Outlining a clear action plan for how to protect and grow your business value through intellectual property

4. ‘’AirBNB doesn’t own any hotels, UBER doesn’t own any taxis, Facebook
doesn’t create any content and AliBaba doesn’t create any goods’’
It is the intangible assets which are driving their business models and business
value.

5. From a financial point of view, IP can be used for two main
purposes:
1. To support continued growth of your business
• Licensing of IP to third parties.
• Franchise arrangements.
• Business finance opportunities for SMEs with IP as security.
2. To protect your business value
• Third Party Investments.
• Business Exits.

6. • Licensing is the provision of an agreement to a third party allowing the use of your IP
within specific terms and limits, BUT without transferring ownership to that other
party.
• IPO estimates that globally IP licensing arrangements account for approximately
£600BN in revenues per annum.
Many of the well known Virgin businesses are not
actually owned or run by Branson or his businesses,
but they are licensed to use his brand and hence
generate substantial revenue for Branson’s
businesses.

7. The Benefits of Licensing
• Generates a new or additional stream of income for
a contracted period of time.
• Can prevent infringements.
• It can enable your business or brand to expand into a
new market with a minimum of risk or investment.
• Successful licensing arrangements may also enhance
or strengthen the business more generally.

8. • Legal issues at the outset can cause practical problems
(sub licensing IP, retrieval of licensed rights after
bankruptcy).
• Poor execution of the service etc. by the Licensee may
have a detrimental effect on your brand in that market.
• The Licensee could become a competitor in that
market.

9. Franchising is the means of providing a third party with the ability
of doing business or offering a service through the use of the
Franchisor’s (existing and successful) brand, trademarks and ‘know
how’.
Franchise operations in the UK account for £13BN in revenue per year and
employ almost 600,000 people.

10. Key Benefits to Franchising
• A scalable option which enables business to
grow quickly without the requirement for
significant investment.
• Can generate substantial revenues for the
franchisor.
• Most franchise agreements include the
purchase of goods or services.
Risks
• Requires that the original business is
already successful.
• Requires significant investment.
•Necessitates a much closer relationship
with the franchisee.

11. When looking at lending against IP assets the following principles
apply:
• The assets need to satisfy the ownership test.
• Check for existing interests.
• Can the lender assert it’s own claims.
There are additional challenges compared to traditional assets due to
the nature of IP.

12. IP assets can protect the value of a business through:
• Providing a competitive advantage.
• Protecting existing revenues from changes in the overall business
environment.
• Providing a platform to take action against third party infringements.

13. One important area that all business
owners should consider carefully
The opportunity to crystallise significant value through a third party investment or
through a successful business exit.

14. Using IP to Protect your Business Value
When Selling your Business
Valuable IP assets can add real value to an investor and result in a higher
price when looking for investment or trying to sell your business.

15. The Role of IP in Relation to Due Diligence for
Investments or Business Exits
A Due Diligence will be carried out prior to investments in a
business or business exits.
This process will typically cover reviews in detail of:
• Financial information
• Business information (sector, competitors, markets etc.)
• Legal
• Tax due diligence
• IT and/or IP asset review

16. Putting successful IP management at the centre of your
business strategy can protect the value of your business and
pay dividends at a later stage.

17. • Registration of all IP related assets appropriately on the public records.
• Retain copies of all licence, franchise or other agreements and register them with the IPO as a matter of
course.
• Ensure that there is an internal IP ‘housekeeping’ plan to ensure that all registration expiry dates for IP are
noted and all registration fees are dealt with as appropriate.
• Ensure that all Licence/Franchise agreement expiry dates are noted.
• Retain files on the valuation of all IP assets as well as the valuation method applied.
• There is an internal process for reviewing and/or identifying any infringements and an action plan where
these may occur.
• All legal actions are recorded and reviewed periodically.
• Ensure that all domain names and company names etc. are all registered and recorded internally.
• Action plan for reviewing values of IP assets and/or process for avoiding impairment or actively enhancing
values.
IP ACTION PLAN!
Maximise Your Business Value