A successful licensing compliance program should be a self-sustaining effort that utilizes multiple compliance tools — including onsite audits — and delivers a strong message to licensees that you intend to enforce and protect your IP rights. Royalty audits can and should be a critical part of every TTO’s license compliance efforts.
Studies show that over 90% of royalty audits reveal underpayments. There are many factors that contribute to the underreporting of royalties: misunderstanding of the terms in the original agreement, financial hardship of the licensee, new products launched and not accounted for, sublicensing payments, and many others.
An effective royalty audit program can pay for itself many times over, since instances of underreporting can represent hundreds of thousands of lost dollars — dollars that could have been reinvested in research or IP development, not to mention the TTO’s own operating budget. To help you unearth that “missing” revenue, we’re producing this practical webinar:
Join us as Karen Wang, Director in the Disputes, Compliance, & Investigations group with Stout — a global investment bank and advisory firm specializing in corporate finance, valuation, financial disputes, and investigations — discusses critical issues associated with royalty reporting and compliance, and proven strategies for ensure you receive every penny you deserve.
Here’s a quick look at the agenda:
- Communication strategies from the get-go to promote positive relationships with licensees
- Key considerations for drafting the royalty audit clause in the license
- Active monitoring tools designed to invite feedback from licensees
- Understanding the method and source of reporting information
- Identifying warning signs that may prompt an on-site audit
- Choosing the right auditor: In-house or contract with third party firm?
- Common audit findings — and not so common ones
Meet Your Presenter:
Karen Wang
Director in the Disputes, Compliance, & Investigations
Stout
Karen leads the Stout group that focuses on litigation consulting and royalty/contract compliance audit. She has been engaged in intellectual property related matters throughout her 20-plus year career. She prepares damage analyses and performs IP valuations for cases involving IP licensing, patent, copyright, and trademark infringement, as well as misappropriation of trade secrets. The types of damage analyses include calculation of lost profits, price erosion, reasonable royalty, unjust enrichment, pre-judgment interest, and loss of business value.
Karen’s litigation consulting experience includes all phases of the litigation process. During the fact and expert discovery phases, she identifies key documents and relevant issues, recommends solutions to the issues and prepares deposition outlines as well as provides vital analysis and information for the experts. During the trial phase, Karen assists attorneys in forming trial strategy, preparing trial demonstratives and outlines for the case. She manages large, complex litigation projects on behalf of the U.S. government and commercial clients in the areas of breach of contract, fraud, employee theft, antitrust and intellectual property, and has been retained by the Department of Justice as a consultant for breach of contract litigation matters.
Karen also provides services in royalty compliance audit and IP license negotiations. Fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese, she leads royalty compliance projects in Asia. Through her IP litigation support and royalty compliance work, she has reviewed numerous license agreements involving international and Fortune 500 companies. Through her review of license agreements, licensee books and records, as well as on-site interviews, she has assisted clients in the identification of areas of licensee non-compliance and has uncovered millions of dollars in underpayments.
