IPR Plaza weblogs

Will Virgin survive without Richard Branson?

You may have seen this article where Richard Branson bets on Virgin's survival after he sells his controlling stake. Willie Walsh, the chief executive of International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways, has suggested that after Branson's exit from the business, the Virgin brand would disappear.

Branson's management of Virgin has notoriously been strategic. He has forged partnerships with other innovative companies and grown Virgin by taking creative and strategic business risks. How does his possible departure affect the strength of Virgin and it's future success?

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Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

How does Apple inspire customers?

As Apple's product line stabilizes, it faces many challenges from competitors seeking to win away customers with new and updated versions of similar products. Samsung, Google and Microsoft continue to be strong competitors across many arenas and other start-up ventures are shifting the young audience to new technology applications and products. Apple's main brand strenght, other than quality products, is the high level of creativity and innovation that inspires customers. How do you see this changing and evolving as Apple grows and its brand evolves?

Is Starbucks’ inability to pay taxes really due to its royalty fees?

Starbucks is in great trouble as the streets of London echoes from protesters demanding that the coffee giant pay more in taxes. It has recently become public that Starbucks’ UK division did not pay taxes in the last three fiscal years on the grounds of negative income reported. However, there is no need for desperation; the company is not going bankrupt. According to the manager of the UK division, the company is prospering better than ever; so well, as the management is considering exporting the UK business strategy and model to its greatest market in the US.

Starbucks’ strategy to not pay taxes can be traced back to its reporting on intangibles and transfer pricing practices. In order to find out more about the ways in which they did it, read the article “Financial reporting on IP abused by multinationals?” The game which Starbucks, along with many other multinationals such as IKEA or eBay started carries a hidden risk which could seriously damage the company. Due to the misunderstanding among non-professionals which surrounds transfer pricing practices, this aggressive strategy can negatively affect the value of the brand.

In your opinion, is it the royalty fee that reduces the profit of Starbucks’ UK division? Or is it due to some other business related costs such as the increased amount of rental costs coming from the expensive locations which it chooses for its cafes?

Sources: Reuters, Guardian, Guardian

For more on this topic, see the main article here.

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Is James Bond Selling Out?

Following up on our latest article on James Bond’s intellectual property (here), it has become quite obvious that the marketers are trying to squeeze out every little drop of the James Bond brand to promote all type of products ranging from alcoholic drinks to perfumes to lavish wrist watches. When has the threshold reached trying too hard, to the point where it actually tarnishes the brand name by, in a way, making a mockery out of it as opposed to uplifting it?

Does all this advertising increase your loyalty towards the James Bond brand and induce you to actually by the products? Or does it do the opposite?

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Have Patents Lost Their Primary Purpose?

Following the article on “A Broken Patent System” and the vast amount of patent related lawsuits between big companies, one question that has been surfacing is ‘have patents lost their main purpose?’
Patent applications are being driven by the profits that can be made from infringement instead of the push for innovation and rights ownership as they were originally intended.

More and more large companies are expanding their patent portfolio by buying other patents, and suing patent companies that infringe on their rights, making it harder for small innovators and inventors to get a piece of the pie.

What is your opinion on the patent system? Do you think it is broken or do you think that it has simply evolved but is still serving its primary purpose?

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Invention sharing?

A post-graduate student at Oxford University designed the website Marblar, which can be best described as the “Facebook for inventors”. The networking site is targeted to investors to connect and share ideas with other scientists, and to explore the commercial application of inventions.

For consumers, the benefits are obvious - great minds working together to generate better, more innovative technological applications. However, what are the implications for scientists and the scientific process? How will confidentiality be regarded on the site?

What do you think? Does the networking platform have more positive or negative aspects?

Source: The Telegraph

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Kony 2012

In our news article “Invisible Children to sue Kickstriker,” we mention that Invisible Children threatens to sue Kickstriker for allegedly infringing their trademark names. Invisible Children’s core mission is to support children, shouldn’t the organization then be more concerned about continuing development in areas of need, as opposed to suing for infringement where none has taken place?

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Should patents be more accessible to micro entities?

As stated in our article on “Easier Access To Patents For Micro Entities ”, the USPTO has planned to reduce micro entities’ costs by 50% for “filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing and maintaining patent application and patents”.

The USPTO is holding a 60 day commenting period to then decide whether they proceed with the plan. Do you think this is enough incentive to get more small/micro entities to file for patents? Or should more be done?

For more information on the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, click here

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Should the UK join the Patent Box regimes?

In our article “The Next Patent Box Regime : The UK”, we review the plans by the UK to join the Patent Box regime by 2013.

For those unfamiliar with the Patent Box, it is an incentive put in place to give preferential tax treatment on the profits received as a direct result of patents.

In short, companies selected for the Patent Box initiative will pay 10%, as opposed to 20%-24% in taxes on those profits directly attributable to the patent held.

Do you think that this tax cut is enough to induce companies to keep their patented product production or patented processes in-house? What if other regions apply the same Patent Box but with even higher tax-cuts? Those companies may then still have an incentive to move production abroad.

What about the calculation of the relevant patent related cash flows, is it a straightforward method or will it add complications to the tax calculations?

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com

Is Facebook fad history?

Since Facebook’s IPO on may 18^th, the company has experienced some great set backs. From pending law suits due to lack of full financial disclosure, to a share price drop of roughly 23%, from $38 per share to $29.2 per share. The latter translates into a loss in value of $24 billion in the span of a week.

However, what could lead to such a disappointing performance?

Some analysts at the Wharton School of business claim that it can be linked to the difficulties faced when deciding on what actually to value in a company such as Facebook as there is not really a means of comparison. They have no model in place to really value the company and because of this, the valuations given were all based on subjective factors which were inflated by the hype that Facebook brought.

It seems skeptics were indeed correct, to think that it was just a fad and the true value would greatly disappoint the hyped up investors.

[Source: BizzBuzz, Edmond Journal “ Facebook is rapidly turning into facebust”. http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/05/29/facebook-is-rapidly-turning-into-facebust/; Facebook quotes and financials http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/fb]

Originaly posted on https://calculators.tpa-global.com