What we see
The budget line you measure isn't the asset. Patents filed to cover your own roadmap quietly become patents the rest of the industry now practices.
Patent Monetization
Patent monetization and licensing counsel.
K2K Law helps patent owners evaluate licensing, sale, and enforcement options. Our New York partners connect portfolio diligence, negotiation, and litigation strategy to the owner’s commercial objectives.
The engagement
Licensing, sale, or enforcement?
Licensing counsel
A licensing program starts with the rights, the relevant technology, and the business relationship. K2K advises on licensing program design and negotiation, including offensive and defensive licensing, to connect the proposed agreement with the owner’s objectives.
Portfolio decisions
We help owners consider acquisition, divestiture, or further diligence when those options fit the portfolio. The answer may be to investigate further or defer a campaign. A screen is a starting point, not a promise of monetization.
Enforcement when warranted
If a dispute becomes necessary, licensing strategy and the litigation record need to work together. Explore K2K’s patent litigation practice.
Preparing for a first discussion
Share your organization, the approximate portfolio size, and the decision under consideration. The scope, fees, and deliverables are agreed for the engagement. Please leave confidential documents and time-sensitive instructions out of the web form.
The Opportunity
Move the portfolio from the cost ledger to the revenue ledger.
Every IP team can produce a number for last year's filings, annuities, and outside-counsel spend. Almost none can produce a number for what the portfolio is worth to anyone outside the company. The first is a cost. The second is the question we get hired to answer.
Why it persists
Defensive thinking buries commercial value. Because nobody is paid to look outward, the portfolio's commercial reach is rarely measured — and that reach is where the value lives.
What changes
We map the estate against external markets, size opportunity conservatively against verifiable third-party use, and structure the path to capture it.
The Lifecycle
Extracting value, start to finish.
Monetization is a sequence of decisions: which assets merit investment, whether to license or enforce, how to structure the work, and how to assess its economics. Each stage can change the proposed course.
1
Diligence & Valuation
Understand what the estate is worth outside the company.
We map the portfolio against external markets rather than your own product lines, building the diligence, claim-chart, and damages analyses that tell us — conservatively, against verifiable third-party use — where real value sits. The first pass runs through K2K Intelligence, our own scoring engine, to help prioritize the assets for attorney review. Explore the diligence engagement.
2
Portfolio Sorting
Separate defensive patents from the ones that earn.
Inward-facing patents protect your roadmap; outward-facing patents read on what other companies actually ship — and that is where the leverage is. We sort on adoption, remaining term, family depth, and reach beyond the U.S.
3
Structuring
Decide whether to run it in-house or move it to a vehicle.
The structure dictates everything downstream — who pays, who carries countersuit exposure, how fast revenue arrives, and how it looks on the financial statements. We build either and are direct about which fits.
4
The Vehicle
Stand up a dedicated patent holding company.
Where a dedicated vehicle fits the objective, we advise on the rights, control, funding, and obligations it would hold. A separate entity does not by itself eliminate the operating company’s exposure; the structure needs a matter-specific assessment.
5
Capital
Evaluate funding for the campaign.
We help assess funding proposals, case selection, fees, control, and the allocation of proceeds. Funding availability and terms depend on the portfolio, the evidence, and the funder’s review.
6
Risk Transfer
Assess available insurance and its limits.
Evaluate whether available litigation or judgment-preservation insurance fits the matter. Coverage, exclusions, pricing, and any financing implications depend on the policy and transaction.
7
Enforcement
Drive the campaign to the milestones that move the deal.
Reassess the campaign as the record develops through pleadings, claim construction, PTAB proceedings, discovery, and motions. Litigation can strengthen or weaken a position; negotiations should reflect the evidence and the client’s objectives.
8
Returns
Generate returns on a waterfall that holds.
Negotiate the allocation of fees, costs, financing, and proceeds before a campaign proceeds. Model the effect of different outcomes on each participant rather than assuming a recovery or a payment date.
The Structuring Choice
Run it in-house, or move it to a vehicle.
The right structure depends on control, capital needs, existing obligations, business relationships, and risk. Compare the alternatives with legal, tax, and accounting advisers before choosing a path.
Internal Campaign
Keep It In-House
- Who runs the campaign
- Your internal IP / legal team
- Where the spend lives
- Budget and accounting treatment depend on the arrangement
- Where countersuit risk sits
- Evaluate the operating company’s position and obligations
- First revenue
- Timing depends on negotiation and case progress
- Upside profile
- Assess proceeds after the campaign’s costs and obligations
K2K-Managed
Move It to a Vehicle
- Who runs the campaign
- Dedicated vehicle, K2K-managed
- Where the spend lives
- External funding may be available; accounting requires review
- Where countersuit risk sits
- Assess retained obligations and potential operating-company exposure
- First revenue
- Upfront or contingent consideration depends on agreed terms
- Upside profile
- Model financing costs, allocations, and retained risk
Vehicles & Structures
The structures that make outcomes durable.
Coordinate patent counsel, licensing work, and capital discussions around the same evidence and commercial objective.
Patent Holding Companies
Structures for holding patent rights and allocating licensing, financing, and governance obligations. Their suitability and effect depend on the transaction.
Litigation Funding
Evaluate third-party capital, case selection, fees, and allocation of proceeds. A funding discussion is not a commitment to finance a matter.
Insurance-Backed Deals
Assess available coverage alongside exclusions, cost, and the underlying campaign. Insurance does not remove all uncertainty or assure a recovery.
Capital
How we structure capital
- ✓Non-recourse litigation fundingFrom leading patent funders, priced to the matter.
- ✓Judgment preservation & litigation insuranceCoverage and any financing benefit depend on the policy and matter.
- ✓Flexible economicsPure-contingent, upfront + backend, and hybrid structures.
- ✓Co-investmentAlongside funders and patent investment vehicles.
- ✓Pre-suit seedingThrough "stress-test" events — IPR survival, Markman wins, MSJ.
Enforcement
How we enforce
- ✓Top patent districtsE.D. Tex., D. Del., N.D. Cal., W.D. Tex., S.D.N.Y.
- ✓Full forum coverageITC investigations, PTAB IPRs, and Federal Circuit appeals.
- ✓Cross-border strategyParallel-jurisdiction enforcement where it adds leverage.
- ✓Credible by constructionWe are a trial firm with a licensing practice — not the other way around.
The partners
Litigation experience informs the licensing work.
Work directly with Gaston Kroub and Sergey Kolmykov, whose complementary practices cover high technology and life sciences.
Read the firm’s Patent Pulse commentary for analysis of licensing and litigation developments. Reported transactions are not presented as K2K representations.
Client resource
Prepare for the next decision.
Compare licensing, sale, and enforcement options →
Public checklists and questions to help organize a first discussion with counsel.
Discuss your portfolio and its next step.
Share a brief, nonconfidential portfolio overview and the decision you are considering. We can discuss fit and the diligence needed to evaluate the next step.