Intellectual Property Business Models - A Study of Xaar plc, 2000 to 2009

A 1999 report by investment bank CSFB considered five early-stage companies operating an intellectual property (IP) licensing business model and proposed certain success factors for such companies. The performance of one of the five companies, Xaar plc, has been studied for the ten years since the CSFB report was written, revealing that only some of the factors actually made a positive contribution to Xaar’s success. The role of IP in Xaar’s income has also been considered, together with the various non-IP factors acknowledged by Xaar as contributing to its success. The results are relevant to today’s early-stage engineering companies looking to use IP to best effect.