RPX Corporation

RPX charges annual subscription fees to operating companies, providing them with rights to the firm's portfolio of patents and a buffer against patent assertion entity (PAE) litigation. Subscription fees are based on the client's revenue and patent exposure, typically ranging from $50,000 to several million per year (per public filings).

Traditional licensing firms assert patents to extract royalties, often through litigation. RPX acquires patents pre-litigation to remove them from the PAE market, using a subscription model funded by its clients. This defensive posture aligns the firm with operating companies rather than against them.

Yes, RPX purchases and holds title to patents, either singly or in portfolios, and its subscribers receive a license to the entire RPX patent pool. The firm also maintains a division, RPX Litigation Insurance, which provides legal fee coverage for patent defense.

RPX sources patents directly from operating companies, universities, inventors, and the secondary market via brokers and auctions. The firm's deal flow includes court-ordered auctions from bankrupt entities and bulk portfolio acquisitions from corporate sellers (per company filings).

No, RPX Corporation is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: RPXC) and operates as a patent risk-management firm. It is not a family office or asset manager in the traditional sense, though it manages an intangible patent asset pool on behalf of its subscribers.