The Value of IP as a Commodity

By: Ian McClure
IP

I recently published an article in Issue 47 of IAM magazine titled "The Value of IP as a Commodity".  The article is a comprehensive description of IPXI and the ULR contract model for non-exclusive licensing.  In addition, the article highlights the ongoing debate between IP professionals and IP market participants regarding the inefficiencies in IP valuation and technology transfer and how best to resolve these problems.  The natural progression in IP monetization methods has led to the commoditization of IP assets, such ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Patent Prospects, Portfolio Potential

Nortel Patents Sale: The difficulty of putting a pricetag on a large portfolio

By: Ian McClure
nash2

The insolvent Nortel Networks Corp. has a very valuable patent portfolio.  But because so many suiters may be in the market to purchase the portfolio, the question has become how valuable?  Bloomberg ran a report about the portfolio, speculating that it may go for as much as $1.1B.  Joff Wild at the IAM blog has a good post on the validity of this figure, as well as an interesting comment from Andrew Watson of ipVA regarding possible interested parties.  This will be ... Read More

Categories: Today in IP

Phasing Out the “Earn-Out” M&A Model? Even When IP Is the Main Draw of the Target?

By: Ian McClure
pomaire561

This interesting article was in the Wall Street Journal today, titled "Google Slowly Moving Away from its "Addiction" to M&A Earn-Outs".    An interesting thought, but hardly believable.  While I am sure that Google's leaders have realized that they may have paid a little too much in some earn-out structures because they found out they were actually paying for their own goodwill, which accelerated the target's success when taken under Google's umbrella, I believe that this model will continue to be the favored ... Read More

Categories: Portfolio Potential

Ocean Tomo Gets Endorsement From Caisse des Dépôts for European Patent Ratings System

By: Ian McClure
logo-caisses-des-depots

As I said, the Ocean Tomo brand is still strong, and in fact continues to grow.  Just a week after news hit the fan that Ocean Tomo was selling its transactions practice and would be falling apart soon hereafter (not true), we receive word that Ocean Tomo and French bank Caisse des Dépôts have agreed to a working protocol to develop the first European patent ratings system.  No money has yet changed hands as a result of the deal, but it is said ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business

Valuing the IP of Social Networking Sites: Worth the Investment?

By: Ian McClure
social-networks

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

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Portfolio Potential

Economy Pulse Check: Valuation, Finance, and Exchange of Intellectual Property

By: Ian McClure
pulse-check

The rising tide of the recession has brought with it a wave of change in our approach to commerce, but perhaps no transition has provided as much optimism as the growing share of commerce involving intellectual property assets. Intellectual property has been increasingly recognized as a burgeoning asset class, an important financing tool, and a revenue-generating instrument for exchange. Acknowledging this phenomenon, the United States has joined a global initiative to help push a common knowledge of this use of intellectual property, ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Portfolio Potential

Proof of a Burgeoning Market: Patenting IP Valuation Methods

By: Ian McClure
evidence

I have discovered a very interesting post from a couple of weeks ago on the 12:01 Tuesday Blog, written by Chicago IP attorney Aaron Feigelson.   The post is titled "Patenting the Business of Patents", and discusses tangible evidence of the burgeoning IP marketplace by way of 14 U.S. patents (11 of which have been issued in the past 2 years) covering the method and business of valuing IP.  Feigelson lists all 14 of the patents, which I will recreate the list here: 7,493,262 Method for ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Monetizing IP, Patent Prospects

Goodwill Has Gone Bad, But IP Is (becoming) Independent

By: Ian McClure
holiday-spending

A New York Times article today (Losses in Good-Will Values Dog Bank Deals) attributes the massive write-downs occurring at banks these days to overvalued good will and the overpayment for companies during the "merger mania" of the last decade.  The following part caught my attention: Companies are taking billions of dollars in losses as they write down the value of assets known as good will - the amount they overpaid for a business compared with the sum of its parts. As the economy ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Investment Intelligence

If the Market Discovers It, It is Real

By: Ian McClure
truth_000

The discussion continues on the IP valuation front.  Joff Wild added a reader response to his original "myth buster" post regarding IP valuation myths.  The response is written by Nir Kossovsky, executive secretary of the Intangible Asset Finance Society and CEO of Steel City Re.  The relevant part reads: Our current markets are volatile because value is uncertain. International accounting standards suggest that all assets be valued at market. There is considerable push back in the US because the market is damaged and ... Read More

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Investment Intelligence, Portfolio Potential

The IP Valuation Conversation Continues . . .

By: Ian McClure
iambillion

The newest Intellectual Asset Management Magazine (IAM) revisits what is probably the most important, and most troubling, issue pervading the IP market today: Intellectual property valuation.  I have visited the topic in a number of posts, and this trend probably won't stop anytime soon. The IAM article is another step in the right direction, authored by Pat Sullivan, who has taken the reigns on the conversation of standard setting in IP valuation.  While I encourage everyone to find this issue of IAM, if not every issue, I understand it ... Read More

Categories: Investment Intelligence, Monetizing IP, Portfolio Potential