Valuing patents is not a straightforward exercise, as this
article from the Economist explains. Compared to physical assets,
the value of patents is multi-dimensional and the appropriate
measure will depend upon how it is being used. The subject of the
article, PatentVector, has developed an interesting approach to
exploring one of these dimensions.
When a patent application is filed for an invention, the patent
office will perform a search for "prior art" (existing
documents that describe the invention). Most of the documents found
in these searches are other patent documents. When your patent is
cited as prior art against other patents, other people may be
trying to protect your invention. PatentVector is based on the
theory that the more often a patent is cited, the more interest
there is in protecting the invention and so the more valuable the
patent should be.
