[btrettel]

Gene Quinn (in 2015) estimated that patent search with the attorney's opinion on patentability for software costs around $2500 to $3000 [1]. Obviously the cost is going to be higher now. Compare that alone against the $1000 ("at least") per winner that Cloudflare's offering.

But Cloudflare isn't asking for an opinion on a particular invention. A patent searcher could come back and say there is no prior art that reads on the invention in that case and still be paid. Instead, Cloudflare's asking for invalidating prior art, which I think sets the bar even higher and should increase the payout to account for the fact that much of the time there won't be invalidating prior art and thus won't be a payout.

If the platform is not taking on as much risk, the payouts should be higher.

[1] https://ipwatchdog.com/2015/04/04/the-cost-of-obtaining-a-pa...

[oefrha]

I doubt the program’s aimed at patent lawyers. They’re probably casting a wide net hoping to reach people who happen to be close to invalidating prior art to begin with, skipping the search. Or maybe people who’s sued by the same patent troll, in which case the program serves to pool findings. If I can write up something I already know in less than an hour and possibly win $1k, why not.

[AlbertCory]

At Google we did a comparison of many, many "patent search" firms: giving them all the same task. Unfortunately I couldn't tell you the results even if I remembered them (which I don't). Most were garbage but a couple were spot-on.

It's more than $3,000; I can tell you that.

Secondly, it's detective work; you might get the answer right away, and you might spend days searching fruitlessly. Making a claim chart is what take the time: you have to hit every single element.

[epolanski]

I really don't understand these posts on "it should be higher". Dozens and dozens of people contributed so the payout was either fair or irrelevant.

[eastdakota]

Thousands, technically.