From Rights to Returns
Why IP Commercialization Matters
As IP becomes a central business asset, INTA delivers practical tools to help members measure, manage, and monetize their intangible IP value. Commercialization of IP Committee Chair Brian Buss and Vice-Chair Jayde Wood report on these initiatives.
The commercialization of intellectual property (IP) has shifted from a legal afterthought to a primary driver of enterprise value.
Effectively managing and monetizing IP is now central to protecting consumer trust, growing revenues, and enabling global operations through licensing, franchising, and strategic alliances.
INTA’s Commercialization of IP Committee focuses on turning emerging standards and technologies into practical tools and guidance that elevate member capabilities, aligned the Association’s objectives set out in its 2026-2029 Strategic Plan.
"AI-driven dashboards can deliver real-time valuation insights, and automated benchmarking enhances cost predictability."
- Brian Buss | GlassRatner (USA)
Current Trends Shaping Commercialization
Three forces are shaping this moment: (1) the maturation of IP finance and reporting; (2) the acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the commercialization lifecycle; and (3) access to tools for identifying, managing, and leveraging IP and brand assets.
The Maturation of IP Finance and Reporting
As organizations treat IP and brand equity as core strategic assets, advances in IP finance, measurement, and reporting are bridging the gap between legal rights and enterprise value. This is enabling more sophisticated valuation practices that support capital allocation and strengthen investor communications.
However, structural challenges constrain progress. Gaps in legal and market data, coupled with inconsistent practices across jurisdictions, mean the same IP portfolio can produce materially different valuations. This undermines comparability, weakens investment cases for intangible assets, and obscures IP’s full financial contribution.
The Acceleration of AI
AI is rapidly reshaping both the value of IP and the mechanics of commercialization. While AI accelerates analytics and marketplace discovery, it also enables creation at unprecedented scale, blurring lines around authorship, originality, and ownership—issues that directly influence valuation and disclosure.
These unsettled questions create friction: diverging jurisdictional approaches to data provenance and training rights increase diligence costs and complicate cross-border deals.
Yet there are opportunities abound. AI-driven dashboards can deliver real-time valuation insights, and automated benchmarking enhances cost predictability. Most transformative is AI-enabled metadata that encodes provenance, rights, and licensing terms—enabling automated permissions and audit trails for transparent, scalable commercialization.
Access to Tools
Managing IP and brand assets to drive sales, profits, and cash flows has traditionally been hampered by limited availability and understanding of IP-focused analytical tools. For many INTA members, accessing such tools remains daunting and expensive.
Despite these hurdles, opportunities exist to modernize how companies measure and communicate IP value. Standardized templates for C-suite and board audiences can establish a common language for IP value, incorporating metrics like revenue contribution, royalty benchmarks, and enforcement ROI—shifting intangibles from narrative to quantifiable drivers of enterprise value.
"Opportunities exist to modernize how companies measure and communicate IP value."
- Jayde Wood | Gowling WLG (Canada)
INTA’s Commercialization of IP Committee
In the 2024–2025 term, the Committee (then titled the Commercialization of Brands Committee) worked on practical, member-focused projects to strengthen INTA’s commercialization resources, including a C-Suite Presentation Template, to help practitioners communicate IP value within their organizations.
The Committee also published the Global License Template, International Franchise Questionnaire, and several influencer agreement resources.
Current projects include a diagnostic toolkit for lenders, enforcement ROI tools, an M&A country guide, and resources for reviving dormant brand assets. Together, these projects enhance member capability and support the full lifecycle of IP commercialization.
Looking ahead, the Committee will develop guidance to help members translate developments in valuation standards, reporting expectations, and AI-enabled practices into actionable insights.
This week in London, the Committee has presented the session Digital Advertising Under the Microscope: AI Claims, Dark Patterns, and Global Legal Trends on Sunday May 3, examining AI claims and dark patterns, and the upcoming Trademark Damages Around the World: Trends and Developments in the Calculation of Damages for Trademark Infringement (Tuesday, May 5, 12:00 pm – 1:00pm) will explore damages trends across jurisdictions.
Over the long term, the Committee aims to establish INTA as the leading resource for IP commercialization best practices—helping members understand how intangible value is measured and communicated. It will also transform those insights into tools aimed at driving growth.
The Commercialization of IP Committee is led by Chair Brian Buss, Managing Director at GlassRatner (USA) and Vice Chair Jayde Wood, Partner at Gowlings WLG (Canada).
