The expressed intent is to draw attention to a more open and transparent disclosure of IP and intangible assets, but in effect enables those companies employing such tactics to report a greater value that those that are governed by the GAAP principles used in the United States.

The bottom line is that corporate executives are going to need to acquire a greater understanding of IP and its affects on their companies' strategic position, market share, revenues, and earnings. Ways to define and value the "defensive" advantage emanating from denying competitors rights to employing the patented technologies must also become a standard by which executives can make decisions and shareholders can measure the risk of their portfolios.

Steve Parmelee is a former Vice President and Director of Motorola's IP Portfolio Management. He later served as the director of the company's Intellectual Property for Nascent and Emerging Technologies activities. He now is a partner in the Chicago office of Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery. Mr. Parmelee provides a reliable starting point, complete with a framework, for the executive who seeks to emerge from this current chaotic grab for IP advantage with a solid position among his/her peers in corporate leadership and strategy.

As one client puts it: "If there is one man who can straighten out a rat's nest of patents and come up with a strategy to develop an advantage for his company, it is our friend from Chicago, Steve Parmelee."