When optical networking supplier Avanex (now Oclaro) bought the optical component businesses of Alcatel and Corning in a share deal valued at about $63.5 million, it acquired more than 1,000 U.S. patents and applications and thousands more related foreign patents and applications. Knowing that many of these patents would not be relevant or useful for its business, Avanex asked Patterson & Sheridan to conduct an extensive review of the patent portfolio to rationalize the portfolio with Avanex’s ongoing business.

Portfolios filled with irrelevant patents do not further the underlying business objectives of the patent holders and also waste valuable corporate resources. We organized the portfolio by technology and business segments and created a scoring system where we evaluated the value of each patent family relative to the overall business. Then, we provided recommendations for licensing, transferring, or divesting various patent families, effectively streamlining the portfolio and tailoring it to Avanex’s ongoing business.