The Intangible Investor - Profiting from Intellectual Property: Companies' Most Elusive Assets

The Intangible Investor - Profiting from Intellectual Property: Companies' Most Elusive Assets

The Intangible Investor takes a hard look at the ways businesses generate return on inventions and ideas, and how they and others profit. Bruce Berman's fifth book also reveals what are behind patent “trolls” and who are the real bad actors gaming the IP system. It goes to the heart of the innovation economy, and provides businesses, investors and general audiences: (1) a basis for understanding how IP can generate hidden value(2) a foundation for what is meant by patent quality, and who, in fact, are the IP systems’ bad actors, and (3) a context to discern IP developments of the recent past in the hope of providing a clearer vision of the future.“One of the most remarkable things about this collection is how these essays have weathered the test of time,” says Gene Quinn, editor of the popular IP Watchdog and a patent attorney in the foreword to the book. “While the 64 essays in The Intangible Investor stretch back to 2003, they are as relevant today as they were when they were written, which is a testament to Berman’s forward thinking and understanding of the issues.” Viewed collectively the contributions in The Intangible Investor provide entrepreneurs, investors, IP professionals, and the general public useful intelligence about how the IP industry works, and a historical context for what it means for the future. The book took eleven years to produce and includes columns originally contributed to IAM on a wide range of IP topics from patent transactions to illegal file sharing, legislation, valuations and public IP licensing companies (PIPCOs). The title is a play on unapparent stakeholders who rely on intangible assets like patents that escape the balance sheet. The Intangible Investor is also an allusion to Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor, which after 65 years is still the definitive book on value investing. This book is intended for anyone interested in business, new ideas or investing. "For many years Bruce Berman has been a leading voice for balance in the country's vital patent system, and he has remained consistent seeing the system as an integrated whole, helping everyone. In this collection, the reader is shown just how, if properly maintained, investment and the other parts of the overall system work together to benefit American technological leadership, global competitiveness, and economic growth." Hon. Paul R. Michel , Chief Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2004-2010 "Bruce Berman has been at the cutting edge of the IP discussion more than 20 years. From 'patent trolls,' to monetization, to international piracy, he pulls back the curtain to expose and explain what is really going on." Q. Todd Dickinson , Executive Director, American IP Law Association (AIPLA) and former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office "Bruce has the ability to write about intellectual property, especially patents, as business assets, clearly, without the typical legal jargon. I've been reading his columns for many years and can recommend this book to all business leaders who want to truly understand the strategic value of IP rights as a business tool." Ruud Peters , Chief Intellectual Property Officer and Executive Vice President, Royal Philips "Berman's perspective is often fresh, always informed and frequently candid. This readable book provides essential intelligence for anyone interested in or affected by innovation." Marshall Phelps , Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for IP and Licensing, Microsoft, 2002-2010; former Vice President and head of IP Business and Strategy, IBM. Udayan Gupta, Contributing Editor, Global Finance. For those who really want to understand the implications of IP and why it is such a key weapon in a company's technology arsenal, and also a field of landmines, Bruce Berman's The Intangible Investor is necessary reading. Berman has been writing about the use and impact of intellectual property, well before it was fashionable. And because few understood the issues, he was forced to write about the subject in a disarmingly jargon-free and explanatory style. Many of us are intangible investors - unseen stakeholders with an interest in what is provided by patents and other innovation rights, intangible assets by accounting definition. While IP rights may be owned by individuals or assigned to companies, how they are deployed, and by whom, is what gets most people riled up. The preceding decade's challenge was to discern "How are IP rights assets?" For the coming one it will be "How can IP rights best be used to support innovation?" Berman's commentaries are excellent primers for understanding how the discussion around IP has evolved. Berman rightly points out that the complexity of the IP process and the difficulty in enforcing one's claims may have deterred many companies from getting involved. The lack of data also makes the valuation task difficult. But once patent auctions and other similar ev