Value Creation in Intellectual Property
Authors Catherine Holland and Mark Benedict explain,
Intellectual property can form an important profit center of a business. For example, one fabless semiconductor chip design vendor named Element 14 sold patented and copyrighted circuit designs to chip manufacturers. Element 14 had never manufactured a chip itself, but it was eventually acquired by Broadcom for over $500 million. Companies like Caterpillar and Lucasfilm build profit centers that are ancillary to their core businesses, for example, by leveraging their strong trademark assets for profit. Even if intellectual property does not form the sole profit center of a business, it can play a pivotal role in the profitability and value of a corporation. It has been estimated that all of the physical assets of the Coca-Cola Corporation could burn to the ground and the company would still be worth millions, based on the value of its trade secret formula for the soft drink and its COCA-COLA® trademark.
Identifying and properly managing intellectual property is tantamount to financial sucess for many companies. To help companies fully appreciate the type and value of its various intellectual property assets, our office can be engaged to conduct regular intellectual property audits to acheive the following goals:
Identification of intellectual property assets;
Protection of identified assets;
Identification and protection of intellectual property assets under development;
Strategic portfolio planning with the assistance of a company’s tax and financial advisers; and
Conduct risk assessments for offensive and defensive necessities.
If you are interested in learning more about our intellectual property audits for your company, please contact ustoday to schedule a complimentary preliminary consultation.