intellectual property

This is an excellent book that I believe can help level the playing field for smaller companies vis-a-vis their larger competitors concerning exploiting the full value of
their intellectual property rights. The authors include a chapter addressed to corporate officers and directors concerning potential liability for mismanaging intellectual property. This chapter alone is an eye-opener that ought to be read by every director and officer not only to avoid liability but to enhance share value. The authors have given the reader a seminal work concerning the difficult nature of patent valuation including a method that uses the Black-Scholes option-pricing algorithm (since a patent's value, like an option, decreases with the passage of time, all other things being equal). The authors discuss the methods utilized to value a patent in a publicly traded company and point out that Eli Lilly lost $35 billion in market capitalization when one of its two Prozac patents was declared invalid for double-patenting, thus, demonstrating the enormous value of that patent. I am a patent attorney who learned much from this book. This is a highly readable and even entertaining book that makes an excellent primer for anyone interested in the business of intellectual property.

As a quick primer, I found this book to be terrific. And the dry humour was appreciated as well. Never thought I'd make it through so quickly, and yet come away with such a good appreciation of the subject matter.

This book took all the mystery out of the complex issue of intellectual property: what it is, how it works, and how it can work for you. Easy to read and comprehensive.