ORoPO- Open Register of Patent Ownership

There are several challenges in finding current owner of a patent.

• Various estimates from very well informed sources suggest that as much as 25% of the world’s patent ownership data may be inaccurate. 
• The lack of accurate patent ownership data also increases the frequency and cost of patent litigation.

ORoPO is a very simple, highly efficient solution; a ’market self-help’ solution that sidesteps the complexities and obstacles associated with government or regulatory approaches to accelerate efforts to resolve patent ownership data accuracy.

• It is an online repository of data relating to the ownership of patents. An open data solution
• It is accessible to all at no cost 
• Participation in ORoPO is voluntary, and open to any company that owns a patent 
• Participants simply upload details of patents they control into ORoPO 
• Participants can easily update their records – once for all territories – as and when patent ownership changes
• Corporate naming complexities are solved by requiring that all patents are registered under the name of the ultimate holding company that controls them 
• The more companies that participate, the more complete the register will become 
• If ORoPO becomes widely accepted, there is significant potential for it to assist patent registries in validating entries in their own local registries.

IBM, Microsoft joined ORoPO.