Patent Law

New Blog to Check Out: Financial Aspects of Intellectual Property

By Douglas J. Sorocco, J. Matthew Buchanan, Laura C. Woods and Emily E. Campbell.

One of my new favorite blogs is the Financial Aspects of Intellectual Property blog by the folks at the Innovation Asset Group.

According to their “about” page:

Innovation Asset is a leading provider of software for intellectual property (IP) and contracts management. Founded in 2002, we set out to design fresh solutions to the challenges today’s companies face in managing their intangible assets. We’ve quickly gained a national reputation for our flagship product, Decipher™.

So far, their blog has really been a fun and informative read – dealing with meta trends in intellectual property acquisition and valuation.  As a sample to whet your appetite:

We are seeing an evolution – perhaps revolution. Not just in terms of the recognition of IP as the fundamentally core asset for businesses today; but also in terms of the way in which that IP is managed (I think “where” remains the same).

Initially, IP is managed out of the legal department. In a non-strategic mindset, IP management equates to docketing in some of these companies.

As companies embrace the strategic importance of IP and understand the need to move beyond simply docketing, there is an evolution of the role of the legal department. Much the way IT departments in corporate America evolved from a cost center and service provider to a strategic enabler of the business in the past couple of decades, legal departments are making a similar evolution today.

If you picture a pyramid similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and similar to the one described in “Edison in the Boardroom,” the bottom of the pyramid represents the least sophisticated IP companies, and the top of the pyramid the most sophisticated.

Well worth a read for anyone interested in intellectual property and what I would consider a “must read” for those within corporate intellectual property departments who must identify, protect and communicate the importance of intellectual property assets.

Sorry for the disruption in the middle of all the “Rules Mess” – we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Full post as published by Phosita on September 26, 2007 (boomark / email).