Licensing Executives Society (LES) Standard for Intellectual Capital in the Boardroom Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

The Licensing Executives Society of USA and Canada (LES) announced today that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the LES Intellectual Capital (IC) in the Boardroom (ICBR) standard (see ANSI/LES ICBR Version 1.0-2022 Intellectual Capital in the Boardroom). This is the first LES standard to be approved by ANSI and the first standard of its kind to guide board directors in their oversight of IC value and risk. The ICBR standard defines a basic set of requirements to enable company boards to better safeguard shareholder value through appropriate oversight and activation of IC value identification, protection, commercialization, and risk mitigation. Purchase and download the LES ICBR standard at https://members.lesusacanada.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=20731629.

Corporate board directors are accountable for safeguarding shareholder value, which now includes appropriate oversight of IC value enhancement and risk mitigation. This standard addresses IC oversight needs by articulating:

1. A simple five-step process that applies to all organizations at any level in all business sectors, regardless of maturity, size, or geographic location;
2. A translation matrix between legal, accounting, and business terminologies to enable the board to understand and stay focused only on material IC-related topics; and
3. Key principles enabling board directors to oversee strategic IC-management objectives in a non-proscriptive manner, while still appropriately discharging their duties.

Oversight of IC-management strategy is particularly important in today’s new economy, where IC often accounts for an increasing majority of aspects that drive material value and risk.

“The LES ICBR standard may be a game-changer for the business world concerning corporate directors’ oversight of some of their company’s most valuable, yet often least understood assets,” said LES President Scott Williams. “By providing critical guidance to boards in situations affecting the material value or competitive advantage of an enterprise, the LES standard helps organizations ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to safeguard and enhance assets of significant financial value and strategic importance.”

“We are extremely proud to have the LES Intellectual Capital in the Boardroom standard be our first ANSI-approved standard. It was developed over the course of six years, following ANSI’s rigorous process, which was led by subject-matter experts who are board directors and executives from organizations that are large and small, private and public. This ANSI stamp of approval means that the LES ICBR standards committee achieved our goal to provide guidance that enables boards to better understand and evaluate their company’s material IC and management strategy in their oversight of IC value enhancement and risk mitigation,” said Paul Roberts, LES ICBR Committee Chair.

Questions regarding the standard can be directed to the LES ICBR Committee Chair Paul Roberts by emailing [email protected]. The ANSI-approved version of the LES standard incorporates the perspectives provided by stakeholders during a public review period, following which it received approval from the LES Board of Directors and the organization’s Consensus Standards Partnership (CSP) before its adoption and subsequent approval by ANSI.

Learn More at the LES Annual Member Meeting

Be a part of creating LES ANSI standards on IP by registering for the LES Annual Member Meeting in San Francisco, October 16-19, 2022, where LES Standards Initiative sessions and educational panels will be taking place on Monday, October 19, 2022, at 7:30 a.m. Pacific and on Tuesday, October 20, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific. Register at https://web.cvent.com/event/8aaa6401-1b5b-4ece-8ce2-0203ce4db460/summary.

Join the LES Standards Initiative

The ANSI-accredited LES standards program offers enterprises and individuals the appropriate practices and standards they need to improve the way they carry out IP transactions, protect their innovations, use IP in their business strategies and manage third-party IP. The Licensing Executive Society Standards Development Organization (LES SDO), an LES organizational initiative, is seeking participants for its standards-setting committees as well as for the Consensus Body Partnership (CSP). All interested parties are invited to join the LES SDO or the CSP by applying for an LES Standards Enterprise membership or CSP membership. To learn more, visit https://www.lesusacanada.org/licensing-standards-initiative/.

About the Licensing Executives Society (the U.S.A. and Canada), Inc.

Established in 1965, LES is a professional society of 2,800 members engaged in the creation, commercial development and orderly transfer of intellectual property rights; protection and management of intellectual capital; and intellectual capital management standards development. LES members represent innovation-centered enterprises of all sizes and kinds — such as government laboratories, professional services firms, universities, operating companies, regulatory authorities, licensing specialty firms and trade associations. LES is a member society of the Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), which has 32 sister societies representing 7,500 members in 90 countries. More information is found at www.lesusacanada.org.

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