FAQs

RPX resembles a patent troll in one way only: we buy potentially problematic patents in the open market. The similarity ends there. Unlike a troll, we do not opportunistically license our patents. Every member of the RPX client network receives a license to all of, or a portion of, the patents we own immediately upon joining, based on their membership agreement. And we never offensively assert or litigate the patents we own.

RPX provides a purely defensive service. Our goal is to acquire and clear potentially problematic patents from the market so that they cannot be asserted against our clients.

Companies have few viable ways to reduce patent risk. Fighting each assertion as an individual company can cost tens of millions of dollars each year, even for a company with only a moderate patent litigation problem.

RPX offers the only solution to remove patents from circulation before they become costly issues for our clients. No other entity combines the capital strength and intelligence of multiple participants with the expertise of proven patent professionals.

Only RPX has the scale and independence to efficiently acquire patent portfolios pre-litigation and out of active litigation. Only RPX can spread the cost of reducing patent litigation across a large network of participating companies. Only RPX has accurate litigation cost data and a proven actuarial model to provide affordable, comprehensive patent litigation insurance. And only RPX can deliver – to companies of any size and with a patent litigation problem of any severity – significant, quantifiable, and cost-effective reduction of risk.

RPX directly reduces patent risk in two primary ways: by acquiring potentially problematic patents pre-litigation (before opportunistic plaintiffs can buy them) and by acquiring patent rights out of active litigation (to gain low-cost or early dismissals for our clients). To date, these two activities have resulted in clearing more than 200,000 patents. Doing so shortened or entirely avoided thousands of potential litigations for our clients, saving more than $7 billion in collective legal fees and inflated settlements.

RPX has compiled an extraordinarily broad and deep database of information on patents, patent litigation, and patent litigation costs—from frequency of assertions to length of suits, behavior of specific plaintiffs, industry sector trends, and more. Only RPX has all this data. We review thousands of portfolios every year, directly acquire more than $150 million in patents and patent rights, and advise on patent transactions covering hundreds of millions more. This unique role in the patent market has allowed us to compile the data to build a comprehensive and highly accurate actuarial picture of patent litigation dynamics and costs.

Using this data, we can accurately predict how frequently a particular company will be the target of assertions in the future and how severe a financial burden those suits could represent. Before RPX began compiling this information, companies were making critical and costly decisions in the dark. We have transformed the status quo, and companies can now use RPX insight to make financially rational and strategically sound responses to the specific threats they face.

RPX’s interests are 100% aligned with those of our clients. We work to ensure that each RPX client avoids more in legal costs and settlements each year than they pay RPX in subscription fees. We quantify the cost savings we have delivered collaboratively with the client. Together, we review the RPX acquisitions relevant to the client and determine a specific “avoided cost”. The cumulative avoided cost is applied against the client’s annual fee to calculate the dollar savings we have delivered for the year. We have been very successful delivering cost savings to all of the members in our network, a key factor in our consistently strong annual renewal rate.

RPX’s fee structure is designed to be highly cost-effective, providing clients with a reduction in patent litigation costs that markedly exceeds the annual fee (and for many clients this is often less than the cost of fighting a single litigation). Subscription fees are calculated based on the client’s annual financial results.

The growth of the RPX network ensures the cost-effectiveness of our fee structure. With more clients, our capital base has expanded, allowing us to acquire more – and more relevant – patent assets, while also spreading the incremental cost of those acquisitions across a broader base. As a result, we are helping more of our clients avoid more litigation, but with only modest increases in our fee structure.

The patent market is complex, rapidly evolving, and frustratingly opaque for most participants. RPX gives its clients a uniquely clear and comprehensive view of this challenging ecosystem. We are one of the largest acquirers of patent assets and we have the most experienced team in the industry. This experience, coupled with the collective insights and data we glean from our client network, gives RPX unsurpassed patent expertise, and we share that intelligence freely with every member of our network.

In a very real sense, we are an extension of our client’s IP departments. Our market analytics are accessible through RPX Empower, our proprietary patent analytics and patent litigation platform. Empower offers easy-to-use analytical tools that simplify searches and customize research, including profiles of specific plaintiffs, overviews on the ownership and litigation history of individual patents or portfolios, hand-analyzed data, and much more.

Importantly, we also help our clients maximize the value of this data by providing additional context and analysis of trends in the patent market on a regular basis. This helps our clients translate our unique market data into actionable intelligence.

RPX was formed because patent litigation is extraordinarily inefficient and wasteful for operating companies. The best way to eliminate this inefficiency is to eliminate the cause: potentially problematic patents. Our pre-litigation acquisition efforts proactively remove patents from circulation. We identify and acquire patents before they can be bought by plaintiffs intending to assert them. By doing so, we prevent potential litigation – and the associated legal defense costs, internal expenses, and settlements – that would otherwise have occurred.

RPX can help clients quickly and cost-effectively extricate themselves from patent lawsuits. Our central, trusted position in the market enables us to negotiate with plaintiffs, acquire a license to the litigated patent and achieve dismissals for our clients from the suit – more than 2,300 in nearly 500 litigations, as of end of Q3 2024.

Our intervention is beneficial for both the plaintiff and the defendants. For plaintiffs, we have the capital resources to offer a more compelling price than any single company will usually be willing to offer. For our clients, we act as a trusted representative to find a workable resolution and are able to achieve a far more cost-effective dismissal. Our data show that RPX has historically resolved patent litigations for approximately one-third the cost (per dismissal) than defendants have achieved individually.

The RPX client network is the largest and most successful collaborative effort to reduce the cost and risk of patent litigation. Since 2008, the network has grown to over 250 companies, ranging from early-stage firms to Fortune 100 industry leaders.

As the network has steadily expanded, we have established strong representation in a wide array of sectors, both in core technology areas (E-commerce, mobile communications, networking, semiconductors, software, etc.) and in less traditional technology markets, such as financial services and automotive, where patent litigation is on the rise.

Roughly 90% of our clients renew their membership with RPX, illustrating the viability and durability of RPX’s patent risk solutions and our clients’ belief in our ability to help them significantly reduce their patent risk and related costs.

A company’s patent risk increases as the company grows. Higher revenue and profitability translate into higher visibility and attention from plaintiffs. For these companies that have an established patent risk problem, RPX’s defensive patent acquisition service is a proven and cost-effective way to it.

Today, the exchange of value between patent owner and patent user occurs largely through the legal system, possibly the least efficient way to conduct a financial transaction. Our goal is to move patent transactions out of the courts and into a true market ecosystem – with multiple participants, price transparency, and valuations based on competitive bidding rather than legal deliberation. RPX has established and strengthened these open, market-based conditions on a large scale. Each acquisition decision reflects the needs and benefits of the network as a whole.

RPX is independent; we manage our own portfolio, and all transactions are conducted at arm’s length. This operating autonomy and broad perspective are clear differentiators, and have allowed us to build a neutral and flexible platform for multi-party transfers of patent value. As our network continues to grow, our platform can become a clearinghouse to efficiently execute sales, cross-licenses, and other market transactions for all owners and users of intellectual property.