Note 1 - Business of Internet Patents Corporation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block]

1. Business of Internet Patents Corporation

Internet Patents Corporation (“IPC”) was originally incorporated in California in February 1995 and re-incorporated in Delaware in October 1996, and is headquartered outside Sacramento, California. IPC’s headquarters mailing address is 10850 Gold Center Dr., Suite 250B, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670, and the telephone number at that location is (916) 853-1529. The principal IPC website is www.internetpatentscorporation.net.

From its inception through December 21, 2011, IPC operated an online insurance marketplace that electronically matched consumers and providers of automobile, property, health, term life, and small business insurance. IPC discontinued this business in connection with the sale of substantially all of its assets (the “Disposition”) to Bankrate, Inc. (“Bankrate”) in a transaction that closed on December 21, 2011 (“Disposition Date”). Accordingly, the financial results of IPC have been reported as discontinued operations for all periods prior to the Disposition Date in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 205, "Presentation of Financial Statements." The notes to condensed consolidated financial statements reflect historical amounts exclusive of discontinued operations, unless otherwise noted.

On the Disposition Date and in connection with the Disposition, the Company changed its name from InsWeb Corporation (“InsWeb”) to Internet Patents Corporation (“IPC”).

Since the Disposition Date, IPC’s business consists solely of plans to license or otherwise enforce its portfolio of e-commerce patents (“Patent Licensing Business”). Under U.S. law, a patent owner is entitled to exclude others from making, selling or using the patented invention for the life of the patent, generally twenty years. The patent holder may grant one or more licenses to the patented invention, typically allowing the licensee to use the patented invention in return for a royalty paid to the patent owner. A patent owner also may sue and recover damages for past, unlicensed use of the technology. Although we intend to attempt to negotiate a reasonable royalty for future use of the patented technologies, we expect that litigation will be required in most instances because the defendant contests either the validity of our patent or denies infringement. None of the Company's patents have generated revenues in the past or been subject to a final adjudication of its validity.