Smart Investing: Myhrvold’s Patent Firm Sees Revenue Swell

We've had a few posts on Mr. Myrhvold and/or patent investing, links below.
From MarketWatch:

Intellectual Ventures licensing revenue hits $700 million in 2010

Nathan Myhrvold says Thursday that his high-profile invention and patenting firm, Intellectual Ventures, has been enjoying a boom in licensing revenue recently, thanks to its trove of intellectual property.

During an evening appearance at The Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics Conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., Myhrvold — a former Microsoft Corp.(MSFT 25.95, -0.25, -0.94%)  executive — mentioned that Intellectual Ventures saw $700 million in licensing revenue last year.

An Intellectual Ventures spokeswoman confirmed the figure, and added that the firm’s total licensing revenue to date amounts to roughly $2 billion. Bellevue, Wash.-based Intellectual Ventures was founded by Myhrvold in 2000.

Myhrvold’s firm has drawn widespread attention for the quality of the thinkers who help it to conjure new concepts, and for its stockpiling of legally protected ideas. Intellectual Ventures boasts of having over 30,000 patents.

“Part of our idea is we don’t create products,” Myhrvold said on Thursday, likening his firm to an advertising agency or law firm that provides brain power but doesn’t necessarily make anything.

“I’d like to channel billions of dollars into funding new inventions,” Myhrvold said, before pausing and then adding he’s actually already achieving that goal. Intellectual Ventures has raised over $5 billion from backers.

While boosting its licensing revenue of late, Intellectual Ventures has also begun to attempt to enforce its intellectual property rights in court....MORE

Previously:
Really Smart Investing

I was having an email conversation with a really smart guy* which led to my doing a quick search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
This, of course, reminded me of the Ocean Tomo 300™ index....

Free download: 10 terabytes of patents and trademarks (GOOG)
British Petroleum Patents Blowout Preventer Testing Method and Makes no Promises on Dividends (BP)
"Fannie Mae owns patent on residential 'cap and trade' exchange" (FNM)

Seeing what a fine job the GSE's did with their core businesses, what the hell, let's have at it.
Why am I reminded of the monoline insurers....

The Fannie Mae Patent on a "System and method for residential emissions trading": Securitization in the Carbon Markets (FNM; GS)
Who says big ideas are rare? (Using Nuclear Waste)
Inventing the Future
"Solar Patent King Boeing Teams Up With Stirling Energy Systems" (BA)