Abstract: A system for implementing a marketplace in ideas, which comprises a means (1) for conducting an online auction of patents and patent applications; a means (2) for providing a survivability rating of a patent or patent application subject to the online auction, which is based on a standardized method evaluating the probability by which the value of a patent or patent application might become zero in the future, whereby the means (1) and the means (2) are communicating over a network by sending requests for a survivability rating for a specific patent or patent application from means (1) to means (2).