Martin-Tardivat.net

«C'est marrant, suffit de s'arranger pour que quelqu'un pige rien à ce qu'on lui dit et on obtient pratiquement tout ce qu'on veut.»

Phénomène littéraire sans équivalent depuis les années 50, J.D. Salinger reste le plus mystérieux des écrivains contemporains et son chef d'œuvre, L'attrape-coeurs , roman de l'adolescence le plus lu dans le monde entier, est l'histoire d'une fugue , celle d'un garçon de la bourgeoisie new-yorkaise chassé de son collège trois jours avant Noël, qui n'ose pas rentrer chez lui et affronter ses parents. Trois jours de vagabondage et d'aventures cocasses, sordides ou émouvantes, d'incertitude et d'anxiété , à la recherche de soi-même et des autres. L'histoire éternelle d'un gosse perdu qui cherche des raisons de vivre dans un monde hostile et corrompu.

En pleine crise, Annie Leibovitz a eu recours en décembre 2008 à une institution financière, qui lui a prêté de l'argent en échange d'une hypothèque sur ses oeuvres.



Elle doit actuellement 24 millions de dollars et, à l'échéance du 8 septembre, devra se déclarer en faillite si elle ne rembourse pas l'argent prêté par Art Capital, qui a porté plainte et réclame son dû. Montieth Illingworth, porte-parole d'Art Capital, a expliqué à l'AFP que le créancier exigeait qu'Annie Leibovitz "respecte les termes du contrat, et autorise Art Capital à vendre ses biens artistiques et immobiliers pour payer ses dettes".

Outre ses archives photographiques estimées à 50 millions de dollars selon le New York Times, elle a hypothéqué sa maison qui occupe tout un coin de rue dans Greenwich Village (sud-ouest de Manhattan) ainsi qu'une résidence secondaire à Rhinebeck, au nord de New York.

Une série de billets sur la valorisation des actifs immatériels et leur utilisation comme instruments financiers est en cours de publication sur mon blog www.martintardivat.com

General Motors today said it would terminate its endorsement deal with Tiger Woods in December, ending the pro golfer's nine-year stint with the automaker.

GM issued a statement asserting that both GM and Woods "agreed to a mutual and amicable separation that included a desire for more personal time for the golfer who is expecting his second child in late winter as well as the search for budget efficiencies during a difficult economy for GM."

Tiger Woods signed with GM nine years ago, but has been used sparingly by the automaker. Earlier this year, however, GM began featuring Woods front and center to boost sales of the Buick Enclave luxury crossover. TV spots featured Woods discussing what he likes about his Enclave.

In June, GM launched a promotion for Buick called "Tee Off with Tiger," where fans were asked to guess Woods' score on each hole he played through the fall, for a chance to win his services as a caddy at Torrey Pines golf course.

As the auto industry continues to sputter and the big carmakers seek a federal bailout, it's little surprise that media spending in the category has begun to erode.

According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus data, Ford and Chrysler each spent 22 percent less on advertising in 2008, while General Motors' ad spend dropped 6 percent. Through July, GM retained its position as the top-spending auto company, investing $1.25 billion in advertising.

Auction: "Sold! US$6 Million to the Bidder on the Phone!"

A portfolio of 82 patents sold at the Ocean Tomo Spring 2008 IP Auction in San Francisco in early April for US$6 million. The bid came from an anonymous phone bidder. It is the highest price paid at an IP rights auction. The patents in the portfolio relate to the processing of digital data bitstreams.

Two other lots at the auction hit the $1 million mark, but most bids do not attract such high prices. Some sold for as little as $10,000. Ocean Tomo held a conference on leveraging IP for investors and corporate IP strategies as part of the two-day event.

Trademarks are a strategic tool used (i) in identifying the niche in the market for a new entrant: (ii) developing the customer base; (iii) as a focus for all stakeholders in the company; (iv) improving the management of the company; (v) as a source of collateral for borrowing funds; (vi) as a potential source of revenues through licensing and franchising; and (vii) in providing residual income on their sale at cessation of trading.

The brand is thus one of a company’s greatest assets and nowadays more and more companies are now placing equal importance on managing their intangible assets as managing their tangible assets.

If intangible assets are to be managed properly and make a full contribution to the performance of the company, then IP such as trade marks must be accounted for and valued.

The majority of firms do not generally carry out a formal valuation of their intellectual property and a significant majority of firms do not even collect statistics necessary for carrying out a valuation. As a matter of fact, (i) majority of firms do not formally monitor the performance of their IP, (ii) majority do not value IP for internal management purposes, (iii) valuation of IP is much more likely where transactions are involved, i.e. mergers, license agreements, etc, (iv) only few firms use their IP as an asset to secure finance and (v) firms generally believe that acceptable methodologies to value IP do not currently exist

France has now admitted that certain companies’ balance sheet must provide not only reasonable estimates of the physical assets and financial capital but also information about their intangible assets such as trademarks and other IP rights. In this regard, there are a range of recognized methods of valuing intangible assets and specialized lawyers or attorneys shall be able to help.

Once it is valued, trade marks has to be seen as a potential source of borrowing and in their potential for generating additional streams of income. While this is an important issue amongst all firms, it is of particular importance for small firms, which regularly report the difficulties of accessing finance.

Finally, we turn to the issue of the “residual value” of trade marks, when a company is sold or, even, when it ceases trading and its remaining assets are identified and sold off. In this case, trade marks can be a separately identifiable asset that can have residual value.

The value of key trade marks can be illustrated by the sale of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which was purchased by Volkswagen in 1998. VW is reported to have paid £479 million for the company, only to find that it had not secured the RR trade mark rights. In fact, BMW, one of VW’s main rivals, had bought the rights for £40 million. Given that the RR name was arguably the single most valuable asset of the company, it is not surprising that the press reported the events as a major error on VW’s, while it was argued that BMW had pulled off a major coup, obtaining an “extraordinary brand” at what was viewed as a very low price.

While it is argued that trade marks are essential to the identification of products and services, it has become clear from the above elements that they play a much broader and more important role than this would suggest.