Friday Fantasies

Surveyors as IP Valuation Experts?—IP valuation is one of those topics that tends

to stay just below the mainstream IP radar. That does not mean that more and more people don't want to enter the field. A recent example, giving rise to some raised eyebrows, was brought to the IPKat's attention by a Kat reader in Hong Kong.

He reports that Hong Kong (property) surveyors have been trying to break into the IP valuation business for some time and now they have called upon overseas bodies (for example, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) to promote the virtues of having surveyors perform IP valuations. In this connection, they are seeking to promote a ‘standard’ for IP valuation (our Kat reader wonders whether this is a call for a "recipe for valuation at best, a static checklist at worst") and then have the government endorse this standard.

People involved in the IP and finance area were asked by our Kat reader why there is such a push now in Hong Kong. Some of the answers he received are as follows--

1. There are new corporate rules coming into place in the UK requiring valuation of IP;

2. Hong Kong surveyors fear a drop in local property prices and are trying to find new outlets for their skills;

3. There is speculation that governments will devise ways to start taxing IP or IP-related transactions.

These observations lead to the questions of: (i) is IP valuation is a sub-category of business valuations or a self-contained professional endeavor; and (ii) in either case, to what extent must an IP valuation professional understand the legal context of IP rights?

Geographical Indications—Following the recent program given by INTA in Rome on Geographical Names, the IPKat was pleased to learn from his colleagues at Di Blasi, Parente & Associados that the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office has published its 100th application for registration of a GI since the Brazilian Intellectual Property Law entered into force. The application was made for CAPANEMA, which is a molasses and brown sugar product from the southeastern state of Paraná. Of the 100 applications that have been filed, 44 of them have been registered.

On behalf of the entire IPKat team, we wish readers everywhere all the best for the year 2016.