What is Your Software Worth?

This article presents a method for valuing software based on the income that use of that software is expected to generate in the future. Well-known principles of intellectual property (IP) valuation, sales expectations, discounting to present value, and the like, are applied, always focusing on the benefits and costs of software. A major issue, not dealt with in the literature of valuing intangibles, is that software is continually upgraded. Applying depreciation schedules is the simple solution, but does not represent at all the actual devaluation of the inherent IP of software. A realistic approach, allowing ongoing maintenance, is presented here. All steps of the process are presented and then integrated via a simple quantitative example. Having a quantitative model on a spreadsheet allows exploration of business alternatives. An example a service model is evaluated. Conclusions are drawn that reflect on academic and business practice.Valuation, intellectual property, software, software life, maintenance

Stop Piracy with Edification: Intellectual Property Education in School

From introduction: The global population is showing substantial disregard for intellectual property. As children, they practice the production of illegal music copies for friends and family and engage in plagiarism. Adults commit in addition software piracy, the purchasing of pirated video, and various other copyright violations. The utter disregard of such works and creativity is stumping innovation and stems from the lack of adequate intellectual property education. As an academic course counselor, I propose that elementary, middle, and high schools introduce Intellectual Property Education in to their current curriculum. This would effectively and noticeably decrease copyright infringement and would promote a sense of appreciation for creation. Yet, copyright laws and trusted systems should still be in position to prevent further encroachment

What is Your Software Worth?

This article presents a method for valuing software based on the income that use of that software is expected to generate in the future. Well-known principles of intellectual property (IP) valuation, sales expectations, discounting to present value, and the like, are applied, always focusing on the benefits and costs of software. A major issue, not dealt with in the literature of valuing intangibles, is that software is continually upgraded. Applying depreciation schedules is the simple solution, but does not represent at all the actual devaluation of the inherent IP of software. A realistic approach, allowing ongoing maintenance, is presented here. All steps of the process are presented and then integrated via a simple quantitative example. Having a quantitative model on a spreadsheet allows exploration of business alternatives. An example a service model is evaluated. Conclusions are drawn that reflect on academic and business practice

The “25% Rule” for Patent Infringement Damages After Uniloc

The 2011 decision by the Federal Circuit in Uniloc v. Microsoft properly condemned the “25% Rule,” which bases a reasonable royalty on 25% of an infringer’s profits. Nonetheless, at least one proponent of the Rule continues to argue that the Rule is fundamentally valid and should remain in use. This article analyzes the historical development of the Rule, its conceptual basis, its application in actual cases, and relevant insights from other recent Federal Circuit cases. Each analysis shows fundamental problems and contradictions that demonstrate the Rule can never be a reliable patent damages methodology. There is no reason to change the conclusion in Uniloc

Fair value on commons-based intellectual property assets: Lessons of an estimation over Linux kernel.

Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials, spreading development burden amongst individuals and companies. This model has resulted in a large and efficient ecosystem and unheralded software innovation, freely available to society. Open source methods are also increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavour, such as biotechnology or cultural production. But under financial reporting framework, general volunteer activity is not reflected on financial statements. As a result, there is not value of volunteer contributions and there is also no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop an open source technology. This volunteer activity encloses not only individuals but corporations developing and contributing open source products. Standard methodology for reporting open source asset valuation is needed and must include value creation from the perspective of the different stakeholders.FLOSS, commons, accounting standards, financial reporting

The valuation of unprotected works: a case study of public domain photographs on Wikipedia

What is the value of works in the public domain? We study the biographical Wikipedia pages of a large data set of authors, composers, and lyricists to determine whether the public domain status of available images leads to a higher rate of inclusion of illustrated supplementary material and whether such inclusion increases visitorship to individual pages. We attempt to objectively place a value on the body of public domain photographs and illustrations which are used in this global resource. We find that the most historically remote subjects are more likely to have images on their web pages because their biographical life-spans pre-date the existence of in-copyright imagery. We find that the large majority of photos and illustrations used on subject pages were obtained from the public domain, and we estimate their value in terms of costs saved to Wikipedia page builders and in terms of increased traffic corresponding to the inclusion of an image. Then, extrapolating from the characteristics of a random sample of a further 300 Wikipedia pages, we estimate a total value of public domain photographs on Wikipedia of between $246 to$270 million dollars per year

The Need of Changes in Traditional Accounting Systems Necessitated by Modern Intellectual Capital Conception

While economists, business people and policy analysts continue to debate the question of what is "new" about the so-called "New Economy", globalization, urgency of innovation and intensive use of Information technology, one important feature of modern Corporation in the early twenty-first century seems clear: intangible factors are playing an increasingly dominant role in business wealth creation. The drivers of tomorrow's wealth are brands, networks, knowledge, innovation, relationships, competencies, corporate culture and leadership, and these are the new critical assets - the weightless keys to business future wealth. But despite the growing awareness of the importance of intangible assets, they remain almost universally ignored in traditional accounting and reporting procedures. The authors in this article analyze the main problems concerning difficulties to reflect intangibles in traditional accounting statements and project the tendencies of reporting intangible-related information in future accountability.Podczas gdy ekonomiści, przedsiębiorcy i politolodzy dyskutują nad tym, co jest "nowego" w tzw. Nowej Ekonomii oraz nad zagadnieniami związanymi z globalizacją i potrzebą innowacji oraz szerokiego korzystania z technologii informatycznej, jedna kwestia nie ulega wątpliwości, jeśli chodzi o zmiany w przedsiębiorstwie XXI w.: czynniki niematerialne odgrywają coraz większą rolę w tworzeniu wartości. Czynniki kluczowe w kreowaniu przyszłego bogactwa to znaki firmowe, systemy połączeń i kooperacji, wiedza, innowacje, relacje, wartości, kultura organizacyjna i przywództwo. Ale chociaż świadomość znaczenia aktywów niematerialnych i prawnych jest coraz większa, tradycyjna rachunkowość i sprawozdawczość niemal całkowicie je ignoruje. Autorzy tego artykułu analizują najważniejsze problemy, wynikające z trudności odzwierciedlenia aktywów niematerialnych w tradycyjnych sprawozdaniach finansowych oraz ukazują kierunki przyszłego rozwoju rachunkowości w tym zakresie.Nepaisant augančio nematerialaus turto svarbos suvokimo, daugelyje šalių jis iślieka ignoruojamas tradicineje atskaitomybeje ir ataskaitų procedūrose. Praktiškai visos nematerialios investicijos finansinese ataskaitose yra fiksuojamos kaip iślaidos, bet ne kapitahzuojamos (traktuojamos kaip turtas), ir nuamortizuojamos prognozuojamame naudos laikotarpyje. Materialaus-nematerialaus turto asimetnja stingant informacijos apie investicijas į nematerialų turtą daro socialinę ir ekonominę żalą. Sio straipsnio autoriai analizuoja pagrindines nematerialaus turto atspindejimo tradicinese finansinese ataskaitose sunkumų problemas, pasiūlydami jų sprendimo būdus ir prognozuodami informacijos apie nematerialų turtą fiksavimo ateitį atskaitomybėse.Zadanie pt. Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Follow the Intellectual Property, How does Industry pay Programmers' Salaries when they move the related IP rights to offshore taxhavens?"

In the ongoing discussion about offshoring in the computer and data-processing industries, the 2006 ACM report Globalization and Offshoring of Software addressed job shifts due to globalization in the software industry. But jobs represent only half of the labor and capital equation in business. In today’s high-technology industries, intellectual property (IP) supplies the other half, the capital complement. Offshoring IP always accompanies offshoring jobs and, while less visible, may be a major driver of job transfer. The underlying economic model—involving ownership of profits, taxation, and compensation of workers from the revenue their products generate—has not been explicated and is largely unknown in the computer science community. This article presents the issue of software income allocation and the role IP plays in offshoring. It also tries to explain why computer experts lack insight into the economics of software, from investments made, to profits accumulated, to capital becoming available for investment in new projects and jobs.Offshoring, offshore outsourcing, tax havens, job loss, intellectual property, tax avoidance, non-routine profits

Facing human rights attributes of copyright in Europe in the context of the EU Digital Single Market

The principle of equality as a fundamental norm in law and political philosophy, Jurysprudencja 8., Wojciechowski B., Bekrycht T., Cern K.M., (eds.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2017The project was financed by National Science Centre Poland (decision no. DEC-2012/05/B/HS5/01111)

Venture capital investor behaviour in the backing of UK high technology firms : financial reporting and the level of investment

This paper is an empirical investigation into the ways in which venture capitalists value (and invest in) high technology firms, focusing on financial reporting, risk disclosure and intangible assets. It is based on questionnaire returns from UK investors in diverse sectors, ranging from biotechnology, through software/ computer services, to communications and medical services. This evidence is used to examine: (a) the usefulness of financial accounts; (b) the implications of technopole investment; (c) the extent of investor control over the investee's AIS; and (d) the role of investor opinion (e.g. on disclosure, due diligence and risk reporting) in determining the level of equity provision