Intellectual Property Valuation Principles—Part 1 This article examines the types of intellectual property analyses, different standards of value that may apply in valuation as well as the alternative types of intellectual property ownership interests and the alternative terms of intellectual property ownership interests.
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Equity creditor appointment standards and lessons for hiring business valuation professionals from Kodak’s bankruptcy This article provides an overview of the Eastman Kodak bankruptcy case and focuses on the standard a bankruptcy court will use deciding whether to appoint an official equity creditors’ committee. It also explains why the bankruptcy court granted Kodak’s motion in limine to exclude‒under Daubert‒the opinion of two expert witnesses retained at the eleventh hour by the shareholders.
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“It’s a Huge Case for the Patent-Law Community.” On One Side: Google, Facebook, Intuit. On the Other? IBM. “Because the patents are often unclear, there’s no way to know whether an infringement claim by a competitor or a troll is legitimate until you’ve spent $8 million in litigation fees,” said Mr. Schruers Ashby Jones in the Wall Street Journal reports this morning that a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments Friday over a fundamental question that has vexed the technology industry for nearly two decades: When is a piece of software patentable?
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Royalty Rates in the Life Sciences are Under Increased Scrutiny. But Has That Caused Rates to Decline? Several medical manufacturers were accused of violating federal kickback statutes. Federal enforcement prompted many companies in the industry to review and revise the terms under which they collaborate with and pay healthcare professionals for contributions of time, know-how, and intellectual property. Ed Gold and the Invotex team examine how this has affected royalty rates.
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Tighter Regulations Leave Less Room for Error When Computing and Disclosing How Much Mortgages Cost. John Adams at American Banker reports that Ernst Publishing, not related to the accounting company, sells technology and closing cost data to mortgage market players. Its clients include nine of the largest ten originators and servicers and the largest five title insurance companies. And it has now received a U.S. patent for its recording fee and tax calculator, called “System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms.” Read the whole thing here. More:
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Here are four surprising ways to protect yourself in a law suit and keep legal fees to a minimum. Kevin Daum at Inc. advises: “Shakespeare said, “First kill all the lawyers.” Maybe this seems a tad aggressive, but then again, for most people the last thing you look forward to is someone showing up at your door with a subpoena. Whether a lawsuit is business related or personal, the thought of engaging an attorney for protracted litigation can strike fear into a person’s heart.” Not only is there emotion and argument to contend with, but the sheer agony of…
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Innovation Decreased by 40% at Technology Companies After They Went Public, Finds Stanford Graduate School of Business Study Leslie Kwoh at the Wall Street Journal reports that while many tech entrepreneurs dream of taking their companies public, they may want to think twice. While public offerings raise cash, new research suggests that IPOs can also result in stunted innovation at technology firms. Here’s more:
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Marvell Technology Group Sold Billions of Semiconductors Developed at Carnegie Mellon University Jad Mouawad reports in the New York Times that Carnegie Mellon University said it was awarded $1.17 billion by a federal jury in Pittsburgh on Wednesday in a unanimous verdict that found the Marvell Technology Group had sold billions of semiconductors using technology developed at the university without a license.
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Plus: A Black Box that Performs Business Valuations for Privately Held Companies? The Scenario Might Not Be as Far-Fetched as You Think Not too long ago I had lunch w/a senior valuation guy, someone who’s made his living in the field for some 30 years, and was there almost from the first days The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) was formed and Shannon Pratt began publishing his first books. His thesis? On the horizon are electrical cars that drive themselves; computers that calculate things in miliseconds that third graders used to be taught to manually construct…
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First, Define a Computer Use Policy for Your Firm How can you best protect against IP theft—or simple misuse—by employees? Karl Epps explains that a solid first step is defining a computer use policy establishing approved policies and protocols for removable media, offsite storage, remote access, and laptops. Here’s an overview of common problem areas and software and policies that can help best address them.
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WhitServe Alleges that Mac OS X Infringes on a Patent it Holds for “Sequentially Opening and Displaying Files in a Directory.” Steve Musil at c:net reports that WhitServe, which owns intellectual property but doesn’t make any real products, is suing Apple over allegations that versions of the Mac OS X operating system infringe on a file viewer patent it holds: The complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, claims that Apple’s Quick Look violates Patent No. 7,921,139, a system for “sequentially opening and displaying files in a directory.”Introduced in 2007 with Mac OS X Leopard, Apple’s Quick Look allows users…
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In Berquist v. Commissioner, Judge Swift Finds a Company’s Pending Liquidation is Relevant and Foreseeable. Brand valuation is becoming an ever more critical business as intangible assets are increasingly being recognized as highly valued property, writes Sophie Roberts in Intellectual Property. Consider: A vast majority of work your business is already doing today almost certainly affects brand value. Whether it’s business transactions (M&A, partnership, licensing negotiation, accounting compliance) or litigation (damage/loss calculations, royalty rate issues, IP infringement) or internal marketing (brand management, marketing ROI calculation and investment), brand value is key. Here’s informed analysis on today’s existing law, brand value…
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Intangible Assets, Switching Costs, Network Economies, and Cost Advantage Provide a Critical Edge Ron Stacey contends the answer is not a dominant market share, efficiency, or even a talented management team. Companies with lasting advantage tend to be strengthened by intangible assets, switching costs, network economies, and cost advantage. Find out why.
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The Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Blog featured recently a guest column by Antone Johnson on the use, misuse, and misvaluation of intellectual property. It’s probably of interest to valuators and financial consultants who are working with small business owners to value and growth their businesses. Venture capitalists, angel investors and start-up lawyers these days tend to be obsessed with “intellectual property,” or IP. And for good reason: In the information economy, the core assets of a new venture are likely to be talented people, the IP they create, and little else. To maximize future value, founders should…
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Apple’s ‘bogus’ patents will ‘strangle’ Android: Google So reports Asher Moses this month in The Advertiser: Google’s chief legal officer has launched a blistering attack on competitors, including Apple, for attempting to stifle innovation by using “bogus patents” to target Google’s Android partners including Samsung. David Drummond, who is also Google’s senior vice-president, wrote in an explosive blog post that the patent wars were pushing up the prices of Android smartphones and tablets. This was part of a “hostile, organised campaign” being waged by Apple, Microsoft and others to “strangle” Android, which Google provides free of charge. His remarks come…
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House lawmakers passed a bill today to overhaul the U.S. patent system for the first time in nearly 60 years, Nathan Koppel notes on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog: The House passed the America Invents Act on a 407 to 117 vote, WSJ reports. The bill would change how the U.S. grants patents and award them to the party which is “first to file” an invention instead of the “first to invent” it. The change would bring the U.S. in line with other countries, according to WSJ. The Senate passed similar legislation in March on a 95-to-5 vote. (Click here to see…
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David Wanetick, Managing Director at IncreMental Advantage, LLC, a valuation firm with expertise in valuing intangible assets and emerging technologies, based in Princeton, NJ, opines at The Business Insider: Valuing a patent is complex and imperfect. Below we’ll go into some detail surrounding the methods used to determine a patent’s value. Each is applied under different circumstances, and impacted by many factors. Some of these factors can be measured and quantified, while others are intangible and require expert judgment in order to attain a reasonably accurate estimation of value.