During the 'new economy' hype, a strong rise in intellectual property trade was expected for the future. Researchers and practitioners hoped that the internet could help firms diminish the deficiencies that had previously limited the use of the markets for intellectual property. In particular, internet-based exchanges were considered to offer a great potential for facilitating the transfer of intellectual property. Despite this initial attention, prior research has neglected to observe and assess the development of web-based exchanges and to analyse the implications for firms' intellectual property strategies. Drawing from case studies in middle and large firms, the extent of intellectual property trade is studied via internet-based exchanges. Moreover, major managerial problems and challenges of trading intellectual property via web-based exchanges are identified. These problems are partly due to the nature of the good that is traded; in a way, they seem to be particular characteristics of internet-based intellectual property trade. As a result, it has been found that most firms use web-based tools for trading intellectual property to a limited extent. Besides discussing the study's theoretical and managerial implications, suggestions for future research are presented.