It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since LOT Network began – and we have so much to celebrate! 

I look forward to seeing so many of you at our 10th anniversary member meeting, LOT Network BRIDGE, on September 25 in Chicago. We have the honor of hosting Judge Klaus Grabinksi, President of the Court of Appeal and Chairperson of the Presidium of the Unified Patent Court, as our keynote speaker. We’ll also feature star-studded panels on AI, SEPs strategy, monetizing your patent portfolio, and more. Be sure to sign up soon since space is limited.

LOT has been around long enough to see history repeating itself, reinforcing the critical value that LOT Network offers. In particular, Starboard Value is trying to gain control of LOT Member Autodesk. I am sure many remember Starboard’s activist campaign at Yahoo!, where they successfully gained control of the company in 2016 and then forced the transfer of over 2,800 non-core patents to Excalibur IP, a patent monetization entity. This transfer led to a wave of litigation as PAEs acquired and aggressively monetized those patents. 

This serves as a reminder that even if a LOT member wouldn’t naturally want to sell assets to a PAE, sometimes their ownership forces their hand to do so.  Autodesk’s robust patent portfolio, particularly in non-core areas, could have broad applicability, raising concerns that these patents might end up in the hands of PAEs. Fortunately, those who are in the LOT Network before a sale occurs will receive a free license if any Autodesk patent assets are sold to a PAE.

We’ll do more celebrating in person, but for now, I’ll leave you with just a few of the milestones we’ve achieved over the past ten years, counting the most sophisticated global IP holders across all industries as our members:

  • Over 700 companies have joined LOT in 2024 already.  We have more than 4,200 members, 4.8 million patent assets, and nearly 20% of all US patents under license
  • 51% of the S&P Global 100, 43% of the Fortune 100, and 26% of the S&P 500 are LOT members
  • We have 10 of the 20 largest US patent holders in our membership

With the convergence of technology, and economic winds, we see a continued, growing need for the protections that LOT Network covers – and we’re so glad to have you in our community.

 

Ken Seddon

CEO, LOT Network