Warren Averett

Expert Spotlight:

Robert Goodwin, CPA, CFE is a Senior Associate with Warren Averett's Fraud and Forensic Services Team. Rob's areas of special emphasis include nonprofit and governmental audits, financial statement audits and auditing computer-based systems.

"Within the Firm's Audit Division, I focus on minimizing audit costs for our clients through data analysis processes. Recently, I represented Warren Averett at an ACFE conference, bringing back valuable tips from the experts on fraud prevention and risk analysis. We look forward to sharing these new tools with our clients."

Robert Goodwin, CPA, CFE
813.341.2925 | Tampa
Robert.Goodwin@warrenaverett.com

Virtual Reality

Determining the value of intellectual property

In an ever more virtual world, business owners increasingly depend on intellectual property (IP) to generate value for their companies. But determining the value of IP can be challenging. In addition to obtaining guidance from professional appraisal organizations, appraisers use several methods to determine what these intangible assets are really worth. This article explains the methods they use in valuing IP and the approaches they take to value patents, copyrights and trademarks.

Drilling for Damages

Court finds a sweet spot with reasonable royalty rate

Damages in trade secret cases can take a variety of forms, but in some cases experts find it necessary to adopt a damages concept common in patent law. This article discusses a trade secret misappropriation case in which the court upheld a plaintiff's expert's approach to valuing damages borrowed from patent infringement cases that suppose that a license was granted at the time of the misappropriation. However, as a sidebar explains, the court rejected disgorgement damages.