Michael D.Moberly February 27, 2012
First, and foremost, the economic fact that today, 65+% of most company’s value, sources of revenue, growth and sustainability evolve directly from intangible assets which include intellectual property.
Second, conventional forms of characterizing IP ownership and enforcement, i.e., issuance of a patent, copyright, or trademark should no longer be assumed to constitute effective management of those assets, because they no longer serve as deterrents to – safe harbors from infringement, or that asset control, use, and ownership will not be contested.
Third, the issuance of a patent, copyright, and trademark are no longer consistent predictors of asset value or transaction success.
Fourth, the management, oversight, and stewardship of intangible assets have traditionally been conceived – portrayed as legal counsel and/or accounting processes apart from strategic business decisions. These perspectives now need to be re-framed as fiduciary responsibilities emanating from c-suites and board rooms.
Fifth, the time frame when company’s can realize-extract the most value from their (intangible) assets has changed due in part to compression of asset’s life-value-functionality cycle. This is due in part to lower barriers to market entry/competition, rapid profits achieved from infringement and product counterfeiting operations that dilute legitimate global supply-distribution chains.
Sixth, the growing global universality of regulatory mandates regarding accounting and reporting intangible asset value, materiality, and performance, i.e., the international equivalents to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Financial Accounting Standards Board statements has created an absolute need to know.
Seventh, sustaining control, use, ownership, and value of knowledge-based (intangible) assets has become increasingly more challenging. When assets are compromised, economic and competitive advantage – market space hemorrhaging will commence rapidly, globally, and often irreversibly.
Eighth, increasingly sophisticated and global networks of data mining and business intelligence operations elevate asset risk and compromise by analyzing often times open source data to rapidly undermine – counter a company’s strategic planning, competitive advantages, and product launches, etc., at earlier stages.
Ninth, the management of intangible assets should focus on how to measure (asset) performance, which assets to measure, which assets include proprietary elements and competitive advantages, and the inter-connectedness of the assets.
