Introduction

• Author: Russell L. Parr
• Profession: President of Intellectual Property Research Associates
• Pages: 1-1

PART I

INTRODUCTION

In this rst part of the book, readers will nd the denitions of intellectual property and

intangible assets.

Intellectual property consists of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Intan-

gible assets include an assembled workforce, contracts, licenses, operational software, prac-

tices and procedures, and many other items that are needed to integrate the intellectual

property of a company into a going concern.

The value of these assets must be considered as part of a business enterprise. In order

to quantify the value of intellectual property and intangible assets, it is necessary to fully

understand their nature and economic characteristics, and importantly it must be understood

that these assets do not create valueby themselves. They may be at the heart of creating value,

but they must be integrated with other assets in order to be economically exploited. These

other assets are the tangible and monetary assets of a business enterprise. Therefore, the

relationship between intellectual property and intangible assets and the business enterprise

is discussed.

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