Nanomega Medical
Corporation (2%) and RoundTable Healthcare
Management, Inc. (1.9%), totaling 3,435 transfers.

Gearbox, LLC acquired 324 patents from

Intellectual Ventures subsidiaries, Searete LLC and
The Invention Science Fund I LLC, including anti-
inflammatory therapies, nerve blocks, nitric oxide
delivery and sensor mechanisms, osmotic pumps,
perfusion devices, vascular catheters, and other
technologies and therapies.

Masimo Corporation received 98 patents from

its former subsidiary Cercacor Laboratories, and Figure 3: Top Buyers in Medical, Health, Biology & Pharma
acquired an additional three patents from Mindray
Medical International Limited focused on the
ability to measure blood oxygen saturation using
visible light wavelengths.

Mariel Therapeutics acquired 68 patents

from Stryker Corporation related to bone
morphogenetic proteins, intervertebral discs and
progenitor cell technologies.

Nanomega acquired 67 patents from GP Medical,

primarily covering nano-capsule formulations of
contrast dyes used in MRIs.

Finally, Roundtop acquired 65 patents (via its

subsidiary Argon Medical Devices) from Rex
Medical related to hemodialysis catheter, vena
cava filter and thrombectomy products.

Figure 4: US 2009/0157054 (Gearbox, LLC) Depiction of an

apparatus for determining whether in vivo site is appropriate
for permanent device implant.

© 2016 Innography. All rights reserved. 3

PATENT MARKET TRACKER™ MID-YEAR 2016 KEY TRENDS | WHITE PAPER

TOP SEGMENT MOVER: CHEMISTRY & PHYSICS

Covestro AG (8.8%) and Panasonic (5.4%)
8.8%
represent the largest acquisitions in Chemistry and 5.4%

Physics, followed by Haier US Appliance Solutions, and refrigerator appliances, and diverter valves.
Inc. (3.1%), MAHLE GmbH (2.7%) and Deep
3.1%

MAHLE acquired Delphi Automotive PLC’s thermal

Science, LLC (2.3%), totaling 4,048 transfers.
Covestro acquired a portfolio of molding
compositions, polyether polyol and ethylene oxide
patents from its former parent company, Bayer
AG, after the two companies split in 2015.
Panasonic acquired Bayer AG’s Ascensia Diabetes
Care, including patents covering a range of sensor
technologies related to input signals, capillary
channels, sensor dispensing instruments and
redox reaction patents.
2.7%
management business, including patents related
to fluid communication, air conditioning and
header tanks.
And finally, Deep Science acquired 416 patents
from Intellectual Ventures, including 92 patents in
Chemistry and Physics, the single largest sector
in the group. These patents primarily relate to
systems and techniques for genetic engineering,
including germ line classification and selection,
peptide synthesis, x-ray visualization, and more.
Figure 5: Top Buyers in Chemistry & Physics

Haier acquired GE Appliances from General

Electric in Q1 2016, including numerous patents
related to water heaters, water filters, dishwasher
and refrigerator appliances, and diverter valves.

MAHLE acquired Delphi Automotive PLC’s thermal

management business, including patents related
to fluid communication, air conditioning and
header tanks.

And finally, Deep Science acquired 416 patents

from Intellectual Ventures, including 92 patents in
Chemistry and Physics, the single largest sector
in the group. These patents primarily relate to
systems and techniques for genetic engineering,
including germ line classification and selection,
peptide synthesis, x-ray visualization, and more.

Figure 6: US 2015/0096635 (Haire US Appliance) Depicts

novel valve with an air-gap backflow preventer.

© 2016 Innography. All rights reserved. 4

 PATENT MARKET TRACKER: UNPRECEDENTED INSIGHT
WHAT IS PATENT MARKET TRACKER?
Patent Market Tracker™ (PMT) is a monthly update
of cleansed patent sale and purchase data for
US patents and applications. Purchased patents
indicate a near-term interest in the covered
technology, either for monetization through
licensing, protection of current and future products,
or negotiating leverage.
Purchased patents also indicate litigation risk – they
are 2.2 times as likely to be involved in litigation
as US patents overall. As a result, companies
should monitor patent purchases to understand
who is interested in commercializing products or
monetizing patents in a technology area.
PMT cleans and organizes the data set to offer
unprecedented insight into the buyers and sellers
of US patents, the most traded technologies,
and the opportunities and risks these transfers
represent. PMT combines 12 different algorithms
and filters to make visible the trends and concrete
transactions from a noisy and messy data set,
including Innography’s market-leading company
normalization engine.
Interested in a deep analysis of a specific segment
using our Patent Market Tracker? Please contact us
at pmt@innography.com or +1 877 603 2070.

The patent purchase information from the USPTO

is in separate data feeds than the patent filing
data, it is difficult to process, and it is littered with
extraneous entries, misleading data, and errors.
Less than 15% of the records are true inter-company
transfers, for example.

ABOUT INNOGRAPHY
Innography provides patent search and intellectual property analytics software that helps the world’s leading patent owners,
innovators and decision-makers drive more business value from IP investments. Correlating 100 million patent documents
with financial, litigation, market and business data, Innography helps clients track competitors, uncover lucrative revenue
sources, pre-empt litigation risk and stay abreast of innovation trends. With more than 350 global clients across all product
industry categories, Innography is proud to achieve customer satisfaction far above the industry average. Headquartered in
Austin, Texas, Innography is a CPA Global company.

innography.com

info@innography.com | +1 512 306 8688 | +1 877 603 2070 |

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