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IAM Issue 20

October/November 2006

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The waiting game

The US is still waiting for its first major IP-based shareholder suit; the one that will change the way company boards view IP rights forever. And with Sarbanes-Oxley now fully up and running and the SEC beginning to take an interest, many predict the wait may soon be over

Industry insight

Fair dues

Intellectual property due diligence should form part of the necessary audits undertaken before any M&A activity. However, it often isn’t considered until very late in the process, writes John Pryor of CPA
John Pryor

Features

From breakdown to breakthrough

While negotiating parties can usually agree on the major elements in any licensing deal, things get trickier when it comes to looking at the minutiae. To prevent negotiations breaking down, multi-faceted valuation methodologies should be employed

Avoiding the patent storm

SFAS 141 was issued five years ago in the US to change the way in which acquiring companies value assets and view intangibles involved in an M&A deal. In order to avoid future problems such companies would do well to ensure that IP experts take part in the valuation process

The truth about non-core licensing

Off-industry and non-core patent licensing has often been held up as the IP industry’s Holy Grail. But recent research suggests that for most it is actually nothing more than myth and mirage

The path to progress for India’s booming IT sector

India’s IT industry is one of the country’s great success stories. But to take the next step forward, businesses operating in the sector have to come to terms with a series of IP management challenges

The quality conundrum

It has always been easy to measure the size of a patent portfolio. More complicated has been the task of working out its quality. Now, however, new statistical benchmarking methods are emerging which could make things a whole lot simpler

Columns

The USPTO is the “ruling” party

IP managers who do not adapt to the new USPTO rules will have budget and patent enforcement problems

Train your patent attorney

Finding a patent attorney should not be too difficult. Making sure you have the right one, however, is a harder task

Ideas and wars of ideology

In the so-called War on Terror, intellectual property has a crucial part to play. Whether the IP community is doing enough, however, is open to debate

Dumb and dumber

Outlawing broad patents on unusual inventions is a bad idea. It is more likely to destroy innovation than fuel it

Management report

Litigation strategy focus

Because intellectual property is a legal right, in the end it only has value if those that own it are ready to go to court to defend what they have. A company that is prepared to stand by and watch others infringe its patents, trademarks, copyrights or trade secrets will not be in business for long. Certainly, its shareholders will very quickly begin to ask questions.

Insights

Money men hedge their bets at LES in New York

At this year’s meeting of the LES USA and Canada, the relationship between patents and finance was high on the agenda. And while the mainstream investment community remains wary of placing too much emphasis on any kind of IP right, specialist investors are beginning to emerge

Bridging the divide is key to a positive IP future

There has been a shortage of dialogue between IP practitioners and owners on the one hand, and academics on the other – often to the detriment of both. A new European Patent Academy initiative aims to change all that.
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