ipCreateとArticle One Partnersが合併を完了

AsiaNet 59146 （0045）

【ボニータスプリングス（米フロリダ州）2015年1月8日PRN=共同通信JBN】

＊合併によりイノベーションと特許品質でグローバルリーダーが出現

＊ipCreateは世界の先端を行くInvention on Demand（R）企業で、世界中のテクノロジー企業と提携して自社内では難しい研究・開発（R＆D）を補完するためのアウトソーシングを請け負い

＊Article One Partnersは世界最大の特許研究コミュニティーで、例をみない特許関連情報と包括戦略能力を有し、グローバル集団リサーチで特許品質を判定

＊合併により新会社は世界170カ国以上で業務を展開、その中には保有特許件数の世界上位20社のうち18社が含まれ、高品質の発明と特許を提供

ipCreate は8日、特許クォリティーサービスで世界をリードするArticle One Partners （AOP）との合併手続きを完了した、と発表した。ipCreate は以前、AOP株式の31%を現金で取得するマイノリティー投資を実施しており、今回残る69%を株式スワップで取得して合併を完了した。合併でipCreateは直ちに成長、新社は世界中の先端技術企業への戦略的発明サービスの主要プロバイダーになる見通しである。AOPは合併を受けて、自社ブランドを維持しながらipCreateの100％子会社として事業展開する。

Article One Partnersは2008年に創業、以下のような革新的な集団検索プラットフォームを用いて一流の特許クォリティーサービスを構築した。

＊世界最大の知的財産研究コミュニティーとして3万2000人を超える研究者を170カ国以上に配置

＊1400件以上のクライアント特許研究をめぐり、研究者に総額600万ドルを超える報酬

＊フォーチュン100企業のうち15社、同500社のうち35社、世界の特許申請件数トップ企業20社のうち18社と提携

合併は売り上げとコストの両面でipCreateにシナジー効果と多くの戦略的利益をもたらし、その中にはAOPの既存顧客ベースや強力な「ホワイトハット」ブランディングの利用能力、特許情報の高度化、特許品質サービス、マーシャル・フェルプス氏とAOP経営チームの加入による経営陣の強化も含まれる。

2012年に創業したipCreate は引き続き、破壊的な市場変革の難所で米国、欧州、アジアの業界リーダーにオンデマンド発明特許を提供する。それは特許自体、および品質保証にAOPの先行技術研究者のグローバルネットワークを加えることによってシステマティックに精査される関連戦略機会である。低品質の特許がビジネスにとって次第に大きな負担になり、裁判所や米国特許商標庁（USPTO）に持ち込まれる例も多くなることから、発明初期の特許品質管理プロセス統合は顧客の重要なニーズに応えるとみられている。

米商務省次官兼USPTO長官でipCreateアドバイザーのデービッド・カッポス氏は合併について「特許商標庁長官としての3年半の経験から得られたひとつの教訓は、企業が特許の質を向上する体系的アプローチから大きな利得を取得し、イノベーションプロセスの採用が早ければ早いほどいいということである。この合併によってipCreateはクライアントに対し、通常上質の知的所有権によって支えられた要求に高価値のイノベーションを提供するため必要なあらゆるものをつなぎ合わせ、整えた」と語った。

合併を促したカギは、ipCreateの会長とArticle One Partnersの元最高経営責任者（CEO）であるマーシャル・フェルプス氏だった。フェルプス氏は「われわれ両社にとって、これは明らかに強力な動きである」と語った同氏はこれまで、世界最強のテクノロジー企業であるIBM、マイクロソフトの両社で知的所有権事業をリードしてきた唯一の人物だった。同氏は続けて「端的に言えば、それはわれわれ2社に比類ない製品プラットフォームを提供してくれる」と語った。

ipCreateのジョン・クローニンCEOは「私がIBMのトップイノベーターで1990年代にその特許ファクトリーを運営していた時、一部の人々は取得した多くの特許についてまさに数のゲームだと考えていた。だが、決してそのようなことはなかった。われわれの目標は、破壊的テクノロジーに高品質の特許上のイノベーションを開発することだった。Article One Partnerの支援により、それこそわれわれが実現してみたいことである。われわれは今初めて、パートナーの特定のニーズに適応し、最高基準の質に対する要望に対応する「オンデマンド」を生み出す計画である」と語った。

▽ipCreateについて

ipCreateは世界最初のInvention On Demand（オンデマンド・イノベーション、（R））企業で、社内のR&D努力を補完する予算外の特許発明を生み出すため、米国、欧州、アジアにある世界的なテクノロジー企業と提携している。急激なテクノロジー破壊の波を受けている業界の選ばれたリーダーたちと協力して、ipCreateは有望なイノベーション分野を判別する独自特許のツールとリソースを採用し、破壊的な市場変革の難所で先駆的な特許発明を迅速に生み出す。同社は2017年までに、数千の基本特許で支えられる100以上の戦略的な（出願上の）発明プロジェクトに資金をつぎ込み、実行する意向である。詳細な情報はwww.ipcreateinc.com を参照。

▽Article One Partners について

Article One Partners（AOP）は2008年に創設されて以来、世界最大の知的所有権（IP）研究コミュニティーになった。AOPは3万人を超え、ますます増えつつある研究員を活用して、IP関連データの透明性に革命をもたらした。AOPはクライアントに対して識見あふれる情報へのアクセス権を与え、IPポートフォリオを磨き、保護し、利益を上げるためIP関連の最善のビジネス判断をしてもらえるよう支援する。同社はIP上の決定に有用な情報となる特許、非特許文献、非テクストコンテンツを見いだす熟練作業のため、その研究コミュニティーに600万ドル以上を支出してきた。AOPはIPライフサイクル全般で特許の質とIPの戦略的管理を向上させるため、フォーチュン100社中15社とトップテンの米国特許出願者中8社を支援している。詳細な情報はwww.articleonepartners.com を参照。

ソース：ipCreate

▽問い合わせ先

メディア：

Cheryl Milone

Chief Marketing Officer

917-881-9015

cmilone@ipcreateinc.com

企業：

Peter Conley

Chief Operating Officer

310-383-7874

pconley@ipcreateinc.com

ipCreate and Article One Partners Complete Merger

PR59146

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., Jan. 8 , 2015 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

    Transaction Creates Global Leader in Innovation and Patent Quality

-- ipCreate is the world's premiere Invention on Demand(R) company, partnering

with global technology companies to create outsourced, off-budget inventions

that complement their own internal R&D efforts

-- Article One Partners is the world's largest patent research community with

unequalled capabilities in patent intelligence and landscaping; and through its

global crowd research, determining patent quality

-- The combined company has a global footprint in over 170 countries, counting

among its customers 18 of the 20 largest patent filers in the world, and

intends to deliver leadership in invention and patent quality

ipCreate announced today that it has completed its merger with Article One

Partners (AOP), a global leader in patent quality services. ipCreate previously

completed a minority investment to acquire 31% of Article One Partners in cash

and this transaction marks the completion of the remaining 69% via stock-swap

merger. The merger is expected to be immediately accretive to ipCreate and

positions the combined company as the leading provider of strategic invention

services to premiere technology companies throughout the world. Following the

merger, Article One Partners will continue to maintain its own brand and

business operations, while operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ipCreate.

Founded in 2008, Article One Partners has built a leading patent quality

service through its innovative crowd search platform, with:

-- The world's largest intellectual property research community of over 32,000

researchers located in over 170 countries;

-- Over $6 million in rewards to researchers for their work on over 1,400

client patent studies; and

-- Partnerships with 15 Fortune 100 companies, 35 Fortune 500 companies and 18

of the top 20 patent filers in the world

The merger is expected to provide both revenue and cost synergies to ipCreate,

as well as a number of strategic benefits including the ability to leverage

AOP's existing customer base, strong "white-hat" branding, enhanced patent

intelligence, patent quality services and increased depth in executive

leadership through the addition of Marshall Phelps and the AOP management team.

Founded in 2012, ipCreate will continue to provide industry leaders in the US,

Europe and Asia with on-demand patented inventions at the chokepoints of

disruptive market change, with the patents themselves and related landscape

opportunity systematically vetted by AOP's global network of prior art

researchers adding to quality assurance. With poor quality patents a growing

burden on business and the subject of mounting challenges by the courts and the

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the integration of patent quality

control processes early in the invention process is expected to fill a vital

customer need.

Commenting on the merger, former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce and Director

of the USPTO David Kappos, who is also an ipCreate advisor said: "One of the

lessons my 3 1/2 years as head of the Patent and Trademark Office taught me is

that businesses benefit greatly from a systemic approach to improving the

quality of their patents - and the earlier in the innovation process, the

better. With this merger, ipCreate has now put all the pieces in place to

provide clients with high-value innovation on demand backed by unusually

high-quality intellectual property."

Key to facilitating the merger was Marshall Phelps, who is both the Chairman of

ipCreate as well as former CEO of Article One Partners. "For our two companies,

this is obviously a very strong move," said Mr. Phelps, who was previously the

only person ever to lead the worldwide intellectual property operations of two

of the world's most powerful technology companies, IBM and Microsoft. "Simply

put, it gives our combined company an absolutely unmatched product platform."

John Cronin, CEO of ipCreate said: "When I was IBM's top inventor and ran its

"patent factory" in the 1990s, some people thought it was just a numbers game -

about having the most patents. That was never what it was about. Our goal was

to develop high-quality patented inventions in disruptive technologies. That's

how IBM invented the future. With Article One Partner's help, that's what we

intend to do again. Only now we plan to invent "on demand" to suit the specific

needs of our partners and to the highest standards of quality."

About ipCreate

ipCreate is the world's premiere Invention On Demand(R) company, partnering

with global technology companies in the US, Europe and Asia to create

off-budget patented inventions that complement their own internal R&D efforts.

Working with select leaders of industries undergoing rapid technological

disruption, ipCreate employs its proprietary tools and resources to identify

promising innovation areas and then rapidly creates pioneering patented

inventions at the chokepoints of disruptive market change. The company intends

to fund and execute more than 100 strategic invention projects backed by

thousands of foundational patents by the year 2017. www.ipcreateinc.com

About Article One Partners

Since its founding in 2008, Article One Partners (AOP) has become the world's

largest intellectual property (IP) research community. By leveraging a growing

crowd of over 30,000 researchers, AOP has revolutionized the transparency of

IP-related data. Through crowdsourcing and other techniques, AOP provides

clients with access to insightful information to help them make the best

possible IP related business decisions whether they are innovating, defending

or monetizing their IP portfolios. The company has paid their research

community more than $6M for their skilled work at identifying patents,

non-patent literature and non-textual content to inform IP decisions. AOP helps

15 Fortune 100 companies and eight of the top ten US patent filers to improve

their patent quality and strategic management of their IP across the IP

lifecycle. www.articleonepartners.com

Forward Looking Statements

Information provided and statements contained in this press release that are

not purely historical, such as statements regarding expectations about the

merger and the expected business and financial results of the company are

forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities

Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such

forward-looking statements only speak as of the date of this press release, and

ipCreate assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press

release. Statements made in this press release that are forward-looking in

nature may involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers are cautioned

that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future

performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions

that are difficult to predict, including, without limitation, the expected

results of the merger do not occur, the risk that business disruption relating

to the transaction may be greater than anticipated and other risk factors

discussed herein and in other releases and public filings made by ipCreate

(including filings by ipCreate with the SEC). Although ipCreate believes that

the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as

of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from

the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Unless

otherwise required by law, ipCreate also disclaims any obligation to update its

view of any such risks or uncertainties or to announce publicly the result of

any revisions to the forward-looking statements made in this press release.

SOURCE: ipCreate

CONTACT:    

Media: Cheryl Milone

Chief Marketing Officer

917-881-9015

cmilone@ipcreateinc.com

Business: Peter Conley

Chief Operating Officer

310-383-7874

pconley@ipcreateinc.com