Erso Capital is delighted to announce that we have launched a dedicated fund to finance patent litigation opportunities around the world with access to in excess of $500 million in capital between discretionary funds, single managed accounts and co-investment funds.
California-based Erso Co-Founder, James Blick, said: “The decision to create an additional capital pool specifically for patent litigation was borne out of the demand we have seen, especially across both tech and life sciences sectors. We’re fortunate to have institutional investors that share our appetite and vision to significantly ramp up our investment exposure in the space, in the US, Europe and internationally.”
Another of Erso’s Co-Founders, James Delaney, said: “Assessing Patent-related matters is a highly specialized area. Our new facility is underpinned by significant internal expertise, coupled with excellent relationships with many of the leading law firms in the field, both to support our due diligence and to act as litigation counsel.”
Erso currently has a broad investment portfolio of commercial disputes, both litigations and arbitrations. In the last year, Erso has invested in a wide range of cases, from general business disputes, IP litigation, breach of trust cases, antitrust claims, and commercial and international investment treaty arbitrations. Erso’s capital commitments typically range between $1m to $25m for single case investments, although it has the capability of considering qualifying cases requiring less than a $1m commitments, as well as portfolio or monetisation opportunities requiring in excess of $50m.
Erso’s primary strategy for the new capital pool is to provide non-recourse financing to patent holders to support IP assertion litigation. Funding can be provided for legal fees, expenses and potentially for other business purposes, such as working capital. Capital can also be provided to law firms to support patent litigation contingency fee arrangements. Erso is also in the market for certain patent purchase opportunities. The new launch has been welcomed by patent litigators internationally.
Sean Wooden, IP Partner in the DC office of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, said: “While the litigation finance market continues to grow, patent litigation remains a niche area within the market. The new capital raise by Erso should be welcome news for patent litigators and their clients.” London-based Mark Marfé, partner and tech patent litigator at Pinsent Masons LLP, said: “The launch of Erso's new patent fund is timely. The global economic challenges currently facing all sectors have given rise to an increasing number of IP disputes as businesses seek to secure their market position. The timing also coincides with the introduction of the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) currently expected to take place in early 2023. The UPC offers transformational opportunities for all businesses with operations in Europe and will reshape the European patent landscape as businesses adapt their European patent commercialisation and litigation strategies accordingly”.
Erso has the advantage of its close affiliation to litigation insurance specialists, TheJudge Group, part of the Thomas Miller Group – a specialist insurance and financial services businesses writing more than $1bn in premiums per year, with over USD $3.5bn AUM and operating from 18 offices around the world. Through TheJudge, both Erso and its funded clients can potentially benefit from the
additional protections afforded by specialized insurance products, such as fee-shifting (adverse cost) insurance, through to judgment preservation insurance, which preserves the value of a patent damages award against appellate risk. The Thomas Miller Group also has other active businesses in the sector, such as PAMIA, which provides professional indemnity insurance to over 95% of UK and Irish patent and trademark attorneys.
For further details, please contact:
James Blick: jhb@ersocap.com
info@ersocap.com
www.ersocap.com