Context: Last year, Erich Spangenberg returned to the patent monetization business that he shaped like very few other people (December 4, 2024 ip fray article). The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a priority jurisdiction for his new company, SIM IP. We also reported on a recent major patent acquisition and discovered that SIM IP was in the process of going public (February 5, 2025 ip fray article).
What’s new: SIM IP is going public on NASDAQ, using a vehicle named Spectral AI. The S-1 filing, of this morning, reveals the names of some shareholder, among them Donald Trump Jr., the businessman and elder son of the President of the United States. This is the first publicly known involvement of the Trump family, which made a fortune in real estate but is known for a great diversity of business interests, with the IP industry.
Direct impact: Typically such S-1 filings, if they meet all the requirements, are approved within a month or sometimes a couple of weeks. At that point, SIM IP’s shares will be trading on NASDAQ.
Wider ramifications: President Trump, who does not even take a salary, strives to Make America Great Again. What sets him apart from various other politicians is that there has never been a scintilla of evidence, or even just a plausible allegation, of his or his family’s investments influencing his policy decisions. By contrast, many career politicians have never explained how they amassed fortuntes in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars on official salaries in the hundreds of thousands. America prides itself on a strong patent system that protects the fruits its companies’ research and development, and two key Trump nominees have a strong IP track record: Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is listed as an inventor on hundreds of patents and built a strong IP business at CantorFitzgerald. The next USPTO Director, John Squires, was chief IP counsel at Goldman Sachs and helped create Fortress Investment’s IP fund.
Here’s the table (with numbers to be added in the weeks ahead) that also lists Donald Trump Jr. (the footnote just points to a Florida address):
Donald Trump Jr. is a trustee and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, which he manages together with his brother Eric. He holds an economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
For many years, starting in 2015, I have taken pro-Trump positions on social media. I have often enjoyed Donald Trump Jr.’s humorous and insightful short videos and posts. Patent monetization is a complicated business, but it offers enormous opportunities to those who master it. It is great to see that Donald Trump Jr. has recognized that potential. Congratulations to IP business leader Erich Spangenberg (an avid reader of ip fray, by the way).
Florian Mueller
(Founder & Publisher of ip fray)
Mr. Trump has authored two political books, Triggered (2019) and Liberal Privilege (2020). He also hosts the Triggered With Don Jr. podcast (Spotify link).
His X (formerly known as Twitter) handle is @DonaldJTrumpJr.
America’s patent ecosystem has largely welcomed the nominations of both Secretary Lutnick and soon-to-be-Director Squires. Even those in the IP business who are not politically aligned with the MAGA movement may welcome the fact that one of the most famous names in the world is now involved with patent licensing.
With an IPO in progress, SIM IP’s ability to comment is limited, if not nonexistent. SIM IP did not provide any comment on Mr. Trump’s investment. But once the company’s shares are publicly traded, there may be some more news in terms of patent acquisitions and other developments.
Mr. Spangenberg is intrigued by the opportunity to enforce patents against unwilling licensees in the UPC, and patent infringement lawsuits funded by SIM IP are already pending in the UPC. By extension, this means that Donald Trump Jr. is also a UPC user.