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Contact: Lynton Kotzin

Intellectual property has been increasingly recognized as a significant component of the overall value of firms in a wide array of industries. The intellectual property of a company may need to be valued for a variety of reasons, including:

• financial reporting requirements,

• estimation of royalty rates,

• bankruptcy and reorganization proceedings,

• lending decisions,

• income, estate and gift taxes, and

• the determination of damages in litigation.

Also, merger and acquisition activity can bring into question the value relating to intangible assets.

Ringel Kotzin's valuation professionals have performed extensive services related to the valuation of intellectual property and intangible assets, such as:

• trade names and trademarks,

• favorable leases,

• assembled workforce,

• customer lists,

• patents,

• software,

• non-compete agreements, and

• goodwill.

Issuance by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) of SFAS 141, 142, and 144, governing business combinations and the financial reporting of goodwill and other intangible assets, makes it more important than ever for companies to obtain an independent valuation of their recorded intangible assets.

**Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 141, Business Combinations, relates to the initial recognition and measurement of intangible assets and goodwill arising from a business combination, whereas SFAS No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, identifies the treatment of such assets after initial recognition. SFAS No. 144, Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets, requires companies to recognize an impairment loss when the carrying value of an asset is not recoverable from its undiscounted cash flows.