There is hardly an entity whether in service sectors, (Hospitality, Healthcare, Logistics, Shipping, Professional and Educational etcetera), manufacturing, retails, and trading, without any intangible assets, after being in operations for five to ten years. The tangible assets like building, machinery, plant, and facilities help to get started in business, but it is the intangibles which keep the firm on growth track and ensures sustenance over its lifetime.
Once the intangibles are recognized and developed, the wave of value creation takes place. Intellectual Property is one of the most significant intangible assets and the lifeline of technology firms as well as innovative service industries. Many firms develop intellectual property by taking conscious efforts, investments and R & D centers. Some develop through their experiences and ongoing operations and business management policies. Do you know how much or what is the value of IP Assets in your firm? Second, do you know what are the Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) your firm owns and or is trespassing on others?
Conduct an IP Audit first and consult with your accounting teams to see how it is being reflected in annual financial statements, whether in complains with IFRS or conventional style lumped under the “Goodwill”? IPRs add and enhance the valuation of a company and attracts investors, stakeholders and generates revenue without undertaking the applications within the firm. This is feasible through licensing, franchising, collaborating, and gaining competitive advantage.
The commonly known intangible assets including IP are:
- Trademarks – Brands, Trade Dress
- Marks of Accreditation / Certification / Quality / Origin etcetera
- Patents
- Designs – Industrial Designs, Shapes, Configuration, Aesthetics, Form-Factors and like
- Trade Secrets
- Copyrights
- Sui Generic Databases
- Integrated Circuits
- Drugs and Pharmaceutical Inventions,
- Geographical Indications Appellations of Origin
- Plant Varieties
- Know-how, Traditional Knowledge, Business processes and any other competitive advantages unique to a company.
All such assets are the major contributors for revenue generation and sustainability of a company.
Engage with Consultants from TiberiasMC to learn more about conducting an IP Audit, IPR protection or IP Valuation! Contact customerdesk.tmc@tiberiasmc.com
We conduct IP Audits to determine which Intangible and IP Assets can be commercially exploited to best suit our clients’ needs through addressing and deliberations on some of the following IPR:
Trademarks
Can you value a Brand by looking at its Trademark or Brand Logo? Check the financial statements of top brands in the world and a shocking figure will show the brand value alone is reported in billions of dollars, besides the products on which such Brands are placed. The well-known examples are Microsoft, Nike, Adidas, Nokia, Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Nippon, Tata, Bata, Sony, Google to say the least.
Under TRIPS Agreement, in WTO Member Nations, Trademarks are protectable Subject Matter, which are owned perpetually by its registered owners, subject to payment of registration fee at periodic intervals of five to ten years.
What can be considered as a Trademark? Article 15 describes it as follows:
“Any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings, shall be capable of constituting a trademark. Such signs, in particular words including personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements and combinations of colours as well as any combination of such signs, shall be eligible for registration as trademarks. Where signs are not inherently capable of distinguishing the relevant goods or services, Members may make registrability depend on distinctiveness acquired through use. Members may require, as a condition of registration, that signs be visually perceptible.”
For guidelines and further details on how to register a Trademark, visit your national Intellectual Property Office (IPO) websites.
For discussion and consultancy services on development of Trademarks, licensing, and value creation strategies, engage with TiberiasMC Consultants.
Contact customerdesk.tmc@tiberiasmc.com
Industrial Designs
Shapes, colours, contours, look and feel of your products, which are not part of the functionalities but induce the customers to buy can also be protected. Creative designs are being created globally everyday in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) segments.
Innovators and designers of such attractive designs need not be the producers or manufacturers but can generate loss free revenue. Furthermore, “owner of a protected industrial design shall have the right to prevent third parties not having the owner’s consent from making, selling or importing articles bearing or embodying a design which is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the protected design, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.” (TRIPS Art. 26)
Designs may be 2D, 3D, lines, colours and special unique shapes of articles of daily use, fashion or for decorative purposes.
For discussion and consultancy services on development of Registrable Designs, licensing, and value creation strategies, engage with TiberiasMC Consultants.
Contact customerdesk.tmc@tiberiasmc.com
Patents
The Patent is the most sought after and desired Intellectual Property Asset. There is a stringent requirement and involves considerable R & D resources with appropriate expertise to develop a unique product which was not known before to persons of having skills in the art. Patents can be applied for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application.
Once a Patent is granted it means an exclusive right to making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the product and all others are prevented by law, unless a license is granted by the patent owner. This results in payment of royalties, which is not the only source of revenue. Patents can generate multiple revenue streams depending on the exploitation strategies adopted by the patent owner.
The exclusive IPR is for limited period of up to 25 years. It is crucial for the patent owners to create value from such IPRs as much as feasible within this limited period. Many patent owners also spent considerable time in litigation to protect their rights against infringements.
- Leveraging Investments in Technology
- Rationalizing Systems and Standardization where appropriate
- Upgrading functionality which will result in business benefit
- Leveraging on Data Assets
- Exposing & Addressing Data Quality Issues
- Implementing the CPE umbrella on-top of Transactional Systems and Data Warehouses
For discussion and consultancy services on development of Patents, licensing, and value creation strategies, engage with TiberiasMC Consultants.
Interested in Valuation of Intellectual Property Assets? Read more …
Contact customerdesk.tmc@tiberiasmc.com