Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Best Practices, Productivity Tools Are Key to Higher Patent Returns

By Ralph Schroeder
June 28, 2007

Today's innovation and brand-driven companies are well aware of the importance of intellectual assets ('IAs'). Few CEOs would deny the fact that a significant portion of their company's value is derived from intellectual property, especially patents. However, IAs represent a challenge for many corporate managers seeking to realize value in a world historically tied to 'hard asset' financial measures. Not only do most operating managers lack experience in systematic management of intellectual assets, but also they lack the necessary tools ' such as agreed-upon accounting methods and standardized financial reporting for such assets. Not to mention the fact that most companies also lack even the most basic information systems needed to manage how intellectual assets are created, managed, and exploited.

The challenge is made more daunting by the lack of objectivity in identifying, defining, and measuring R&D-generated, patent-related intellectual assets. Management struggles to find actionable directives that will drive bottom line value. With no clear benefit in the form of increased earnings or a higher market valuation in sight, the cost of assigning valuable (and expensive) managers to the task of 'managing knowledge' becomes a dubious and unlikely priority. Not surprisingly, most businesses continue to operate within the status quo.

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Bit Parts Image

Summary Judgment Denied Defendant in Declaratory Action by Producer of To Kill a Mockingbird Broadway Play Seeking Amateur Theatrical Rights

Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes Image

“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.

The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.