The investment firm and Big Blue hope to link buyers and sellers of intellectual property. The development places ICG, the largest developer of online marketplaces for business, in a competitive field. At least six sites already list information on patents for sale. These sites, along with the ICG-IBM venture, are designed to help ease what currently is a tangled process.
Patents are often highly complex, making it a time-consuming process to find the right buyer.
In addition, it's often difficult for a lone inventor with a patent for sale to approach a wealthy company about a deal. You have to work through contacts. By listing patents on the Net, online patent marketplaces provide an easy reference point for buyers and sellers. ICG's planned site will not only list patents for sale, but also will help link potential patent buyers to attorneys or others who can help with the research required before a purchase is made. The new marketplace, whose name officials declined to disclose, will launch in the third quarter of this year.