IP finance ... where money issues meet intellectual property rights: German Standards Institute DIN - General Principles of Proper Patent Valuation
Voting ends tomorrow (2nd May) at ISO on whether to create a new project committee for Patent Valuation. In the initial round of comments to the ISO Technical Management Board 25 replies were received. 16 member bodies voted in favour of the starting work on the proposal whilst 8 rejected the idea. One abstained.
Countries rejecting the standard included Japan, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, the UK and the US.
The Netherlands provided the most detailed arguments on their position, essentially maintaining that the idea of a standard was not feasible and that it is difficult to understand how the complexities of the subject matter can be mastered sufficiently to develop any useful standard.
The UK commented that the work on the standard on brand valuation should be completed before starting work on patent valuation.
ANSI in the US considered that a standards development committee was not an appropriate forum for doing the kind of the work needed to develop and evaluate new patent valuation methodologies.
Clearly ISO and its member organisations are divided on the subject. It is difficult to tell whether ISO will take on this project or not. However, one of the most interesting points to emerge from the comments made from the national standards organsiations was the concern of overlap in work with the International Accounting Standards Board. Clearly ISO will need to liaise with this other organisations active in the IP and finance fields if the standard is to be accepted.
