Company type | Privately held company |
---|---|
Industry | Patent monetization |
Founded | 2000 |
Founder | Nathan Myhrvold Edward Jung Peter Detkin Gregory Gorder |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 10 |
Number of employees | 800 |
ASN | 6216 |
Website | www.intellectualventures.com |
Intellectual Ventures is an American private equity company that centers on the development and licensing of intellectual property. Intellectual Ventures is one of the top-five owners of U.S. patents, as of 2011.[1] [verification needed] Its business model focuses on buying patents and aggregating those patents into a large patent portfolio and licensing these patents to third parties. The company has been described as the country's largest and most notorious patent trolling company,[2] the ultimate patent troll,[3] and the most hated company in tech.[4]
In 2009, the firm launched a prototyping and research laboratory, Intellectual Ventures Lab,[5] which attracted media controversy when the book SuperFreakonomics described its ideas for reducing global climate change. The firm also collaborates on humanitarian projects through its Global Good program.[6]