IP P®OSPE©TIVE

Last week, a landmark decision in a Patent Court in England finally broke ground for employee inventors in the UK trying to receive royalties for their inventions' added value.  The case, Kelly and Chiu v GE Healthcare Ltd [2009] EWHC 181 (Pat), enforced provisions of UK patent law that had been introduced over thirty years ago and amended recently to add teeth.  Specifically, the provision provides for employee inventors to receive compensation for a patent's added benefit to corporate value.  As IPKat reports, the decision ... Read More

While many companies have chosen to cut costs and ride the recession wave, some savvy companies are taking this time to discover new value in their company; value in the intangibles.  Although some executives equate "cost-effeciency" with cutting employees and holiday parties, others are finding undiscovered or underutilized intellectual property and turning it into a new profit center.   While IP value generally isn't included on a balance sheet, its distinctive worth to a company shines at a time when standard revenue streams demonstrate ... Read More

The 451 Group's annual tech dealmaker report has announced that Barclays is the new king of the hill for Merger and Acquisition advisory services when it comes to information technology deals.  Barclays' own acquisition of Lehman Brothers last fall propelled the British bank to the top spot.  According to the report, the bank worked on the three largest IT service deals in the past year.  Following Barclays is No. 2 Goldman Sachs, No. 3 JP Morgan Chase, No. 4 Citi Group, and ... Read More

This week's IP Market Player is Royalty Pharma.  The name has begun to pop up in articles and conversations regarding attractive alternatives to raising equity capital. In a nutshell, the company purchases royalty interests in biopharmaceutical products and late-stage development drugs.  Through careful purchases, it provides liquidity to its shareholders investing in these royalty streams while assuming the risks of ownership in this IP.  This is an innovative product driven method of financing that is somewhat shielded from market volatility and stock price ... Read More

The European Parliament has today extended the term of protection for music copyrights from 50 years to 95 years.  Also contained in the legislation is a provision preventing past contractual agreements from deducting new royalties resulting from the extension.  In addition, there is a provision providing for a session-musician fund to be created to which producers must pay 20% of new royalties.  The Parliament Press Release considers a meeting by January 2010 to discuss an extension for audiovisual works, and the extension for ... Read More

Entertainment giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster are set to merge, creating a horizontal monopoly in the concert ticketing market.  Both companies have sizeable artist management rosters as well.  In a media industry already scrutinized for monopolizing the market, this may be the  first test on the Obama administration's proclaimed anti-trust crack-down. Read More

Our new fearless leader proclaimed in his inauguration speech that we need to “put science back in its rightful place.”  Political and religious leanings aside, the debate over this decree could start with considerations over how science and creativity is funded.  One of the obvious purposes for establishing intellectual property laws is to secure a method for incentivizing further creation.  That incentive, of course, is a monetary motive.  Creators continue to invent because they may own their creations and reap the rewards ... Read More

An investment banker friend sent me a very interesting blog post from Broken Symmetry.  It creatively considers an historical analogy, at the intersect of business method and creative process, between 15th Century Venice and modern day Silicon Valley.  The piece goes on to discuss comparisons between the two, such as their isolated position from other major metropolitan centers (Florence and Rome, LA and New York), or their aspiring classes of artisans and entrepreneurs.  There also exists a parallel between the investors of both ... Read More

The method of using IP assets to raise funds has slowly been growing on  bankers and business executives alike.  In a knowledge society, small and mid cap enterprises need financing, and the only assets to use as collateral are intangible ones.  Fortunately, the world is accepting the idea that intellectual property is more than just a legal right and a burgeoning article of trade.  It is also a means for financing an entrepreneurial venture.  The concept is not completely new.  The film industry has employed a unique financing model based ... Read More

Players in the financial investment sector have forever heeded to the wayward movements of the "sophisticated investor".  The exclusive club of well-to-do money-savvy individuals have made a killing on that very title.  Institutional investors, funds, VC's and other financial block veterans have tossed silly amounts of coin into a pool, all because the pool-keeper deemed himself a "sophisticated  investor".  Two months ago, you could have asked anybody on Wall Street if Bernie Madoff was a "sophisticated investor", and any outlier answer would ... Read More