Market Central Launches Intellectual Property Asset Management Program

Business Wire, Feb 2, 2005

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Assembles a Team of Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, P.L.L.C; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. and Inflexion Point Strategy LLC to Assist with Implementation

Market Central, Inc. (OTCBB:MKTE), a knowledge management company specializing in solutions that enable businesses to efficiently store, categorize and retrieve information with state-of-the-art technologies, today announced the formation of a team of leading intellectual property advisors to assist the company with intellectual property planning, identifying parties interested in the Company's intellectual property and structuring possible transactions.

The Company has retained Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, P.L.L.C. ("SKGF"), Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati ("WSGR"), and Inflexion Point Strategy LLC to support this effort. The team will be led by Doyal Bryant, CEO and Paul Odom, Chief Scientist overseeing the development of Market Central's patents; Robert G. Sterne, Founder and Director, SKGF; Donald J. Featherstone, Director, SKGF; Trevor Chaplick, Partner, WSGR; Michael Raschid, Partner; WSGR; and Ron Laurie, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Inflexion Point Strategy.

Market Central has a growing intellectual property portfolio that includes patents, patent applications and innovations that may be of interest to parties involved in search technologies, XML applications and other data management applications. The recent auction of the CommerceOne patent portfolio related to XML applications sold for over $15 million highlights the potential value of IP assets in this area.

"There are many approaches to monetizing IP assets, and we believe Market Central is approaching and preparing itself for the next wave in IP asset management. Many people, lawyers in particular, are still looking at IP assets as a bundle of legal rights that you need to assert in court in order to get some money out of them," Bryant said. However, he said "some leading companies, like ours, are starting to use those intangible assets to create new businesses and market their technologies."

"Our announcement today is just the next step in the Market Central's growth as a leading knowledge management technology company. With the existing high-level interest in XML and next generation search and document content management technologies, we believe the time is right for us to aggressively move our technology and IP strategies forward. We decided that our best course of action was to surround ourselves with leading professionals, who can assist us extract the greatest value from our growing intellectual property portfolio. With this team, we have done that," stated Bryant.

"We appreciate the confidence that Market Central has placed in us to help bring together a truly remarkable team of intellectual property experts," commented Sterne. "With its intellectual property strategy and the creation of this team, Market Central has positioned itself well to successfully maximize the value of its innovations. We look forward to working with Market Central and the other team members," he added.

"Market Central has a bold vision for commercializing its technology and monetizing its intellectual property assets," noted Laurie. "The Company has an intriguing IP portfolio. I am excited to work with Market Central to identify potential partners that share its vision."

"We are very excited about working with Market Central in order to help develop a strategy to leverage its intellectual property assets," said Trevor Chaplick, Managing Partner of the Reston, Virginia office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a leading legal advisor to growth and technology enterprises. He added, "We hope to be an integral part of the business and legal team that helps Market Central achieve its strategic objectives regarding such intellectual property."

About Market Central

Market Central is an emerging leader in the Knowledge Management industry, specializing in solutions that enable businesses to efficiently store, categorize and retrieve information with state-of-the-art technologies. For these technologies, Market Central holds multiple valuable patents in its Intellectual Property portfolio. Market Central continues to invest in the enhancement of these Intellectual Property assets, development of new additions to the portfolio, and evaluation of related acquisitions. As part of the strategic decision to leave the call center business and focus on next generation knowledge management tools in such areas as search, intelligent document recognition and online collaboration software, Market Central has acquired technologies that combined have had over $20 million invested over 45 man-years of development. For more information, please visit us on the Web at www.marketcentral.com

About Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. - Strategists and advisors specializing in the protection, transfer and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Founded in 1978 and based in Washington, D.C., the firm has over 100 patent attorneys, agents, and technical specialists representing a broad range of clients, including emerging and established companies, venture capital firms, universities and select individuals. For more information, please visit us on the Web at www.skgf.com.