IP P®OSPE©TIVE

"If everybody in the industry does it, I'll be right there," said Nathan Myhrvold, leader of Intellectual Ventures, to the New York Times in an article yesterday titled "Turning Patents Into Invention Capital".  Myhrvold was alluding to the public disclosure of patents and license agreements, something that has been the topic of conversation in the IP market over the last few years.  The article was actually a literary review of Intellectual Ventures, the NPE that so many love to hate, but so ... Read More

For publicly traded IP-rich companies, the correlation between the strength of an IP management and protection plan and stock price is obvious. The track record of the OT 300 pitted against the S&P 500 between 2006 and November 2008 shows this clearly.  The OT 300 outperformed the S&P 500 by just over 460 basis points.  We keep talking about the absence of IP value from corporate balance sheets.  It just may be this absence, in fact, that tends to push such IP-rich companies' stocks ... Read More

The Chicago Tribune reported today that Facebook will be getting a $200 Million investment from Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian firm.  The investment is said to be in exchange for almost 2% of Facebook's stock, valuing the California-based internet social networking site at roughly $10 Billion.  This is down from the $15 Billion valuation of the company represented by the $240 Million investment Facebook received from Microsoft for a 1.6% stake in the company, but it grossly exaggerates the $3.7 Billion valuation Facebook ... Read More

There is a discreet lending market in New York and few places beyond that trades cash for copyrights until the cash is returned with interest.  To play in this field might actually be less of a risk than banks lending on collateralized real estate, based on the fluctuation of real estate values.  Certain and valuable copyrights hold their value quite nicely, even in a recession.  A recent story in the New York Times (which also reached a few IP blogs such as IPKat) disclosed ... 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