For the first time in two years, Ford Motor posted a quarterly profit!  (Article.)

If you are a Ford shareholder or drive a Ford, that’s wonderful news.  And, we can hope for a sustained turnaround for the struggling auto maker.  But Ford would not even have a shot at becoming competitive if it were not for the value of its intellectual property (IP), including the blue oval logo.  In its quest for cash to fund a restructuring, Ford mortgaged its North American factories and its IP for a $20 billion loan.  Even without knowing exactly how much of that loan is secured by factories and how much by the IP, we know that the loan would not have been possible if the IP, including the brand value of the blue oval logo, had not been included as collateral.
It seems a bit extreme, but that’s certainly one way to monetize IP!  As with anything used as collateral, the lender must continue to value the IP high enough to justify the credit that’s been extended.  So, Ford must work to preserve the value of IP assigned to the loan.  In this current time of tightening credit, the value of IP will probably even need to rise, else credit terms will have to be revised.  If you thought IP was just something warm and fuzzy, think again.  IP, including brand value, has real value, and that real value can be used in real ways.

Companies who recognize this real value pay close attention to ways to optimize the value of their IP, even while protecting its use.  Certainly, the application of information technology security matters a lot in IP protection strategies.  For example, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council has recently completed studies that show just how important security is to brand reputation and the resulting value of the brand.  Since the great majority of our IP is created, stored and exchanged in soft copy, an IP optimization strategy that doesn’t include security technologies is doomed.

Some enterprises are finding new ways to optimize the digital portions of their IP protection strategies, using new technologies for digital trust.  The IP Protection volume of the Digital Trust report series examines how IP value can be optimized with creative applications of new technologies and new approaches.

The irony of this research is that strict protection of IP is not the answer.  IP must be acknowledged, accessible, in useful formats, monetizable, and accountable as well as protected.  Otherwise, its value (even as Ford has chosen to use it) is not available.

Brand value rises and falls on a number of factors, including the amount of trust that consumers and enterprises assign to the brand.  And, Ford’s problem with IP value (including brand value) continues.  Though not necessarily attributable to problems with digital trust, the latest global brand value rankings show that Ford’s brand value has slipped 19% in the past year.  That could mean trouble for the credit-based restructuring plan at Ford.

Sometimes we think of intellectual property just like clouds – soft, fluffy, interesting to look at, but vaguely unreal.  The reality is that intellectual property delivers value just like plants, equipment and inventory.

Just ask the owner of the blue oval logo.