Far too many businesses make the mistake of under-valuing their most valuable assets, their intellectual property or IP. Patents, trademarks and service marks, copyrights, trade secrets, brands, authorship, and technology and know-how are what sets your business apart from all other businesses. Any competitor can build a building just like your building or manufacture products just like your products. But NO business can use your intellectual assets. Or, at least, use them and get away with it!
How do we know that a business’s intellectual property is its most valuable assets? Here is just one of many examples. In 2013, Nortel Networks Corporation, a major Canadian telecommunications and networking manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy and the business was liquidated. The company’s patents were sold off first, then each of the operating units were sold. The patents generated more revenue than all of the operating companies combined!
IP Consulting LLC helps businesses better manage, better utilize and better exploit their intellectual property. We help our clients produce the highest possible return on their most valuable assets.
- Patent Brokerage: We help businesses sell patents, trademarks and other IP they are not using or that are not core to their businesses.
- Patent Acquisition: One way to develop a new product is to hire an R&D staff and spend millions of dollars and three or four years. The far cheaper alternative is to acquire a patent for a few hundred thousand dollars!
- Patent Valuation: Most businesses have no idea how much their patents are worth. In fact, patents are assets that often do not even appear on the company’s balance sheet! Valuing your patents can add significant hard assets to your balance sheet, assets you did know you had and that you were not reporting.
- Patent Licensing: We help companies find technologies they can license, or enable companies to generate licensing income from their patents – income with a 100% gross margin!
- IP Consulting Services: When should you apply for a patent? What patents should you sell? Or license? Or let lapse? For what brand and product names should you apply for a trademark or servicemark?
- Patent Infringement: How do you properly defend your patents and trademarks? When is it time to enforce your patents or trademarks against infringers?
When you are ready to get serious about your intellectual property – your most valuable assets – give us a call or shoot us an email.
