Chicago, IL, January 16, 2014 – Ocean Tomo, the Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc™ firm, today released a report identifying quality trends among patents reissued in 2013.
Ocean Tomo used the Ocean Tomo Ratings™ System, the most advanced web-based patent data, rating and analysis platform designed for objectively assessing patent quality, relevant patent and technologies, competition and competitive trends, to study the 790 utility patents re-issued during 2013. The results of this assessment revealed that 35% of patents re-issued in 2013 had OTR™ Scores in excess of 151 resulting in an A+ letter grade, 36% an A and 13% an A-. Nearly 7% of patents earned a B+, while 4% earned a B and 2% a B-. A mere 3% of the reissued patents received a grade of C+ or lower.
The Ocean Tomo Ratings system assigns a letter grade to each patent based on percentile rankings of OTR™ scores. Patents ranked between the 40th and 60th percentiles are assigned a grade of “B” corresponding to a normal or median quality. Patents ranked below and above the 40th and 60th percentiles are graded on a bell curve with a nominal low grade of “C-” (bottom 5%) and a nominal high grade of “A+” (top 5%).
The OTR score is an objective and statistically valid assessment of the quality of individual patents, and collectively patent portfolios. OTR scores are driven by actual market observation of which patents are maintained for their full term.
According to Arijana Karadjuzovic, Director of Product Management for the Ocean Tomo Rating System, “the U.S. Patent Class (USPC) with the most reissued patents in 2013 was 370: Multiplex Communications.” She continued by noting that “the 47 reissued patents in this class had an average OTR™ score of 152.5 and received a grade of A- or higher.” USPC 455: Telecommunication had 47 patents reissued that received a grade of B or higher and an average OTR score of 147.
An OTR score can be compared to other quantitative metrics such as an IQ score for rating human intelligence or a FICO score to measure individual credit worthiness. The median OTR score is 100. And just as a credit score is used by lenders as a starting point to determine financial risk, OTR scores are used by intellectual property professionals, investors and corporate strategic planners as a starting point to assess patent quality.
To learn more about the Ocean Tomo Ratings System please contact Arijana Karadjuzovic at [email protected] or 415-946-2604.