Rowan Transactions

Companies of all sizes can benefit from engaging trusted advisors to resolve patent licensing issues. Since its inception at the end of 2018, Rowan TELS has quietly been helping our clients complete transactions with a combined license value of over $500 million dollars. Our team of seasoned professionals – led by John Amster – has decades of experience overseeing billions of dollars of transactions.

Rowan clients enjoy three primary benefits in working with the Rowan Transactions team:

Price Transparency – Our goal is to act as a trusted intermediary to quietly investigate potential transactions in order to gain price transparency. This enables our clients to weigh all of their choices on the best way to proceed, or not, with a transaction. As a result, our clients know precisely where the money is going. They know the portion of dollars in a transaction going to the license fee and to Rowan. If multiple parties are involved, there is never a concern about subsidizing other companies with disproportionately high rates.

Flexibility – Rowan can work on any type of transaction, from acquisition, to license, to litigation resolution, to multi-party syndicate. Our ability to flexibly approach any situation on behalf of a single client or a group of clients is a strategic benefit for our clients. We have found that the most important transactions are the ones that require bespoke solutions, company-specific licenses, and transparency on pricing, in order to be finalized.

Client choice – Rowan never pressures a client into taking a license, and does not participate in assertions. We serve as a trusted advisor to both sides, seeking only to conclude an amicable agreement that works for both sides.

Another element to choice is that our clients have flexibility in the ultimate vehicle they use to conclude their license. Some clients want to work with a law firm to finalize their agreement, others are a part of an organization that provides a license to a group of companies. While the ultimate price transparency, and generally the lowest service fee, comes from working with Rowan to conclude the transaction, our clients are free to operate in the manner that is the most beneficial to them.

Representative transactions

While we would never ask our clients to divulge their identity on such a sensitive matter as a patent license, these are some examples of transactions we have completed:

A major US company was facing multiple litigations from entities associated with a litigation funding organization. Both parties asked Rowan to explore whether they could achieve “peace” for a reasonable period of time instead of serially resolving litigations on their own. Rowan was able to help structure and negotiate a multi-year peace.

A significant international corporation was in a prolonged litigation with a patent licensing entity, without progressing towards a settlement. Rowan was engaged and brought the matter to a satisfactory licensing arrangement for eight figures, down 50% from the initial ask.

Several Rowan clients were facing potential litigation by a patent licensing entity, and turned to Rowan to arrange a settlement that could avoid litigation. While each company was able to use their own license agreement, and each agreement was handled independently, it was beneficial for all involved to have several parties reach agreement in a relatively short time frame, each in the range of seven figures.