M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on AOL, Inc.

Date:  Thu, 2012-03-29

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – March 29, 2012 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on AOL, Inc.

News has been circulating that AOL, Inc. is looking for buyers or licensors of its patent portfolio. One of AOL’s top investors has suggested the portfolio is worth, if “appropriately harvested,” more than $1B in licensing income alone. Prospective buyers of the AOL portfolio should remember that Google paid $12.5B for a patent portfolio that has 48% potential commercial impairment. In this case, 71% of AOL’s U.S. patents have potential commercial impairment. The question is not whether AOL’s portfolio is worth $1B, but what a “right-sizing” analysis reveals about critical factors that impact the portfolio’s merchantability.

M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® is a weekly report providing visibility into potentially unconsidered alternatives, including art in the public domain, to patent holdings across a variety of technology areas.

M·CAM, Inc. is a global, full-service intellectual property and rights (IP&R) and intangible asset financial services firm. We provide the technical and financial systems that allow public and private markets to use IP&R and IA for regulated transactions in banking, securities, insurance, and public innovation investment and technology procurement. From our pioneering work in creating the world’s first standards-based innovation collateralization financial products for banking and securities to our work in grassroots innovator enablement and patent quality assurance programs, M·CAM provides the mechanism to balance the interests of public and commercial sectors to support and build thriving economies.

The M·CAM Patently Obvious® report on AOL, Inc. can be found HERE.