Sarbanes-Oxley and Trademark Portfolio Management: Establishing Internal Controls for Compliance & Preventing Infringement

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law on July 30, 2002. Although vastly complex, the legislation has a fairly simple aim, namely, to reform a number of business and accounting practices that significantly distorted the economic performance of Enron and WorldCom to the detriment of their investors. Corporate America is now spending millions of dollars complying with the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley. I toyed with titling this book “CEOs and CFOs, It's Time To Certify The Annual Report, Do You Know Where Your Trademarks Are?” If a company subject to Sarbanes-Oxley is not certain as to the trademarks it owns, what those trademarks are worth or whether or not any of them infringe or are being infringed upon, then Section 404 requires that internal controls be created or improved. If the CEO and CFO of such a company are not aware of these aspects of their trademarks, they cannot certify, under Section 302, that annual reports present a fair and accurate picture of the company. Finally, if the CEO and CFO of such a company do not know all the facts about their trademarks and, further, do not know whether or not internal controls and reporting are adequate and accurate, they cannot certify, under Section 906, that financial statements are indeed accurate. However, as more fully explained herein, a well managed and maintained trademark portfolio makes it easy for the CEO! and CFO to “know where their trademarks are” at all times. Sarbanes-Oxley and Trademark Portfolio Management shows that although the restoration of investor confidence in corporate reporting and accountability is clearly a worthwhile goal, the return-on-investment in complying with Sarbanes-Oxley is often hard to see.