A new startup aims to affect the way the patenting and disputes process works in many industries. Currently, the patent office is overburdened and in some cases patents are granted although they represent dubious merit which often end up for the court system to resolve.

For instance, the Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion is muddled in litigation with Motorola over wireless device patents. Another example, Konami Digital Entertainment, the developer of “Rock Revolution”, is pushing for a suit against Harmonix Music Systems which created the game “Rock Band” and its partners MTV and Viacom.

Article One Partners is offering a reward to anyone who can provide evidence whether these cases are valid or not. The idea is to create a global online community of experts to review patents issued by the US patent office and pay them for their time and work.

As a reward, successful community participants would receive up to $50000 and a profit sharing program. The startup hopes to make money by selling the information it gathers to parties who are embroiled in these legal proceedings as well as financial groups that wish to make market trades based on the information.

The work could nullify some patents but also strengthen others.