Doubling Of Patent/Trademark Issuances Heralds Golden Age Of Property
26 March 1999
Doubling Of Patent/Trademark Issuances Heralds Golden Age Of Intellectual Property, According To PricewaterhouseCoopers Intellectual Asset Management Leader
NEW YORK--March 26, 1999--Patent and trademark issuances doubled over the past ten years, underscoring the tremendous potential companies place on their intellectual assets, and signaling their desire to realize the fullest value these assets offer, according to Aron Levko, PricewatehouseCoopers partner and national leader of the Intellectual Asset Management Practice.Mr. Levko notes that the significant rise in patents and trademarks also reveals two other powerful intellectual asset management trends:
| -- | The greatest and growing portion of a company's value is no longer in its tangible assets. Companies are not only seeking protection for and enforcement of their intellectual property, but also seeking to organize and align research and development to their business strategies. |
| -- | Leading companies are leveraging their intellectual assets to unlock value and develop significant competitive advantage in several ways: |
- developing intellectual asset management strategies that are
aligned with corporate strategy
- integrating product innovation management and intellectual asset
creation, including evaluating R&D and related intellectual asset
practices, to accelerate time to market
- collateralizing intangible asset-backed debt, creating
sale-leaseback transactions and securitizing private intellectual
assets
- utilizing information technology tools to capture and manage
critical intellectual asset portfolio information
- employing third-party audits to determine if licensees are in
compliance with royalty and license terms
- protecting trade secrets and other valuable intellectual assets
against theft and misappropriation
- donating intellectual property to non-profit institutions for
philanthropic reasons and to obtain tax benefits
- maximizing value through coordinated licensing strategies
"We are at the start of a new age of intellectual asset management. Now, companies are taking the first steps to organize the disparate pieces of their intellectual assets. Once they harness the tremendous potential of these business processes, intellectual assets will become the engine of corporate growth," Mr. Levko concludes.