Business Power: Creating New Wealth from IP Assets

Chapter 9. Valuing Intellectual Property

DAVE HAUG

We’re at a point where traditional valuation models are being applied to intangible assets that are very difficult to value. And in the process of doing so, the benefit for all of us is that we can have a better understanding about what value is attached to certain intangible assets. This takes us to a deeper level of understanding, knowledge, and business application. We’re getting closer to a standard-setting perspective.

Key Points to Look For

• Intangible assets are responsible for an increasing level of value in the competitive enterprise.

• The financial and regulatory communities are concerned about this increasing and undocumented value, but the enterprise should focus on its own internal capabilities to evaluate and value its IP assets. This is the next level of maturity in IP asset management.

• Value must be determined on at least three levels: (1) cash flow to the operating business unit, (2) cash flow to the IP business, and (3) non– cash value benefits to the total business.

• Creative work done for us at our request will continue to be our property, and we hold the intellectual property rights to that work.

The Increasing Responsibility of the CFO

AT&T Knowledge Ventures is a business unit within AT&T Communications. Its primary responsibility is to manage the intellectual property and intellectual assets of AT&T. Knowledge Ventures ...