Business assets have value. Understanding the value of assets on hand is important to starting a business, to conducting a business, and to dissolving a business. Ironically, many business leaders who are diligent about routinely tracking the value of hard assets, like a truck or a building, have no similar discipline in place to measure […]
Does Facebook have the right to use your photos without your permission? Are your intellectual property rights over personal photos and videos forfeited when posted to Facebook? I am going to address both of these questions separately. Let us start with the first question. Can Facebook use your photos without your consent? No. Facebook does […]
Your company has decided to conduct an audit to take inventory of its intellectual assets (IA), and has an idea of the level of abstraction at which it will identify those assets. So where should the company start seining for IA information? The following tips may be helpful.
Do movie makers need to obtain permission to use all brand products in their movies? The answer is no, but it is recommended. The rule is a product can be used within a movie without permission as long as the product is being used as was intended by the manufacturers without negatively defaming the product […]
In my last post, I shared my experience selling a software line of business valued by the buyer entirely for the business’s intellectual assets rather than for its tangible assets. As it turns out, my experience is not unique. In today’s economy, intangible assets constitute nearly 80 percent of corporate value. The other 20 percent […]
By: Dan Pierron Congratulations! Your claims have been allowed, you’ve paid your issue fee, and you’ve received the seal and red ribbon! It’s been years in coming, and now you can kick back and relax, both your mind and your legal budget. Right? Maybe not. Deciding how to utilize a single patent or an entire portfolio […]
By: Mark R. Malek My last article provided a brief overview of the patent system. I also wrote another article about why patents are somewhat important. This prompted me to reflect on my typical conversations with potential clients, and the questions that generally arise as to the different types of patents. This article will attempt to […]
Everyone knows the best way to protect valuables from thieves is to simply lock valuables in a safe or deposit the valuables in the banks. This is assuming your valuables are tangible items. What if the valuable is non-tangible? How then is one supposed to secure it from being stolen? Non-tangible valuables like company trade […]
By: Mark R. Malek In my previous article, I indicated that a patent is important to protect the rights of innovators and to encourage them to continue to innovate. This is done by providing a patent holder with an exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or offering to sell the invention that is […]
