As a publicly traded company, Restaurant Supplies to U may also need to demonstrate that it has established an intellectual property strategy in order to comply with the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley regulation. Since intellectual property comprises a significant portion of the company’s value (i.e., is material to the company), this U.S. government regulation requires that the corporate officers can demonstrate that Restaurant Supplies to U understands and is properly managing this substantial corporate asset. (For more on this, see www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/nov2005/banham.htm) At the very least, Sarbanes-Oxley requires a company to know what intellectual property it owns, which takes us full circle to the need for Restaurant Supplies to U to compile an inventory of its valuable trade secrets.
My businesswoman friend now understands that Restaurant Supplies to U is an intellectual property owner. She is now planning on establishing a relationship with an intellectual property attorney who is accomplished at assisting companies in developing and deploying corporate intellectual property strategies. Her company’s shareholders will be glad she did.