On Friday May 8 Google will launch a two week experiment in acquiring patents from mainly small businesses and inventors.

Directly, or indirectly, the Patent Purchase Promotion (PPP) will be competing with NPEs and other operating companies for patent ownership.

The announcement raises questions: Is Google taking a page the play book written by IV and RPX (NASAQ: RPXC)? Is it aggregating patents for its own defensive use, the good of all operating businesses, or for potential investors/partners?

Has the company conceded that because it could not beat the patent-buying trolls it needs to kind of “join them,” or at least, compete with them?

It’s difficult to say what Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is trying to accomplish. By its own admission, there is a lot of fine print in its agreement. The company’s LoT (License on Transfer) agreement, originally launched about 18 months ago, has generated mixed results, and PPP may be merely another arrow in Google’s IP quiver.

The company may be relying on inexperienced sellers to mis-price their assets, as did IV early in its buying cycle. No doubt some will ask for far too much. But, as IV learned ten years ago, there is no shortage of desperate sellers who will accept little or nothing in a down market for patents that could be quite valuable. With the market depressed and IV not buying the way it used to, the timing could be good for PPP to step in. If Google can secured patents at a good price before NPEs do, it can improve its and other businesses’ defense against patent assertion.

Ars Technica wrote:

“As a way to combat the pernicious effects of patent trolls, Google announced Monday that it would be buying up patents from any inventor or entrepreneur who wants to sell.”

Google’s Patent Purchase Promotion is a radical change for a company that traditionally has been suspicious of patent buyers and sellers. For FAQs go here. The purchase program ends May 22. Decisions will be made no later than July 22.

Beginning on May 8 a copy of the actual PPP agreement can be found here.

Maturing IP Strategy

Google appears to be growing as an IP holder and user, and it is not surprising that it would want to take advantage of its formidable brand and cash position to strategically acquire patents that may be harmful to it and others at below market prices.

Whether or not Google will use acquired patents for defensive purposes only is unclear. (The company reserves the right to use the patents it acquires however it sees fit.)

Richard Lloyd wrote in a thoughtful piece about Google’s possible motivation in the IAM blog last week:

“The more you think about it,” he said, “the more it raises questions around why a patent owner with a high-quality asset who understands the IP market would consider this option, even under current tough conditions.

“Instead, the likelihood is that if Google does come across something interesting it will be offered by a party that may not fully appreciate what it owns and needs some money quickly; and that probably means a smaller, cash-strapped business with little access to specialist IP knowledge.”

A page torn from IV’s playbook?

This sounds very much like IV’s M.O. back eight or ten years ago: Gobble up decent (if not good) patents for others to pay access to or for the company to enforce, if necessary. It will certainly expand Google’s rapidly growing patent portfolio and provide access to IP rights out of its core search technology.

PPP may be nothing more than getting a leg up on the competition, whether they be opcos or NPEs. We will have to wait and see.

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