Intellectual Property

A recent study indicates that 85% of the value of corporations today is from intellectual property.  Further, companies that have a higher composition of intellectual assets are typically regarded as industry leaders.  Those with a lower percentage are often viewed as underperformers, both from a financial as well as strategic viewpoint.  McGovern & Greene LLP helps companies generate greater shareholder value through the maximization and protection of intellectual property.

The practice provides advice and accounting assistance to companies, attorneys and government agencies involved in litigation, arbitration / mediation, and regulatory investigations / issues around the world.

LITIGATION

McGovern & Greene LLP provides expert analysis, support and testimony in litigation and regulatory proceedings by preparing estimates of lost profit, reasonable royalty, unjust enrichment and prejudgment interest.  Our personnel take the raw data and information, subject it to comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis, and present their impartial, independent findings clearly and concisely to clients, courts and regulatory bodies. McGovern & Greene LLP estimates how actions or events can change the value of an asset or affect the company’s revenues, costs and profits.  As part of the litigation, our work involves discovery stage consulting, reasonable royalty analysis, damage award calculations, critique of opposing experts’ testimony and reports and pre-litigation risk analysis.  In addition, McGovern & Greene LLP can employ sophisticated valuation techniques in high stakes litigation and for a variety of industries.  The firm also has considerable experience in advising clients on the antitrust implications of patent pools and anti-trust counter-claims.  In addition to our roster of full time experts, we can enlist influential academic authorities and research specialists from top ranked universities and draw on an international group of economists, accountants, financial specialists, engineers and technology experts.

ROYALTY AUDITS AND REVENUE RECOVERY

Maximizing the potential realized value of IP through better management of existing licensing and other contractual agreements equates to incremental revenues, added shareholder value and facilitated relationships been businesses partners.  McGovern & Greene LLP assists companies in maximizing the value of their IP, enhancing revenue streams,  creating and implementing settlement strategies as to underreported amounts, and providing due diligence of royalties. Our teams have identified significant levels of underreported royalties as well as identified internal control improvements to help insure more accurate reporting in the future.

FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS

Services include investigating  infringement of patents and copyrights,  product piracy, and counterfeiting, as well as quantification and enforcement of licenses and royalties payments.  We offer innovative expert advice and analysis regarding damages and settlements, redesign business practices to prevent further acts of crime, provide internal control improvements, and strengthen IT systems.

Often, we are asked to offer early case assessment and strategic alternatives and develop methods to anticipate and avoid potential problems and risks.

CASES

McGovern & Greene LLP has assembled an outstanding group of professionals who have significant experience providing litigation support and expert witness services in a variety of IP matters.  A representative listing of matters our professionals have worked on during their careers follows:

Patent Cases

• Plaintiff patent infringement. Case involved suit over alleged infringement of patent rights pertaining to a method and apparatus for storing and handling waste water slurries. Engaged by plaintiff to evaluate and opine upon the economic damages incurred by plaintiff as a result of defendant’s alleged infringement. Economic damages evaluated included profits lost on infringing sales made by defendant, profits lost due to price erosion, profits lost on replacement parts sales, and specific costs incurred as a result of defendant’s alleged infringement. As an alternative measure of damages, a reasonable royalty for use of the patent was also computed. Plaintiff received a jury award of 2/3rds of the lost profits identified or nearly 100% of the reasonable royalty calculation.
  


• Plaintiff patent infringement. Case involves suit over alleged infringement of four (4) patents pertaining to virtual microscopy. Engaged by plaintiff to evaluate and opine upon the economic damages incurred as a result of defendant’s alleged infringement.Economic damages evaluated included profits lost on infringing sales, profits lost due to price erosion, profits lost on maintenance and lease agreements, and specific costs incurred as a result of the alleged infringement. As an alternative measure of damages, a reasonable royalty for use of the patents was calculated. Case settled.
  


• Plaintiff patent infringement. Case involved suit over alleged infringement of a patent pertaining to Industrial Equipment Monitoring software. Economic damages evaluated included profits lost on infringing sales, profits lost due to price erosion, profits lost on maintenance and lease agreements, and specific costs incurred as a result of the alleged infringement. As an alternative measure of damages, a reasonable royalty for use of the patents was calculated. Case settled.
  


• Plaintiff patent infringement. Case involved suit over alleged infringement of patent rights pertaining to software.Engaged by plaintiff to assist with the review of financial information and with the identification and calculation of damages. Assisted with discovery, interrogatories, and depositions pertaining to financial information. Also reviewed public filings, audited financial statements and internal management reports and identified primary sources of revenue and costs allocable to specific products. Case settled.
  

Trade Secrets Case

• Case involved suit over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by a former employee and his new employer. Engaged to evaluate and opine upon the economic damages caused to plaintiff as a result of the alleged misappropriation of proprietary information including customer lists, customer histories, price lists, sales and marketing plans, technical manuals and other proprietary information.Analyzed sales and profits both before and after the alleged misappropriation to develop a reliable forecast of what sales and profits would have been but for the alleged misappropriation. Evaluated past performance to determine if it was representative of the performance over the loss period and determined that sufficient historical data was available from which to construct a reliable forecast. Damage analysis included both an evaluation of company specific data as well as general economic and industry specific conditions.
  

Copyright Cases

• Case involved suit and countersuit over infringement of copyrighted drawings of a bird cage. Plaintiffs sued the copyright owner for alleged interference with business relations and false enforcement of copyrights. Copyright owner countersued for infringement damages.Engaged to analyze and opine upon (1) the gross sales revenues gained by plaintiff and an individual, attributable to the sale of products allegedly infringing upon defendant’s copyrighted works and (2) the costs and losses alleged to have been incurred by plaintiff as a result of defendant’s alleged conduct. Case settled.
  


• Case involved suit over alleged infringement of copyrighted design of a lamp. Engaged by defendants to evaluate and opine upon (1) the net profits earned by defendant from sales of defendant’s product alleged to be infringing and (b) the net profits earned by 2nd defendant from sales of 2nd defendant’s product alleged to be infringing.In calculating net profits attributable to the sale of products alleged to infringe upon the copyrighted work, the revenues generated by the sales and the costs that should have been deducted from those revenues were identified. Costs that should have been deducted include expenses incurred that are directly attributable to production, distribution, performance, or display of the infringing work. In addition, indirect expenses that assist in the production, distribution, performance, or display of the infringing product, should also be deducted. Indirect expenses that would have been incurred regardless of the sale of the infringing product were not deducted. Case settled.
  


• Case involved suit over alleged infringement of copyrighted original designs of certain home furnishings. Engaged by plaintiff to evaluate and opine upon the (1) gross revenues, (2) gross margins, and (3) net margins earned by the defendant from sales of the allegedly infringing products. In evaluating gross revenues, gross margins, and net margins, our professional also evaluated the selling prices and costs defendant reported as being attributable to the subject item numbers.The focus of the analysis in this case was the gross revenue generated by defendant from sales of the alleged infringing items and the costs that should have been deducted from those revenues. Case settled.
  

Trademark Case

• Plaintiff matter involving Trademarks and Trade Dress of automotive measuring devices.Our job was to identify infringement damages and the cost of corrective actions. Case pending.

For more information on Intellectual Property Matters,
please contact Jim McGovern .