Insights on Intellectual Property, Forensic Accounting, and Trade Secret Misappropriation
Welcome to the tenth edition of Ocean Tomo Insights, our weekly LinkedIn newsletter featuring unique insights from intellectual property (IP) experts at Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held.
This week's newsletter features insights from?Christopher Bruce on IP issues in buy/sell agreements, Aubrey Shea and Jessica Eldridge on Insurance Claims and Fraud Investigations, and Robert McSorley on Monetary Recovery for Trade Secret Misappropriation.
IP refers to intangible assets such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. These assets increasingly represent significant, material value of businesses, and as such, they need to be properly protected and managed in buy/sell agreements.
Buy/sell agreements should include provisions that specify the IP being transferred, terms of transfer, warranties/indemnities, and ongoing obligations/restrictions on IP use after sale.
There are several steps involved in transferring ownership of IP assets: Identify the IP, obtain the necessary documents, determine the value of the IP assets, prepare the transfer documents, and record the transfer.
Learn more about IP issues in buy/sell agreements here.
Christopher Bruce?is a Director in Advisory Services, working from the Chicago Headquarters of Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held. Advisory Services is comprised of Transaction Advisory, Investments and non-securities Investment Banking. Mr. Bruce holds the FINRA Series 7 and 63 license. Mr. Bruce plays an integral role in supporting the firms work on behalf of client in the areas of IP-driven transactions, mergers and acquisitions, IP monetization strategy as well as IP-based special situations investments.
There is more to forensic accounting than just looking at tax returns and “the bottom line.” Criminal investigations, insurance claims, commercial disputes, and class action lawsuits are just a few examples of where forensic accountants are delivering the truth behind the numbers
Learn more in this paper about the role of forensic accountants in:
To view J.S. Held’s full library of 100+ thought leadership articles centered around risk & advisory, financial investigations, and technical topics, click here.
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Aubrey Shea is a Senior Vice President and the Forensic Accounting – Insurance Services Practice Leader for J.S. Held. Aubrey utilizes her expertise to address complex financial matters spanning a variety of industries including healthcare, education, construction, manufacturing, gaming, hospitality, retail, marine, and energy. She brings more than a decade of forensic accounting experience in quantifying claims related to cyber, builder’s risk and soft costs, construction defects, physical damage, stock and contents, business interruption, extra expenses, theft, and personal injury. She has also provided litigation support on numerous occasions and delivered expert assistance for depositions and mediations.
Jessica Eldridge is a Vice President in J.S. Held’s Forensic Accounting - Insurance Services practice. She has over 19 years of investigative and forensic accounting experience in measuring financial damages involving business interruption, cyber, extra expense, stock, builder’s risk, employee dishonesty/fidelity, personal injury, subrogation, and litigation support services. Jessica also has extensive experience with the administration of common fee funds and the oversite of property damage claims for large construction projects.
More than six years have passed since President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) in May 2016. Since then, Federal trade secret actions have been on the rise, with an average of nearly 160 new DTSA cases filed each quarter since Q4 2020.
Ocean Tomo’s Expert Testimony practice has also experienced an uptick in trade secret-related assignments. Earlier this year, I shared a post on our experience with the Extraterritorial Application of the Defend Trade Secrets Act in the matter of Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp., 17-cv-01973 (N.D. IL). Other notable DTSA cases in which we were retained include: Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 17-cv-00939 (N.D. CA); Comet Technologies USA Inc. v. XP Power LLC, 20-cv-06408 (N.D. CA); and Appian Corporation v. Pegasystems Inc., 20-cv-07216 (Fairfax County, VA).
As part of our work in these cases, we typically undertake two related evaluations: 1) the defendant’s accelerated R&D schedule; and, 2) the defendant’s R&D cost savings resulting from the alleged misappropriation. These evaluations are important not only to our work concerning monetary recovery, but also to the case overall, as they often help to establish other elements of the trade secret claim and/or other relevant issues.
Visit the Ocean Tomo Insights blog to view my post on the importance of evaluating defendant's R&D acceleration and related cost savings, where I explore claim elements or other relevant issues to which R&D cost analyses may relate depending on the specific facts of a case.
Robert McSorley is a Managing Director in the Intellectual Property Disputes Financial Expert Testimony practice. He has 30 years of experience addressing economic, financial, and accounting issues concerning commercial litigation. Mr. McSorley has focused on intellectual property disputes since 1998, and regularly evaluates the measures and amounts of monetary recovery for infringement/misappropriation. He has offered expert testimony in federal courts and in depositions on dozens of occasions, and courts and juries have adopted his opinions and conclusions.
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