The Global Landscape of Intellectual Propertyand Intangible Assets: The Growing Impact

Abstract

The economic and legal issues of investment in intangible assets (IAs), their role and significance in the global intellectual property (IP) landscape and economic growth are investigated. It is found that IAs play an increasingly important role as a catalyst for innovation and the growth of the knowledge economy. The analysis of the documents “Global Overview of Investment in Intangible Assets” and the Third World Intellectual Property Organization Dialogue on Investment in Intellectual Property: The Value of Intangible Assets, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, is carried out. It is found that companies from the USA, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are the most active in investing in IAs; investment in IAs accounts for an increasing share of GDP in both high-income and emerging economies. The IAs categories with the highest growth rates over the past decade are software and data, followed by brands, organizational capital and new financial products. The main problem of IAs assessment is revealed — the “blind zone” and its consequences, when many valuable IAs are not reflected in the balance sheets due to outdated reporting standards. A detailed economic, statistical and legal analysis of the IAs use in Ukraine is presented. It is noted that the share of IAs in the balance sheets of industrial enterprises and in the economy of Ukraine as a whole is underestimated and reported as less than 1%. An analysis of the state of affairs in Ukraine with the introduction of IP objects into economic circulation, conducted before the war, shows that in Ukraine IAs (objects of IP law) are practically not taken into account either in the cost of production or in the balance sheet value of enterprises. Therefore, the issue of determining the IAs effectiveness at enterprises is becoming increasingly relevant for the state, since without their well-established accounting and management there is no prospect of accelerated innovative development of the economy. The features of the use of IP in Ukraine are revealed using the examples of trademarks of bottled mineral water manufacturers, as well as pharmaceutical companies. The impact of the war and the economic situation on the IAs dynamics is shown, as well as the features and problems of legal regulation and accounting of IAs in Ukraine. The prospects for IAs development in Ukraine are characterized, and the mechanisms for managing sanctioned IAs are highlighted.