Senior executives have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to maximize and protect the value of their companies' assets. Intangible assets drive nearly 70 percent of a company's market value, predominantly in the form of intellectual property. Today, intellectual property (IP) is defined as a collection of intangible assets ranging from patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and institutional knowledge that drives a company's competitive advantage, differentiation and unique value in the marketplace. There are documented cases in the life sciences, manufacturing and computer software industries in which losing intellectual property, either to a competitor or to the public domain, led to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, legal fees and damages, reduced market valuation and in some instances, class-action lawsuits.
