Bayer, Rolls-Royce, Famous Research Centres and Individual Inventors Sell Their Patents and Licences at Live Auction in Munich

Bayer, Rolls-Royce, Famous Research Centres and Individual Inventors Sell Their Patents and Licences at Live Auction in Munich

March 05, 2007

-- Wide choice offered in areas Engineering, Life Science,
Automotive and Environmental Technology
-- "We are proud to be able to auction more than 70
high value lots with over 300 brand rights, patents and
licences from well known international companies,"
says Dr. Manfred Petri, spokesman for IP Auctions GmbH
-- Auction 14th and 15th May in Munich


    MUNICH, March 5 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- On May 14th and
15th in Hotel Kempinski Airport, Munich, the first live
auction will be held of patents, licences and brand rights
of European origin. Leading companies such as Bayer
Innovation GmbH, Merck Patent GmbH or Rolls-Royce
Deutschland and research centres such as the Fraunhofer
Institute are offering an international public an extensive
choice of intellectual property rights. The emphasis is on
the areas of engineering, Life Science, Automotive and
Environmental technology. 

    Dr. Manfred Petri, spokesman for IP Auctions GmbH,
comments on this assortment: "We are delighted that
not only well known companies but also individual inventors
and research centres have released patents, licences and
brand rights for auction. The area of protection of these
intellectual property rights and licences does not only
cover Europe, but for a great deal also cover the most
important industrial nations such as the USA and Japan. 

    Among the patents and licences on offer are: 
    
    - A machine tool system with ultra precise magnetic,
contactless bearings

    - A "Pay-As-You-Drive" system that evaluates
the risk associated with the 
      use of motorised vehicles and 

    - A system of electrochromic dyes that can turn the
glass facades of 
      skyscrapers into billboards

    From today all Intellectual Property Rights available
for auction can be viewed online on
http://www.ip-auctions.eu . Registered bidders can visit a
virtual Data Room from March 12th 2007 and subject the
properties in which they are interested to an Online Due
Diligence. 

    Interest in the live auction is extraordinarily high,
both nationally and internationally, there is great
interest from Europe, the USA and South East Asia in
patents in the auction's technology section. The demand for
new patents generally is considerable and an auction is
recognised by many companies as an efficient trading
platform which presents the opportunity to reduce costs for
research and development.

    With this live auction, IP Auctions, the legal side of
which is represented by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, is
setting the course for future trade with intangible assets,
and thus serves the speeding up of technology transfer which
is indispensable for the innovation capability of
businesses. "The effectiveness of the patent system,
however, depends heavily on the actual use of patent
portfolios, either by the inventors or applicants
themselves or by third parties. It is a challenge to bring
together the inventors and users with the object of
improving the rate of licensing and market exchange of
intellectual property rights," says Professor Alain
Pompidou, President of the European Patent Office.

    About IP Auctions

    IP Auctions GmbH (IPA), founded in August 2006,
presents the Intellectual Property Auction -- an
international live auction for patents, licences and
trademarks -- May 14 and 15, 2007 in Munich. IPA is an
independent member of an international network that
specialises in patent evaluation, marketing and licensing
from the areas of nanotechnology, mechanical engineering,
consumer electronics, automotive technology, life science,
medical technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology and
"green" technologies.

    IPA's objective is to market first-class IP rights via
auction. IPA's sister company, IP Bewertungs AG (IPB),
based in Hamburg, offers support in the run-up to this
auction by ensuring that formal requirements of all
submitted patents are met.

    Further information on: http://www.ip-auction.eu

    Background: Trade in patents

    Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony Corporation, is certain
that "the battles of companies will no longer be
fought on the lowlands of mass goods production, but on the
heights of innovative capability." Current empirical
studies show that he is not alone in this opinion. Between
1990 and 2000, the global trade volume of licence income
rose from around 10 billion US$ to 100 billion US$. The
European Patent Office expects that this will reach 500
billion US$ for patent licences by 2010. Despite the rising
importance of intangible assets, the trade in intellectual
property rights, for instance patents and brands, is still
under-developed and not very transparent. This leads to
substantial misallocation, both macro and
micro-economically. According to a survey by the Austrian
Patent Office, in Europe, between 15 and 30 per cent of
research expenditure is spent on duplicate inventions. This
is equivalent to an annual sum of around 50 billion Euros. A
patents auction is a means of preventing duplication of
inventions, of promoting trade in intellectual properties
and thus saving companies considerable costs.

    For more information, please contact:
    
     Dr. Manfred Petri, 
     General Agent,
     IP Auctions GmbH,
     Toelzer Strasse 5
     D-82031 Gruenwald
     Germany
     Phone:  [phone]
     Fax:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]
     Web:    http://www.IP-AUCTION.eu

     Managing Director:  Jochen Kamlah
     Registered in:  Munich - HRB: 163548

     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]
     Web:    http://www.ip-auction.eu


SOURCE  IP Auctions GmbH