Intellectual Property Reporting for Brands

It is typical today that a company’s most valuable assets are its intellectual property (IP), including trademarks and brand-related assets. These are considered part of a company’s non-physical assets, collectively referred to as “intangible assets.” A study by IP consultancy Ocean Tomo found that the share of intangible asset market value in companies in the S&P 500 increased from 68 percent to 90 percent between 1995 and 2020. No doubt, a company’s true economic value increasingly lies in its intangible assets and IP has emerged as the leading asset class.

Brands and IP also bring immense value to regional and global economies, the daily lives of consumers, and society-at-large. In today’s economy, where intangibles increasingly drive economic growth, IP management and IP strategies have become necessities for any company—whether new or established. Consequently, IP reporting is increasingly impacting the practice of IP professionals across all industries.

However, while brand value is understood to be critically significant to businesses, the “true” value of IP is often miscalculated or undervalued. This miscalculation is largely due to the current corporate reporting standards that exclude the values of intangible assets associated with internally developed or homegrown brands from being recognized on company balance sheets. As noted in the Report, “[t]he effect of this blanket exclusion is that significant aspects of companies’ values remain unreported.”

In this context, 2022 INTA President Zeeger Vink (MF Brands Group, Switzerland) convened a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on IP reporting for brands. The PTF sought to provide analysis and insight that could broaden the perspective of a company’s management, employees, investors, and other stakeholders by considering ways in which information regarding the value of brand-related IP can be more effectively—or transparently—communicated.

Aligned with INTA’s 2022–2025 Strategic Plan in its directive to “Promote and Reinforce the Value of Brands,” the PTF believes that it is in the best interest of brand owners and their stakeholders to enhance communication internally and externally regarding the value of brands.

Through extensive research and discussion, the PTF arrived at a set of recommendations for INTA, which delve into: (1) corporate IP reporting, (2) outreach to accounting organizations, and (3) brand valuation. These recommendations are set out in the PTF report, Intellectual Property Reporting for Brands.

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