What is a patent worth? It depends. Some patents are worth a lot of money. Other patents aren’t worth anything. The real value comes from the underlying idea – the invention. If the invention is a million dollar idea, then the patent will be worth a lot. If, on the other hand, the invention isn’t worth much, then the patent won’t be worth much either.
Here are some examples of valuable patents:
1) U.S. Patent No. 174,465 issued to Alexander Graham Bell (1876) is often recognized as the most valuable patent in history.
And more recently . . .
2) During an episode of the ABC realty TV show “SHARK TANK” which aired on March 20, 2011, one of the investors offered $600,000 for the rights to a wine maker’s patent rights for wine sold by the glass. The inventor refused this offer.
3) On April 4, 2011, the AP reported that Google was planning to bid $900 million for a Nortel patent portfolio of 6,000 patents . . . that’s $150,000 for each patent!
Of course there are thousands of patent applications filed every year, and thousands of patents issued on inventions that are totally worthless.
