Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Transfer Of Intellectual Property For Equity

This question is actually not an "Intellectual Property" question, and is more properly answered by a tax attorney and/or business organizations (corporate) attorney. It will benefit you to consult with experts in those areas.

Re: Transfer Of Intellectual Property For Equity

IP is an asset like anything else. Assuming your asset is registered, you'll have to document the sale of the asset from one entity to the other and then change the registration accordingly.

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Ben

Re: Transfer Of Intellectual Property For Equity

Your question is simply too broad to give you a complete and accurate answer. However, you are generally dealing with two major issues: (1) the practical aspect of your transfer; and (2) the tax implications you reference. First, intellectual property is an asset, and like selling any other asset, you must document the ownership transfer and change title to any attendant registrations (e.g. registration certificates for copyrights, trademarks, and/or patents). Second, the tax implications of the transfer will depend on your tax "basis" in the assets. Their value, including goodwill, minus any depreciation and amortization must be factored in comparison to the value attached to the assets pursuant to the sale. In other words, as with any tax matter, the numbers will need to be crunched for each asset sold. The tax code provides for different methods of transferring all or parts of a business, and to determine which is most advantageous to you requires an analysis of the numbers and factors unique to your particular transaction. Unfortunately, no easy or generic answer can be provided for your question on this issue.

Re: Transfer Of Intellectual Property For Equity

First you do a through IP audit and list them...try to come up with a fair market value for that. How do you do valuation of IP? There are spophisticated software program and accountant can do that...but you can do it for yourself. If it is a trade mark...how long you are using it....whether it is easily regonnizable. In the contract make sure when you are assigning the IP rights in return you get some consideration..for the contract to be valid. For Patents...this analysis can be complicated!!!

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