The economic evaluation of intangible assets,
which include Patents and Trademarks, offers may opportunities which
we wish to briefly outline below, along with a short overview of
the principal methods generally employed.
At present, there are many reasons for evaluating intangible
activities:
• Assessing the Economic Capital of an Enterprise: this
represents the most broad type of evaluation in which the appreciation
of all components, both tangible and intangible, is considered.
In particular, the explicit estimate of industrial property –
patents and trademarks – represents the more precise identification
of values which are generically attributable to the “goodwill”
of a company.
• Assignment or acquisition of a specific intangible activity:
this type of estimate is generally aimed at obtaining an independent
opinion on the utilization value of an asset – patent and/or
trademark – in the business context of the assignor or buyer
to establish a price for the transaction. This type of estimate
is also important in the case of assignment of intangible assets
to new business ventures (start ups, spin-offs, divisions...).
• Determining the amount payable for consent to use, or
a license on, an intangible asset: this type of estimate is often
useful in the negotiation phase for licenses relating to patents
or trademarks, on the basis of the temporal and territorial extent
of the license.
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