Is there any profession such as patent brokers?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Yes there is indeed a profession known as patent brokers.

The US census website includes patent brokers in the Census 2000
Classified Index of Occupations.

Census Occupation Code – 050
SOC Code - 13-011

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/ioindex/cens_050_095.html 

Our next website provides a description of patent brokering market in
the US.

“Patent brokers are important in facilitating an active market in
patents. In the U.S. there are about 500 such brokers throughout the  
country, identifying new technologies and bringing sellers together
with buyers.”

“Increasing treatment of patents as financial assets begins to fire
active patent markets”
http://www.tradeagenda.com/news2000/wta0014.html 

Another explanation of the nature of patent broker work is described
here.

“Traditionally, Kossovsky explains, buying or selling intellectual
property has been an inefficient endeavor. In a typical deal, a seller
might be a small biotech company that has patented a technology but
doesn't have the resources to develop it; a buyer might be a Fortune
500 pharmaceutical giant seeking access to new technology from outside
its own R&D labs. Buyer and seller would try to find each other
through a patent broker, who facilitates technology transfer in
exchange for a cut of the proceeds. But the marketplace is fragmented,
and a given patent broker may complete only a few deals a year. At
Pl-x.com, Kossovsky aims to aggregate buyers and sellers around the
globe into a searchable database.”

“Trendlines -  -  CIO Magazine Feb. 1, 2000”
http://www.cio.com/archive/020100/trendlines_content.html 

Examples of patent broker firms are the following:

Inventors IPO
http://www.inventorsipo.com/patent_brokers.htm 

PIETER VAN WEENEN & Co,
http://www.patent-marketing.com/englisch/index.html 

Search terms used:       
“patent brokers” 
  
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
      
Thanks for visiting us.      
      
Regards,      
Easterangel-ga      
Google Answers Researcher

---

Request for Answer Clarification by fat55-ga on 29 Jan 2003 09:34 PST

I have a patent pending, is it advisable to contact a patent borkerage
and give details of the invention? Thank you.

---

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 29 Jan 2003 17:27 PST

Hi again and thanks for the nice rating and for the tip!

Your clarification is actually a new scope of the question. Anyway, I
tried finding further information but couldn't find anything
substantial.

The follow-up question could be answered by other researchers though.
So I suggest that you post it as a new question so other researchers
may take a crack at it.

Thanks again.

It would be nice to have you rate the brokers from the point of view
of trustworthiness.