Itās hard to keep up with Googleās adventures in patents these days. No sooner had its Patent Purchase PromotionĀ endedāJuly 22 was the date by which Google mailed out final purchase contractsāthan it announced another experiment, the Patent Starter Program, the very next day. The starter program could be over even more quicklyĀ than the purchase promotion, which gave interested parties only three weeks to decide whether to participate (seeĀ āGoogleās Patent Portal is Closing Fastā).
Rather than offering to buy patents, however, the new program gives them away.
Itās meant to targetĀ startups and developers that may be defenseless when it comes to patent protection. From the program descriptionĀ [pdf]:
All too often these days,Ā the first time a startup has to deal with a patent issue is when a patent troll attacks them. Or when a prospective investor may ask them how they are protecting their ideas.
At no cost, participants can choose two patents from a group of three to five that Google identifies as relevant to their businesses. Startups can also search Googleās portfolio of other patents the company has purchasedĀ (although not patents granted to Google itself) for assets the company might be willing to sell.
The catch is that participants must join the License on Transfer (LOT) network, a royalty-free cross-licensing arrangement launched by Google and several other companies in July 2014 to combat trolls. Under LOT, each company grants a license to other members, but that license only goes intoĀ effectĀ if the patents in question are transferred to a company outside the LOT. That way, if a troll gets hold of the IP, it finds that thereās nobody (in the network) to sue.Ā Google says that LOT network membership fees for the startups in the Patent Starter ProgramĀ will be waived for two years.
One other catch: Google will accept only the first 50 applicants that meet its revenue criteriaā2014 revenue of $500,000 to $20 million. Asked if that fact would create a mad rush by applicants that donāt want to miss a chance at Googleās largesse, the companyās senior product licensing manager, Kurt Brasch, said that such a resultĀ wasnāt the intent. Rather, the company wanted to limit the number so it could properly gauge interest in the idea. āWeāll evaluate it afterward, just like our other experiments,ā he said.
Freelance journalist Tam Harbert has covered technology and business for more than 20 years. Based in Washington, D.C., Harbert says herĀ favorite type of article explains how public policy affects the technology business, or vice versa. She has launched, edited, and written for publications targeting engineers, IT managers, investors, and corporate executives. Harbert has won more than a dozen awards for her work, most recently two awards (2014) from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). She has also received the Jesse H. Neal Award for op-ed writing.
