Monday, January 26, 2015

Patent Law Changes Bad News for Corporat Portfolios

"The patent market is in a deep recession and there is no reason to think it will change any time soon."  This is a quote from the article, http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/detail.aspx?g=cc718b2d-407c-4840-a9d7-41ff77321943 Patent Law changes in US mean there are potentially billions of dollars of write-downs on public company balance sheets... 

In the past two or three decades, the asset structure of F-500 companies have shifted from predominantly physical  to intellectual assets.  Estimates frange from 60% to 80% + on the intellectual side.  This precipitated major increases in the importance of a corporation's patent portfolio, its emphasis on obtaining and protecting patents and its care and handling of other forms of IP.  Large companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire patent portfolios for aggressive and/or protective purposes.  This has given birth to the "patent troll" a unique form of entrepreneurial ethics.

The consequences of these and other changes along with a flood of corporate money that went to Washington to motivate Congress, padded with several ugly Supreme Court rulings, has turned a competitive advantage for many into an asset disadvantage.

Yet another in a long corporate list of self-inflicted wounds.

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