In a normal bank, only two transactions take place- either money is deposited or money is withdrawn. In Bank of Patents also, only two transactions take place- either patents are ‘deposited’ (by inventors) or ‘withdrawn’ (by industry). Hence, the name “Bank of Patents” to promote simple and easy understanding of the buying and selling of patents between inventors and industry.

‘Bank of Patents’ has been founded by a team of experienced inventors and intellectual property experts- Dr. Parikshit Bansal (Ph.D. Biochemistry, LLB) and Ms. Kompal Bansal who between them have an experience of more than two decades in promoting and commercializing intellectual property. The team is providing full range of IP services to academia and industry under the banner of Bansal IP Associates (BIPASS) www.bansalip.com. The team is assisted by an experienced group of IT, Marketing, Finance and other professionals.

BOP operates by increasing ‘deposits’ of patents (from inventors) and ‘lending’ of patents (to industry). Fee is charged from inventors who deposit the patents and from Industry to access the patents. This takes care of operational expenses of the Bank.

The Bank charges a onetime fee of INR 5000/- from inventors, per patent. Inventors can load their patents digitally on the website of the Bank of Patents by filling a pre-designed form. Inventors MUST indicate desirable pricing for the patent and Bank of Patent provides guidance to inventors also regarding their pricing, by email once inventors have registered with the Bank. Onetime fee for uploading one patent is INR 5000/- only. Registration and payment is done online.

Industry can access unlimited number of patentsFOR ONE FULL YEAR after paying annual registration fee of Rs. 25,000/-. New patents are constantly added which industry can view for the full year.

Yes, views of a particular patent are in open domain and inventor can easily check that.

Yes, BOP will inform vide email.

No. The negotiations are carried out through BOP only.

When negotiations are over and formal legal agreements have to be signed.

Bank of Patents.

Yes. Patent licensing is a specialized techno-legal work involving legalization of the know-how, preparation of agreement documents, registration of the documents with the patent office and also other associated activities. Fee for document processing is INR 25K each to be charged from Inventor and Industry respectively.

Bank of Patents. No fee is charged, but share in royalty is taken.

Yes. 10% share in the royalty is taken by the bank from the inventor only and not from industry. In return, bank provides service of vetting documents relating to royalty amount and checking it is correct; collection of royalty from industry and its disbursement to inventor on regular basis, as per the agreement.

Bank is the designated arbitrator, as per agreement signed with industry and inventor. Both are given choice to nominate their representatives and final decision is taken by arbitrator appointed by bank. Charges are shared equally between disputing parties.

Bank guides industry towards trained resource persons who can act as consultants. Fee is charged directly by the consultants and bank does not charge anything for this facilitation.

This issue is addressed in the legal agreement signed at the time of selling of the patent. Whatever is mutually agreed upon between seller and buyer is binding on both.

This issue is duly and carefully addressed in the legal agreement signed at the time of selling of the patent. Whatever is mutually agreed upon between seller and buyer is binding on both.

Pricing is a very sensitive and critical factor affecting licensing of patents. Buyer would like to get the patent virtually free but inventor would like to get the maximum price possible. Both will fail unless a reasonable amount and price is agreed upon.

Some tips and suggestions on patent licensing and pricing

• Sell your patent well in time- Don’t wait forever. Technology changes very fast. Holding on a patent for too long can make it obsolete and render value to ZERO.
• Go for non-exclusive license to safeguard your interests- A person may take your patent but not give good royalty returns due to inadequate marketing. If you have given on exclusive basis, you are stuck. But in non-exclusive license, at least your patent moves forward, people see the product and if it is good, then more people can buy the license. Even if the patent buyer fails to commercially exploit your patent, due to lack of funds, time, wrong market strategy etc. you can always license out to another buyer. In case returns are good, you can convert ‘non-exclusive’ patent to ‘exclusive one’ also with your licensee
• If giving on exclusive basis, check the commercial standing of buyer very carefully- Are you sure the person/company to whom you are giving your patent on exclusive basis is financially sound? Will the company allot adequate budget to make your product successful or just take the product on exclusive basis but unable to make it a success?
• Tips relating to pricing- Be realistic. A patent is NOT a product. A patent is like a new born baby- it will not start earning immediately! The journey from patent to product is long, full of pitfalls and affected by market dynamics and even regulatory hurdles in case of medical devices, pharma products etc. Many granted patents remain unexploited due to regulatory hurdles, since permission to manufacture and market the products cannot be obtained due to several reasons- unable to generate data, lack of funds to pay for the regulatory expenses etc. The best approach is to go for low initial upfront payment and reasonable royalty of 2% - 5% on net sales (not net profits! Sales are easy to quantify and verify, but profit assessment can be a nightmare, if a company is marketing several products). As the product succeeds and generates money, so does the inventor. This way it becomes a win win situation for both. In some cases, it is advisable to even waive off the upfront payment and go in for joint commercial refinement of the invention with industrial partner, so that product gets successfully developed.
• 5-5-5 model of pricing (developed by Bank of Patents)-This is a very easy and effective model to facilitate selling of patents. It is non-exclusive, FIVE lac upfront payment, 5% royalty on net sales for FIVE years. Several case studies and also success stories in patent selling/licensing at international level reveal that fixed, well-defined models of pricing greatly simplify patent licensing. Based on our own experience, feedback from industry and inventors, we developed the 555 model, which gives lot of flexibility to inventors and industry to take quick decisions relating to patent buying or selling. The 555 model is a safe model because it is NON-EXCLUSIVE and also includes FIXED MINIMUM ROYALTY. Once product is developed and succeeds in market, you can always sell patent to next buyer at higher license fee.
• 10-10-10 model of pricing developed by Bank of Patents- Exclusive, Rs. 10 lacs INR upfront, 10% royalty on net sales for 10 years, with minimum assurance of Rs. 10 lacs per year. In this model, upfront payment and royalty is higher and so is the minimum assured royalty per annum.
• Pricing of filed, published and granted patents- There is a big difference of legal rights between filed, published and granted patents. Practically no legal rights exist for filed patents.
  For published patents- legal rights and ownership starts to limited extent of serving legal notice to other party if they infringe.
  For granted patents- full legal rights are there.
  Patent granting process is too slow- taking 5-7 years and more also. Technology may change and patent lose its value. So what should inventor do?
  We advise licensing of ‘invention’ at the earliest, without wasting time, because apart from patent rights, there is lot of know-how development also involved, which has trade secret value. Also, good product can be protected by trademark also. Regarding duration of license, it can be for fixed term e.g. 5 years or for duration of patent (if patent is granted). But what about the term if a patent is refused or not granted? To address this problem, we fixed the final amount of royalty payable i.e. duration linked to amount and not time e.g. a total royalty of Rs. 100 lacs, paid at the rate of 5% per annum on net sales without restriction of time.