1. Class Topic Intangible Asset Valuation January 12, 2010

2.  The focus of Cyberlaw and E-Commerce is on intangible assets in the business community  The following introductory materials provide some context on the value of intangible assets Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 2

3.  “Intellectual capital or intangible assets are recognized as the most important assets of many of the world’s largest and most powerful companies; it is the foundation for the market dominance and continuing profitability of leading corporations.” Id. at 679  *Grace T. R. Lin and Jerry Y. H. Tang, Journal of Business Ethics (2009) 88:679–689 Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 3

4.  “Meanwhile, one of the most vexing problems in business valuation is the issue of valuing intangible assets. They come in many forms, including patents and trademarks, copyrights, mailing lists, exclusive contracts, royalty agreements, work-in-progress, proprietary designs, and many others.” Id. at 679 Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 4

5.  “The accounting and finance conventions of the industrial age are effective at valuing tangible assets, but they largely ignore the value of harder- to-quantify assets, such as employee satisfaction, learning, R&D effectiveness, and customer loyalty (Mathis and Jackson, 2003). In the information age, intangible assets are far more important than the tangible assets that traditional accounting systems were designed to measure.” Id. at 680 Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 5

6.  One extensive approach to intangible asset valuation is produced by Brand Finance  See the BRANDFINANCE™ Global 500BRANDFINANCE™ Global 500  We will look specifically at pages 13, 16, 58 and 59 of the above report Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 6

7.  For an interesting treatment of the value of the Coca- Cola brand, see the 1997 article Coke trade-mark always the real thingCoke trade-mark always the real thing Cyberlaw & E-Commerce - J. Pittman 7