Why We Are Giving Away Our Patents

While others in our industry fight out patent disputes in bankruptcy court, at Conductor, we’re opening up our patents to anyone who cares to use them.

To Our Customers and Industry Friends,

In early May, one of our competitors declared bankruptcy,  a multi-year battle with another competitor that included a failed acquisition attempt, (allegedly) stolen intellectual property, patent disputes, and lawsuits.

As an entrepreneur who loves to win, I can appreciate the opportunity created by having one less competitor; however, this situation brings me no joy. Because while there may be a “winner” in their battle, it’s a hollow victory. Hollow, because it has nothing to do with innovation, helping customers succeed, or moving our industry forward.

By waging a legal battle of questionable merit, our competitors spent funds and energy trying to hold each other back instead of investing in innovation to help our industry progress and create value for customers.

At Conductor, we’re focused on driving meaningful innovation that enables customers to achieve their goals. We help marketers by giving them the tools and processes they need to put their customers first. We take this same approach with our customers.

A “customer-first ” organization doesn’t invest their time and money in patent disputes and lawsuits; those things do nothing to help customers succeed.

I have nothing against patents; we have several of them at Conductor. But it’s the ingenuity and commitment of our people—not our patents—that drives our success.

So while others fight out their patent dispute in bankruptcy court, we’re taking the opposite approach, by opening up our patents to anyone who cares to use them. It’s a gesture to encourage everyone in our industry to do the same: focus on creating value instead of extracting it. This isn’t just a symbolic gesture; it’s an attempt to help refocus our industry’s attention on innovation and customers, and leave the legal wrangling behind us.

Just contact us and we'll give anyone a free license to use any of our patents. Maybe you can use these licenses to create a better solution for customers.

We welcome the competition, because when businesses compete on what matters most to customers, the industry moves forward, and ultimately, everyone wins.

Most humbly yours,

Seth Besmertnik