ITTr uses a three phase process to help clients find buyers (or sellers) of the technology they are interested in.  The  three phases are called Identify, Contact and Facilitate.    In this article we will discuss the first of these phases which we call Identify.

We  find information from a number of different sources to fill out the Identify worksheet which is a list of potential targets.   The first source is the inventors themselves.  Often an inventor has tried unsuccessfully to sell his/her  idea to a number of targets.  The reasons for the inventor's  lack of success may have nothing to do with the quality of the invention or patent but with who the presentation was made to and what information was presented. Filling out a form on a company website or sending information to a "Submitted Ideas Office"  is often an invitation to a "don't call us we'll call you response".  Still the inventor may know of key companies and workers in the field.  Also we don't want to interfere with negotiations the inventor may still have underway. 

 

Another source if information is the patent databases themselves.  Patents are organized into classes and when a patent is issued its assigned to one of them.  The other companies who are applying for patents in the same class as the inventor are potential targets.  Other patents may even have "cited" the inventors patent in their own applications.  This shows a significant degree of interest and suggests a logical target.

Subject matter experts (SME's)  are another rich source of information.  ITTr has  a number of experts in various fields who we call upon for advice and the list grows longer with every job we do.  Even in abstruse fields such as Nanotechnology we can find  experts who upon reading the patent can suggest where it might be used and by whom.  Sometimes the SME's can even provide connections to target companies.