Perhaps more so than ever, intellectual property has become one
of the more valuable assets of many companies. Companies routinely
spend tens of millions of dollars to develop intellectual property
such as software, patents, and trade secrets. In a world which is
increasingly dependent on innovation, secured creditors may be more
willing to accept intellectual property as collateral for the
obligations owing to them.
When it comes time to either enforce security over intellectual
property, or to resist the enforcement efforts of creditors over
intellectual property, some certainty as to the value of the assets
of the business is required, either to persuade the court to
approve a sale, or to persuade the court that the company needs
more time to restructure. With intellectual property assets,
however, in particular unique or early stage intellectual property
such as software or patentable inventions, the valuation may be
open to a more subjective analysis and there
