More patents than ever...but what does this mean for IP value?

The US Patent and Trademark Office's high patent grant numbers continue. "The past two weeks respectively rank Nos. 1 and 2 in terms of the most patents granted in a single week in US history," reports Patently-O, a patent law blog BVWire's editors follow

What does this mean for IP value?  It certainly means more IP valuation work for appraisers in the future.  But, while value still depends on the status of the invention, of course, the tidal wave of seeming junk patents also creates a different set of metrics; the contingent hope that owners will catch future inventors in their web, thereby extracting fees.

This is a good reason to attend the BVR/Morningstar Summit on Best Practices in IP Valuation in September...