IP Finance: A Topic For the Global Roundtable

By: Ian McClure
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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

Categories: Investment Intelligence, Portfolio Potential

Considering the Role of the “Sophisticated Investor” in Intellectual Property

By: Ian McClure
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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

Categories: Investment Intelligence

New Business Model in the Music Industry: Fan-vestors

By: Ian McClure
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Every once in a while I will read about a business venture that is so business-savvy, yet so simple, I pinch myself for not thinking of it, while applauding the ones who did at the same time. A recent post on IP Finance introduced a new business model that is currently being tested in the music industry. In short, bands and artists are asking their loyal fans (and those that just hear them and think they are good enough to make it) ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Copyright Caucus, Investment Intelligence

Corporate Intangibles Value Down, but Transparency is Key

By: Ian McClure
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At one time, it was believed that at least 70% of all corporate value was in a corporation's intangible assets. This percentage, while probably assuming too much for many companies, and also too little for others, has been agreed upon by numerous IP professionals. Apparently, the "average" is stumbled upon by subtracting a corporation's tangible assets from its market capitalization, the remaining assets presumably being IP. It is true that tangible assets have made up less and less of a corporation's market ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Investment Intelligence, Portfolio Potential

Intellectual Asset Management - “Beginning of a Brave New World”

By: Ian McClure
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The new issue of Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) was released with some fantastic features.  One of note, written by finance editor Nigel Page, touches on the world-wide recession with a force of optimism for IP as a real asset class.  Asserting that the financial meltdown is actually the very thing that will lead to IP as a tradeable asset, Page writes that, "[a]lthough everyone acknowledges that these are difficult and uncertain times, the general view is that IP and intangibles in general ... Read More

Categories: Investment Intelligence

Monetizing IP: An IP Stock Market (of sorts)

By: Ian McClure
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I might be stretching it a bit to call it a stock market (this early), but developments are on the horizon to push IP in that direction. The success of public auction events such as the Ocean Tomo auctions has sparked a new concept that will continue the trend toward liquidity of IP value. The Intellectual Property Exchange International (IPXI), of which Ocean Tomo is the founder and majority owner, is "the world's first financial exchange with an intellectual property focus." With its ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Investment Intelligence, Monetizing IP, Portfolio Potential

Ocean Tomo Webinars - Free IP Investment Intelligence

By: Ian McClure
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Good information on IP, IP management, and IP investing is surprisingly hard to find. MBA and Law school courses cover most issues dealing with IP recognition, litigation, and protection, but few deal squarely with the issue of IP management and the burgeoning investment market focusing on intellectual property. When it comes to this niche field, there is one firm that is leading the charge. Based out of Chicago, Ocean Tomo, a self-proclaimed Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc® firm is at the frontier of corporate ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Investment Intelligence, Portfolio Potential

Welcome to IP Prospective

By: Ian McClure
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IP Prospective will be a source of information and a medium for intellectual exchange at the intersect of intellectual property, law, investment, money, and corporate action. It is my hope that this online magazine will serve as a center of information and ideas for those with a keen interest in the future relationship of intellectual property and business. Indeed, while some may measure the success of this weblog by the quantity of readers it accrues, it is the quality of readers that will make the success uniquely ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Copyright Caucus, Investment Intelligence, Monetizing IP, Patent Prospects, Portfolio Potential, Trademark Trends