Profiting From Invention: Business Models Of Patent Aggregating Companies

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.