Tag Archives: ROI

LES annual meeting to be held in Boston October 14-17

August 29, 2018 by Bruce Berman 0 Comments

The birthplace of innovation, Boston, is the site for the 2018 Licensing Executives Society meeting.

The opening session, “Advancing Innovation Through a Renewal of Trust,” will feature Andrei Iancu, USPTO Director, Bill Elkington, Senior Director – IP Management, Rockwell Collins and Walter Copan, National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Director and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology.

Other sessions include:

  • Funding Startups – The Boston Perspective
  • Increasing ROI for Government-Funded Research
  • Advanced Telecommunications Licensing, 4G, 5G and LTE for Automobiles
  • US or Them – Who is Going to Set Standards for Licensing
  • Patenting Machine Learning
  • 2018 Tax Consequences: Coordination of IP Monetization and Tax Planning
  • Life Sciences Partnering Performance and Reputation Survey Results
  • Maximizing IP Value and Minimizing Risk in M&A Transactions

For the full 2018 LES annual meeting agenda, go here. For the speaker biographies, please visit http://www.lesmeetings.org/am18/speakers/

To register, go here.

Image source: lesmeetings.org 

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Reputation Counts for Patent Portfolios, Holders

April 11, 2011 by Bruce Berman 0 Comments


Patent “Brands” are Serious Business –

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IP pros and stakeholders share an embarrassing secret: both are generally in the dark when it comes to how patents generate value and impact performance.

Owners of patent portfolios are discovering that reputation pays — especially when it comes to making performance understandable. The right IP message enables diverse audiences, such as shareholders, customers and employees, to have a handle on results without the excess baggage associated with legal rights.

While companies can and do conduct their IP business in the dark with little consequence, results that are conveyed strategically over time can turn a solid reputation into an iconic brand.

“An Image is Worth 10,000 Words,” my latest the Intangible Investor column in IAM magazine, takes a looks the role of brand equity in patent performance.

Patent Holder Survey

A global 500 IT company recently retained my firm, Brody Berman Associates, to explore which patent holders are seen as the leading players — the leading IP brands.  The client wanted to learn on what the responding IP executives based their conclusions. The client also was interested to discover (anonymously) how it ranked. The findings of the relatively small sample, while hardly definitive, shed light on how IP opinions are formed.

Businesses like IBM, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Philips were more highly regarded by survey respondents not only because IP rights play a role in their success, but because they remind various audiences they do so.

The survey take-away: A lack of information about a company’s patent performance relative to its industry is at best confusing and at worst damaging. The professionals’ take on a business’ patents and strategy, while often accurate, tended to be based more on impression than fact.

What constitutes a good IP reputation? It is really no different from what goes into any positive business profile: clarity, credibility, consistency — words that are more easily spoken than embodied.

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For patent holders with good results (i.e. discernible IP “wins”), a modest level of transparency can pay impressive dividends.  Building a brand may not be for every patent holder, but it is for those with the patience and confidence to explain what they’ve achieved and why.

For more see the May-June the Intangible Investor.

Illustration source: http://www.flickr.com

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ROI for Intellectual Ventures Funds Scrutinized

August 2, 2010 by Bruce Berman 1 Comment

U of TX Return on IV is Off 73%

PE investor Chris Dixon unearthed some interesting news about returns on an investment in Intellectual Ventures funds held by the University of Texas Management Company. The news was picked up by TechCrunch last week.

Go to the report ending May 31, 2010 and blow up page 7. Read how IV’s ROI for Invention Investment Funds I and II were off significantly for the period, especially compared to the holder’s other private equity investments.

Writes TechCrunch reporter Erick Shonfeld:

“The link is a PDF download of a document from the University of Texas Management Company listing all of its private investments in venture funds and private equity funds, along with their internal rates of return (IRR). One of the worst performers is Intellectual Ventures, the patent portfolio fund started by Nathan Myrhvold that has a reputation for patent extortion.

“One of its funds, the Invention Development Fund I, has a negative 73 percent IRR (Dixon mistakenly thought it was negative 78 percent, but close enough). Another fund, the Invention Investment Fund II, has a negative 10 percent return. The two funds combined are delivering a negative 36.66 percent IRR for the University of Texas.”

In fairness to IV, you can’t mix apples and oranges. Performance really depends on the specific nature of UofT’s investment and the poor current results may not accurately represent IV’s overall return on those specific funds.

Early stage venture investments often show extraordinarily uneven results until certain benchmarks are achieved in later years. The private document was likely leaked, so no context is provided and I’m sure that IV is not discussing it publicly.

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This document is a rare peek into what is presumably a direct IP investment. It shows that where patent licensing and litigation are concerned ROI can be difficult to read and painful to watch.

I’m uncomfortable about the lack of context. It is hard to know what the performance (or lack of) really means based in relation to other PE investments or even other licensing activities.

Readers who may be able to provide additional perspective please chime in.

Illustration source: linux.sys-con.com

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