IP audits and some data on how frequently in-house lawyers may be involved

One finding from CPA Global’s State of the IP Industry Survey last year concerned how regularly the 93 participant companies assessed the value of their intellectual property (IP) assets. The executive summary says that “while 20% of companies say they conduct quarterly IP audits, by far the largest proportion (41%) audit only on an annual basis, 10% audit every two years, and 4% say they don’t audit at all.”

Audits take time for in-house IP attorneys, so these numbers give some clues as to how much time is needed (See my post of May 10, 2005: SOX and IP audits; Nov. 13, 2005: IP audits, cost savings and the role of inside counsel at Dow Chemical; Aug. 5, 2007: Hitachi’s efforts to prune it patent portfolio; and April Dec. 11, 2007: Microsoft’s software to classify large portfolios of patents.). The frequency of audits, however, doesn’t tell us how intensive they are.