The very definition of IP and intangible assets has expanded and changed significantly in the last decade. New regulations and control systems in financial and economic reporting bring increasing complexity to IP transactions in today’s intangible asset economy.
Examples of the issues raised in our financial reporting system, and related to disclosure requirements for companies, include the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Section 482 of the IRS code, FASB 141,142,144, as well as the Bankruptcy Reformat Act of 2005. In recent years, updated rules and regulations affect the treatment of IP and intangible assets in transactions in a variety of ways, including altering:
- Defined categories of intangible assets
- Bankruptcy regulations governing IP assets
- Values and valuation techniques for IP and intangibles
- The accounting rules for intangible asset transactions
With the growing importance of intangible assets and intellectual property in the US and other industrialized countries, being able to identify, value and manage these assets effectively is increasing at an equal or even faster rate than the value of the assets themselves. In today’s economic environment, corporations cannot afford to under-manage any of their assets, tangible or intangible. Among the transaction formats that we have actively managed, or co-managed with legal counsel, are the following:
- Auction—Open cry, Dutch auctions, Vickery auctions
- Stalking Horse bidding
- Outright sale of specific assets, bundles or full IP portfolios
- Valuation and management of asset contributions to joint ventures
- Collateralization of intellectual property for secondary or mezzanine funding
- Valuation and assembly of assets for securitization
- Fully paid-up licenses