INTANGITOPIA
SPECIAL REPORT
R.I.P. OCEAN TOMO:
COMPLETE AUCTION ANALYSIS
BY: MARCUS MALEK
2009-06-23

STATUS QUO
• Ocean Tomo sold it’s auction
business mid June 2009 for 10 MUSD
• Many believe this to be a sale of
”distressed assets” after disastrous
auction in spring 2009.
• Here follows a complete analysis of
their 8 completed auctions until fall
2008.
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OCEAN TOMO OVERVIEW
• First auction held spring 2006.
• In total 9 auctions until spring 2009.
• Vast majority of auctioned lots were
patents, from individuals and BigCo.
• OT’s auction business is a pioneer.
• Sold in June 09 for 10 MUSD to ICAP.
• OT’s divestiture is a major stir in
emerging IP market place.
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PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT
• Give an objective view of OT
performance.
• Analyze all sold lots in order to find
patterns and trends.
• Statistical overview like this sheds
light on whether public auction
model is suitable for the IP
marketplace.
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METHODOLOGY
• Sales figures for all sold lots until fall
2008 auction have been gathered.
• In addition, metadata and
aggregated statistics have been
calculated.
• All data is public and from official
Ocean Tomo source.
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TAXONOMY AND DISCLAIMER
• All sales prices are in USD
• Only US patents are part of analysis
• Technology clustering is subjective
and not always according to OT
• Expected value is given by seller to
OT (if there is spann, lowest is used)
• Only patent lots are analyzed
• Post-auction sales are not analyzed
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HI-LEVEL STATISTICAL OVERVIEW
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HI-LEVEL STATISTICAL OVERVIEW
• 84,7 MUSD generated at auctions.
• 41% of offered lots got sold
• Average lot has 2,11 US Patents and
costs 322,281 $
• 90 lots sold by individuals
• 75 lots for less than 100,000 USD
• Avg. Gap between expected- and
sale price; 336 145 USD or 878%
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SALES OVER TIME / SALE NUMBER
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DIFFERENCE % (EXP - PRICE) OVER TIME
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DIFFERENCE <1000% OVER TIME
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STATISTICS OVER TIME
• Dramatic drop over time for ”gap”
between expected and sale price.
• No clear timing for high or low price
sales and only slight upward trend.
• First auction posted enormous ”gaps”
• When taking away extrem
”gaps” (>1000%) picture is more
homogenous over time.
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PER AUCTION STATISTICS
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PER AUCTION STATISTICS
• No clear trend can be seen
• Spring 2008 (#6) stands out with
strongest lot sale % (61,6) and total
sales 19,6 MUSD.
• Summer 2007 (#4) has highest avg.
lot price, 650 kUSD, lowest gaps
(49%), but lowest lot sales (22%)
• 1st auction: avg. 0,55 MUSD gaps
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TOP TEN SALES
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TOP TEN SALES
• Top lot, 6,6 MUSD, was 34 patents,
yielding only 0,2 MUSD per patent
• Top Single patent; 4.9 MUSD
• No clear trend among technologies
other than all being electronics / ICT
• Top ten has 5 single patent lots
• No blue chip company in top ten, but
two individual sellers.
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KEY TAKEOUTS
• No clear trends and great variance in
all metrics
• Gaps between expected and sale
price are much higher than expected.
• Only 16 lots sold above 1 MUSD
• No blue chip companies in top ten
• Only ICT / electronics in top ten
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IMPLICATIONS FOR IP MARKETPLACE
• Auctions come with much uncertainty
• Good platform for indivudual
inventors and small clusters, under
0,5 MUSD.
• Auctions do not seem to be the
model for blue chip or larger hi-value
transactions
• Seller price expections are too far
from sale price for sustainability,
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THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!
This report was compiled by:
Marcus Malek
For questions or comments:
marcus[dot]malek[at]gmail[dot]com
Please visit INTANGITOPIA.COM™ for
more insights and thoughts on IP
and innovation related issues.
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