This note addresses the methods used in valuing intellectual property, with a particular focus on patents. The note defines intellectual property and explains its growing importance. It also describes income methods, market approaches, discounted-cash-flow methods, and option-valuation methods.

Six years after dropping out of college to focus on his own business reselling PCs and preformatting PC hard disks, Michael Dell had grown his company's annual sales to more than $500 million. Dell Computer earned a reputation for selling quality products. Describes Dell's unique "direct" approach to producing, selling, and distributing computer equipment. It contains a side-by-side comparison with Compaq before its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard (HP).