A startup, IP Checkups, is looking to unmask the entities behind Intellectual Ventures ("IV"). IV owns a portfolio of 30,000+ patents. IP Checkups is looking to create a publicly-accessible database of patents owned by Intellectual Ventures and its shell companies. They also want to share their investigation with curious observers, using its online IV Thicket case files to show how they unearth Intellectual Ventures’ patent portfolio. They are crowdfunding at the moment at http://www.indiegogo.com/iv-thicket.

The project has received some press already, e.g., in the Wall Street Journal and VentureBeat:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/10/15/noir-detective-treatment-planned-for-patent-giant/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/15/crowdfunding-campaign-launches-to-expose-thousands-of-hidden-patents/

Will be interesting to see what comes of this...