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Ankura is distinguished by its collaborative approach, its experts and its advisers, who come from many different walks of life and link up seamlessly to deliver solutions to the most complex problems. This works well in the IP sphere, in which the firm’s advisers demonstrate sophisticated know-how with respect to the assessment, valuation and management of IP assets on a global basis, along with refined skills in the courtroom. Senior managing directors David Yurkerwich and Kevin Arst anchor the outfit. Part of what makes them so effective in a disputes setting is their well-rounded view of patents, cultivated through extensive engagement in valuation practice. Managing director Abel Teshome receives a wave of positive feedback: “Abel and his team are a pleasure to work with; they are top-notch experts who think about every angle and anticipate what the other side will do, to ensure that their work product is bulletproof. They are responsive, creative, efficient and can explain difficult economic concepts in simple English.”
Abel Teshome is a Managing Director in the Intellectual Property practice of Ankura Consulting Group, a business advisory and expert services firm with broad cross-disciplinary and cross-industry experience. Mr. Teshome provides expert witness, consulting, and valuation services that help clients navigate complex issues pertaining to the financial aspects of intellectual property (IP).
Mr. Teshome has extensive experience in the assessment of economic and financial damages and other measures of monetary relief in IP litigation, including patent infringement, trademark and trade dress infringement, copyright infringement, and trade secret misappropriation. Mr. Teshome has provided expert opinions and testimony concerning IP infringement damages and valuation issues in Federal Court proceedings.
In addition to assessing damages and monetary relief in the context of IP litigation, Mr. Teshome has extensive experience valuing IP in the context of licensing, breach of contract, bankruptcy, acquisitions, investment collateralization, transfer pricing, and tax disputes. For example, Mr Teshome has provided analytical, strategic and corporate finance support to clients engaged in licensing negotiations and other business transactions. He has also participated in the presentation of findings on the topics of IP valuation, arm’s-length royalty rates and transfer pricing to the Internal Revenue Service Office of Appeals.
Mr. Teshome is a certified public accountant (CPA) and is certified in financial forensics (CFF) by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a credential granted to CPAs with expertise in forensic accounting issues, including damages assessment, valuation, and litigation support. He is a member of the AICPA and its forensic and valuation services section. Mr. Teshome holds BA and MS degrees in accounting and financial reporting and assurance services.
Ankura Consulting Group is a global consultancy with more than 2,000 professionals and 38 offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. We provide our clients – including Fortune 1000 companies, leading law firms and governments – with a wide range of professional services including IP, finance, strategy and transaction consulting.
Our IP practice focuses on valuation, economic and data analysis, and expert testimony in national and global disputes. Our IP experts have testified in some of the world’s highest-stakes IP controversies, including cases involving patent and trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, licensing disputes, tax disputes, bankruptcies and breach of contract matters. Our IP experts have also led significant IP-centric transactions, including IP acquisitions, divestitures, licences, joint ventures and financings.
Our core competency is that we understand how IP can create value in products, companies, and industries. We apply our experience to help clients assess, value and manage their IP assets in today’s global innovation economy. Our experts combine timely competitive information with state-of-the-art valuation methodologies and advanced data and analytical tools to deliver unique insights to our clients.
We are hired not just because of our track record in the courtroom, but also because of our deep experience in managing and transacting the types of assets we are valuing when providing our expert opinions. For decades we have been active in helping companies buy, sell, license out, license in and, when necessary, enforce IP rights or defend their businesses. This out-of-the-courtroom experience is invaluable when explaining our expert opinions on IP issues to juries and other triers of fact.
While we are active in all types of IP matters, our experts have been recognised as pioneers in economic and data analysis and royalty rate determination for standard-essential patents (SEPs), which are subject to fair, reasonable and non-discrimination (FRAND) encumbrances. Our SEP/FRAND licensing dispute work has expanded beyond the mobile device, semiconductor and electronics industries to automotive and Internet of Thing applications. We help companies determine SEP/FRAND rates in US and international litigation, arbitration, licensing-in and licensing-out negotiations, as well as other settings.
We also work closely with inventors, owners and attorneys to assess patentability and markets for technologies to build and maintain competitive IP portfolios. We actively negotiate IP-centric transactions, and structure and manage joint development, licensing and enforcement activities.
We have been involved in IP matters in virtually every industry, including automotive, telecommunications (including mobile devices, infrastructure and service providers), electronics, semiconductors, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, food and beverages, publishing, oil and gas, and entertainment.
Our IP experts are active in many IP associations, including the Licensing Executives Society (LES) United States and Canada, LES International, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the American Bar Association (IP Section) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. We also are certified licensing professionals and certified public accountants and are certified in valuation and forensics. We have been qualified as experts on IP licensing and valuation in federal, state, tax, bankruptcy and international courts, as well as arbitration proceedings and at the International Trade Commission. Our IP experts have been recognised in the IAM Patent 1000 and IAM Strategy 300 by their clients and peers for over a decade.