The PVIX (Portfolio Value Index) scores is a metric developed by Unified Patents, and is designed to measure patent portfolio value based on published academic studies. The score is based on three components: Family, Market, and Reputation. The algorithm is described in this post - Portfolio Value Index Methodology.

The PVIX scores report is ideal if you wish to review a portfolio or compare portfolios, and review the portfolio strength via an industry recognised score which is illustrated in your Cipher PVIX report. The report breaks down the scores by Organisation, by Technology, and over time.

An example use case may be that you are pruning or reviewing a portfolio, and wish to find what are likely to be the strongest families in the portfolio.

To access the PVIX scores export report, navigate to the top left hand corner of any Cipher report and click the download icon (highlighted below). Then head to the 'Quality' sub-heading and click 'PVIX Scores' (also highlighted) to begin your download. This process will take a minute or so as your excel document loads, at which point you'll be ready to begin your analysis.

Please note that the PVIX scores report is an export report, however there are also PVIX charts available to view from within the report itself. More information on PVIX charts can be found here.

Family: Every patent family with at least one granted member is assigned a PVIX score, and the overall PVIX value for a given portfolio is simply the sum of the individual PVIX scores for each family within the portfolio. Evaluating on per-family basis permits PVIX to assess the geographic market and technological impact for each fundamental invention disclosed within a portfolio without inflating due to multiple patents or applications covering the same invention.

The geographic market of a patent family is captured by its Market score while its Reputation score captures the technological impact of its disclosed invention. For a given patent family, its PVIX score is essentially the product of its Market and Reputation scores.

Once each patent family has been assigned a PVIX score, the raw scores are renormalised so as to fall within 0 and 100. The overall distribution of PVIX scores is calculated for patents families world-wide, and PVIX scores are updated every month as new citations are made and new documents are published.

For each publication, the number of citations is normalised according to a hierarchy of tiers - (1) time of publication, (2) territory, and (3) technology field (represented by CPC classification codes).

As an example, if 'Company A' has an average PVIX score of 60, and 'Company B' has an average PVIX score of 50, as the number of citations have been normalised according to technology field, then 'Company A's' patents are scoring higher irrespective of the technology that they both file in.

More information on the PVIX methodology can be found here: Portfolio Value Index (PVIX) Methodology

Market: Academic studies have shown a significant correlation in patent value to national GDP. Therefore, to assess the economic dimension for a given patent family, the Market score uses the most recent national GDP figures for each territory in which that family has one or more currently-active issued patents.

Reputation: Studies have also shown that forward citations are a reliable indicator of patent strength. Hence, using forward citations, the Reputation score captures the amount of recognition a family’s disclosed invention has received from other patent publications over time.

The Summary Tab provides the PVIX score broken down by organisation and technology to give an overall view of the portfolio scores within your report.

The Histogram Tab provides the percentage of patent families in each score band for each organisation, and for each technology.

The Size Comparison Tab provides access to charts comparing size of portfolio against quality in an easy to digest visual representation.

The Time Comparison Tab provides a series of heatmap charts to review scores by priority year. These charts allow for comparison by organisation AND technology each year.

The Data Tab provides access to the raw data of the report should you wish to filter results by Organisation, Technology, Cipher Family ID, Priority Year and/or PVIX score.

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