CHICAGO, IL – August 31, 2005 – Ocean Tomo, LLC, a merchant banking firm focusing on intellectual property assets, has announced the first regular live patent auction events. The auctions will occur twice per year - once on the West Coast and once on the East Coast. The first is scheduled for April 5-6, 2006 at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco.  The event will also be simulcast online. Ocean Tomo Auctions are the first to bring together a large number of patent buyers and sellers in a single venue. It serves as a unique setting to meet, network and learn which patents are available in today's market. 

Prior to both events, Ocean Tomo Auctions will make catalogs available detailing the patents listed for sale in the upcoming auction. Ocean Tomo Auctions, LLC ("OTA") will be the leading facilitator of patent auction event services.

"The current transaction market for patents is highly illiquid," states Dean Becker, Vice Chairman of Ocean Tomo. "We believe there is a significant unmet need for making the patent transaction process more efficient from the perspectives of time, effort and cost. Ocean Tomo Auctions are designed to facilitate transactions and unlock significant value."

Ocean Tomo Auctions will receive a portion of the patent auction price for third-party patents, comprised of a buyer’s premium and a seller’s premium, similar to most other auction formats. The firm will also charge nominal fees for auction catalogs showing all patents listed for sale at the auction. Currently, there are no patent auctions that bring together a large number of live patent buyers and sellers in a single location. Alternative patent auctions are done either on an ad hoc individual basis or simply web-based.

Ocean Tomo decided to schedule the open auctions after receiving numerous inquiries from patent owners to help them sell their patents. "Our deal flow and average transaction size has increased substantially," states Frederic Floberg, head of Ocean Tomo’s Corporate Finance Group. "We now give our clients the choice of a traditional private and exclusive sale advisory process, or the semi-annual public auction format."

Ocean Tomo’s understanding of the IP marketplace and its unique tools for analyzing IP position the firm to assist clients in a way traditional M&A advisors can not. Ocean Tomo also lends against hidden IP value, something banks and other financial institutions are not equipped to do. It works with companies to create financial structures that make sense for their future, not just the present.