Buying and selling a music publisher: a mock negotiation

"Once in a lifetime: a mock negotiation of the sale and purchase of a music publishing company" is the intriguing and imaginative title of an event which the University of Westminster's Centre for the Study of Law, Society and Popular Culture is running on 18 March from 5 to 7 pm. This is a brainchild of Robert Allan (a Research Fellow of the Centre and long-time collaborator with Westminster Law School). According to the information we have received,

Robert has gathered together the entertainment law 'dream team’ -- there is no more prestigious and knowledgeable team in this area of law that could have been assembled. All of the participants have worked with each other over many years on transactions totalling billions of dollars, and Westminster Law School is thrilled to be able to host them for this groundbreaking event.

The participants, in order of their appearance, are

• Fred Wistow, formerly Executive Vice President and Chief General Counsel of Time Warner’s Music Group
• Evan Medow, originally a US attorney and then, having been General Counsel at A&M’s publishing division, CEO of Windswept Pacific Music
• Chris Ancliff, General Counsel (International) Warner Music Group and former Chief General Counsel at EMI
• John Frankenheimer, the current co-chair of law firm Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles
• Charles Bradbrook, senior partner at the accountancy practice SRLV and formerly head of the media practice of Deloittes
• Robert Allan, one of the very first UK entertainment lawyers, and a pretty seasoned one at that. 

Westminster claim:

We do not think this is likely to happen ever again, anywhere in the world, and we are not exaggerating. So in the words of the 1940s - 1960s idiom (highly appropriate for the Portland Hall), be there or be square. 

How is a price placed on a music publishing company? How should payment be structured? Should the deal be funded by taking a gamble on the company's projected income? These are among the questions that may interest readers of this weblog.  Click here for further details of this free event.

Multi-sided platforms: making money, spending money and watching out for the competition folk: an event

"Multi-Sided Platforms: Business, Economics & Competition Policy" is an event organised by the UCL Faculty of Laws this coming Wednesday, 29 October 2014 from 13:00 to 19:30 GMT. According to the event's publicity material:

Old-style multi-sided platforms:
but the IP-driven variety are
more flexible -- and profitable 

Multi-sided platforms are businesses that act as intermediaries between several interdependent groups of customers. They are central to many industries including payment systems, financial exchanges, advertising-supported media, much of online, and various kinds of marketplaces including shopping malls. Some of the largest IPOs in recent years have involved multisided platforms such as Facebook and, soon, Alibaba. They are also often at the centre of debates concerning competition policy and sectoral regulation. Google and Uber are two that are making headlines in the European Union.

This course will cover the unique business models followed by multi-sided businesses; the economics of multi-sided platforms and the industries they anchor; the applications of competition policy to multi-sided platforms; a survey of key competition policy and regulator matters involving these platforms; and tools and techniques for competition policy analysis.

The course will include presentations from several executives of platform startups including Will Page (Chief Economist at Spotify [and the person who tipped us off about this event]) and Alain Falys (Founder and CEO, Yoyo).

The course will consist of three segments:

• The Business and Economics of Multi-sided Platforms.
• Market Definition, Market Power, and Merger Analysis for Multi-sided Platforms
• Abuse of Dominance and Coordinated Practices for Multi-sided Platforms

The course will draw extensively on examples of multi-sided platform cases involving online businesses and payments.

More details and registration here.

If any readers of this blog are in attendance, can they let us know of any interesting bits that they can share with us?

Bavarians in Brussels host imminent event on fiscal incentives for films

"Fiscal incentive schemes and their impact on film and audiovisual production in Europe" is the grand title of a presentation of a new study and round table coming up very soon. It's to be held next Monday, 20 October 2014 from 11.00 am – 1.00 pm (entry 10.30) at the Rue Wiertz 77, Brussels, Belgium, being kindly hosted by the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU.

This free public conference -- which will take place in English -- is set to examine the impact of tax shelters, tax credits and tax rebates on film and audiovisual production in Europe. The European Audiovisual Observatory has commissioned a brand new study from Olsberg•SPI which examines the effects of fiscal incentive schemes in Europe. The findings of this new report will be presented at this conference by its authors. Then an expert panel will focus on the long-term impact of fiscal incentives as a policy instrument in today’s European audiovisual landscape.

For further details email Alison Hindhaugh at alison.hindhaugh@coe.int before 16 October (this Thursday).

If any reader of this weblog is attending, can he or she send us a report?

"Patents and value" dialogue: more input from the "value" side needed!

The text that appears below was posted last month, in the height of the summer break, announcing a forthcoming event that the IP Finance blog is sharing with the IPKat weblog.  To date we have a very creditable 35 people attending -- but there's scope for more.  Slightly disappointingly, the preponderant majority of registrants so far have been drawn from intellectual property practice rather than from the financial or business sectors.  It is hoped that this balance is redressed when readers of the IP Finance blog commit themselves to signing up.  Details are as follows:

"Patents and Value: a dialogue" is the title of a chaired discussion between IP Finance and IPKat blogger, scholar and legal practitioner Neil J. Wilkof with Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) editor and respected IP commentator Joff Wild. This event, which is co-sponsored by the IPKat weblog, is kindly hosted in the Holborn, London office of patent and trade mark attorneys and litigators EIP. It takes place on Tuesday, 16 September 2014, from 5.30 pm to 6.45 pm (with registration at 5 pm), followed by the usual refreshments. 

Neil and Joff will be discussing contemporary issues involving the value of individual patents and patent portfolios, such as "how do market forces shape corporate strategy for buying, licensing or litigating patents -- and what part does patent litigation play in fixing the price of patents?"  Jeremy Phillips will be in the chair.

Join us for for some fascinating insights from two well-informed and critical contributors to the current intellectual property scene. To find the venue, just click here.  As usual, there is no charge for registration, but anyone who signs up but doesn't attend will be entered on the IPKat's Naughty Book. To register, email theipkat@gmail.com with the subject line "Neil and Joff".

Background reading:

• blogposts from Neil here and here
• blogpost from Joff here

"Patents and Value: a dialogue": a new IP Finance event

"Patents and Value: a dialogue" is the title of a chaired discussion between IP Finance and IPKat blogger, scholar and legal practitioner Neil J. Wilkof with Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) editor and respected IP commentator Joff Wild. This event, which is co-sponsored by the IPKat weblog, is kindly hosted in the Holborn, London office of patent and trade mark attorneys and litigators EIP. It takes place on Tuesday, 16 September 2014, from 5.30 pm to 6.45 pm (with registration at 5 pm), followed by the usual refreshments. 

Neil and Joff will be discussing contemporary issues involving the value of individual patents and patent portfolios, such as "how do market forces shape corporate strategy for buying, licensing or litigating patents -- and what part does patent litigation play in fixing the price of patents?"  Jeremy Phillips will be in the chair.

Join us for for some fascinating insights from two well-informed and critical contributors to the current intellectual property scene. To find the venue, just click here.  As usual, there is no charge for registration, but anyone who signs up but doesn't attend will be entered on the IPKat's Naughty Book. To register, email theipkat@gmail.com with the subject line "Neil and Joff".

Background reading:

• blogposts from Neil here and here
• blogpost from Joff here

"Investor-ready" start-ups: an event today

There's a free event coming up this evening for which, IP Finance understands, there are still some spare tickets -- if you're a tech enterpreneur or service provider.  This may be of some interest to readers, either because they need the services which are show-cased here or because they already provide them and are curious to learn how others do so. Details are as follows:

Making your tech start-up "investor-ready"

Tuesday, 26 June 2012 from 18:30 to 21:00 (GMT)

London, United Kingdom

Event Details

Amoo Venture Capital Advisory presents “Amoo Booster Series”. As part of our commitment to nurturing the tech ecosystem we have set up Amoo Booster Series which is a monthly event with notable speakers from the industry, that are as passionate about startups as we are.

The aim is to deliver practical advice startups can implement right away. This is done in a friendly space with the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs and investors; we have created a community for like-minded people to communicate, share ideas and explore ways to support each other. 

Hear from a venture capitalist, an angel, an entrepreneur, a patent attorney, a lawyer and an accountant. They will run through how you can make your start-up investment-ready.

Simon Halberstam - Lawyer and partner in the Technology team at law firm Kingsley Napley 

Mark Twum-Ampofo - Accountant and partner who specialises in the Technology sector at accountancy firm Kingston Smith

Patrick Bergel - Entrepreneur and founder of Animal Systems who has developed an amazing new technology for communicating between mobile devices using sound, and who has leveraged his intellectual property to secure funding from Imperial Innovations 

Gerard Chandrahasen - Patent Attorney and partner specialising in software patents at patent attorney firm SC Patents

Ellen van der Broek - Ellen is a director at her own company WH PH Ltd, advising private equity and corporate clients on investments, strategy and fundraising. She has worked both with venture funds as well as startups. Since October 2011 she has been working exclusively as an Advisor to DN Capital. Prior to this, she worked in the Private Equity Secondaries team of Partners Group and has also been an investment banker on private equity transactions, working in the Financial Sponsors team of ABN AMRO. She holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.

Sponsored by:

                       

To register, just follow this link.