This newsletter comes to you from Seattle, home of Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon and other incredible US success stories. As I deplaned yesterday the first thing I saw was (of course) a Starbucks. Starbucks is one of the world’s most successful franchises: it opened an average of 2 new stores a day from 1997 to 2007. Franchise companies are all about intangible assets: they are a brand and a system, multiplied accurately many times over.
Yet despite examples like Starbucks and Amazon who have become phenomenal successes leveraging intangible assets (reinforced by the fact that intangible assets now account for 80% of corporate value), many companies today still spend more on coffee than they do on intangible asset strategy. Unless you’re StarBucks that’s a problem, as failing to understand intangible assets and their impact on company performance is going to be a rate-limiter on future growth.
As the economy becomes ever more focussed on technology and innovation, intangible assets are becoming fundamental to commercial success for all businesses. As Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, said recently “every company is a technology company today” and being a technology company is all about intangibles…
Paul Adams, Global CEO
Upcoming Events
David Magee to speak at:
Data4Decisions Conference & Exposition
March 23
Raleigh, USA
Paul Adams to deliver an IP Masterclass at:
Switch Festival
20 – 21 July
Sydney, Australia
Intellectual property as a value driver in M&A activity
By Dr Chris Donegan.
For many SME’s the initial barrier to monetising their intellectual property begins with the understanding that they actually have some.
Given that more than 70% of SME’s are in service businesses this is often not intuitive to business founders.
CEO’s are also concerned about protecting their ideas and sceptical about paying advisors for reports that will have little immediate commercial relevance.
Staff spotlight – David Meng
David Meng is one of the original members of EverEdge, joining the company in 2008 as a Junior Associate. He is now a Senior Strategist with our Advisory section, he works across a wide range of clients and industries…
Delivering Client Value
We are pleased to have added the recently completed the following client engagements:
We completed a review of intangible asset opportunities for $5+ billion Australasian based utility. The client has identified multiple new development projects with market potential in the hundreds of millions.
We completed an intangible asset evaluation and opportunity assessment for a $5+ billion US based industrial conglomerate. We identified a $1 billion+ new market opportunity for technology the client developed and have completed a full strategy to guide commercialization in this market space.
We have been a key strategic adviser to a software start up that has completed major licenses of its technology to financial institutions in Australasia and Europe worth millions in revenue and strategically are more valuable still.
Completed review of intangible asset opportunities for $6billion utility. Client has identified a number of new projects to move forward and capture new value.
Completed intangible asset evaluation, opportunity assessment and commercialization strategy for a multi-billion dollar industrial company. We identified $1billion+ market opportunity for technology the client has developed.
Top Talent Wanted: Five New Positions Open
Do you know anyone interested in an exciting new career with a company that is going places?
EverEdge’s growth means that we have five new positions open. If you know anyone, these should be:
US Patent Attorney
NZ Patent Attorney
Finance Role
Senior Author
Senior Sales
Trademark Scam Warning !
Long standing trademark owners will have seen a variety of very well presented payment requests relating to publication of the owners trademark in an official sounding publication. With a number of such requests being received by clients in recent weeks, it is time for a reminder to our clients.
The most recent iteration of this is in the form of document entitled “International Online Database of Registered Trade Marks – TM Publisher – Agreement”
EverEdge recommends that our clients do not respond to such requests.
If you have received a request for payment and you are unsure of its validity or value, please contact us.
EverEdge Updates
UK
In February EverEdge London hosted the Evolution Business sales masterclass for founders and CEO’s of 30 SME’s on the cusp of exit. A stimulating discussion was held on the impact of their intellectual property for generating a sale price that was reflective of value above and beyond a simple EBIDTA multiple.
The team were also participants at the Global M&A Conference in London, where 150+ M&A specialist gathered together to discuss the trends in the sector and find ways to co-operate. Concurrently with this event our European CEO Chris Donegan published an article in Intellectual Asset Management on the importance of Intellectual Property to value creation in M&A. Chris identified how acquisitions of intellectual property-rich businesses resulted in greater shareholder value following M&A, and in particular, in those industries where intellectual property mapped closely to products such as publishing, film, music, tv, fashion and pharmaceuticals.
The UK also launched the product IP Audit+ to help companies quickly diagnose Intellectual Property opportunities through a three step process: 1) Identify 2) Protect 3) Profit.
US David Magee and Paul Adams presented at the CFO Rising East Summit in Boston. They jointly hosted a roundtable discussion addressing transfer pricing, reducing intellectual property expenditure without compromising quality, and how to use intangible assets to build shareholder value.
On March 16th and 17th the US team also presented at the R&D Management Innovation Summit in Chicago, discussing the importance of managing intangible assets (as the output of the R&D process).
David Magee will be speaking at the Data4Decisions Conference & Exposition in Raleigh, North Carolina, on March 23rd. More specifically, he will discuss intangible asset issues and challenges for health care providers using big data to make predictive and prescriptive decisions.
Australia
Although the EverEdge Australian office is relatively young, we’re already experiencing strong client demand.One of the largest universities in Australia has engaged EverEdge to review their patent portfolio to identify the true strength of their intangible assets.
We also assisted one of Australasia’s largest infrastructure providers to maximise value from a specific technology they have developed.
New Zealand
The strong start to the year continues. The New Zealand office continues to expand its operations.
We have recently been engaged by several of New Zealand’s largest companies to review their intellectual property portfolios and strategies, with a view to reducing costs and identifying opportunities.
We are also currently serving over 60 companies through Callaghan Innovation’s InnovationIP Program. InnovationIP provides significant grants from Callaghan Innovation for intellectual property strategy advice and assistance.
Eligible companies benefit from two 4 hour Intellectual Property strategy workshops. The first focuses on understanding the many different types of intellectual property and identifying the role that specific intellectual property plays inside a company. The second workshop focusses on developing an intellectual property strategy tailored to the company’s specific needs. At the conclusion we provide a comprehensive report detailing the company’s intellectual property strategy and outlining specific prioritized recommendations and action points.
The programme and workshops are run by one of the world’s top IP strategists (Paul Davies) plus a Senior Strategist. The investment is $5,375 (Callaghan provides a 50% subsidy of $5,375). Completion of the second workshop also opens the opportunity to apply for a further $15,000 in funding from Callaghan for further work as required.
If you are interested in participating in the InnovationIP programme please contact us on info@everedgeip.com.
IN THE NEWS
Nestlé loses high court battle to trademark shape of KitKat
Nestlé has failed in its attempt to trademark the shape of KitKat in the UK, opening the door for rivals to launch copycat products.
Donald Trump’s real secret to riches: create a brand and license it.
Last July, The Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama City was struggling under $2.2 million in unauthorised debts run up by Trump Panama Condominium Management LLC.
China’s anti-counterfeiting agents make many of the fakes themselves
Multinational corporations doing business in China face a losing battle when it comes to keeping copies of their products off the market, with anti-counterfeiting investigators either collaborating with producers of the fake goods, or copying the goods themselves, according to a report.
What the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia means for SCOTUS patent jurisprudence
On Saturday, February 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court passed away in a hotel room in Texas.
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