#intangible-assets
Accounting for patents, trademarks, copyrights, goodwill, and other non-physical assets, from capitalization to impairment
ASC 350-40 capitalizes only application-development costs — configuration, interfaces, testing — and expenses preliminary, training, and data-migration costs.
Functional IP licenses recognize revenue at grant; symbolic IP spreads it over the term — plus the royalty exception and minimum guarantees under ASC 606.
Utility patents protect how an invention works for 20 years, design patents protect how it looks for 15, and plant patents cover asexually reproduced varieties.
Badger Meter earned $35.9M on flat $235.9M Q3 2026 sales; EPS rose 4% to $1.24 and operating margin hit 20.2% as utility sales fell 3% ex-UDlive.
Iridium Q3 2026 net income rose 188% to $106.9M, but $103.9M was a non-cash Aireon gain; operating income fell 55% ahead of the Rocket Lab close.
Verisign earned $212.6M on $443.0M revenue (+5.7%) in Q3 2026; the .com/.net base grew 6.1% to 182.5M and a $171.4M .web intangible opened its second act.
Danaher Q3 2026 revenue rose 8.3% to $6.55B, mostly on Masimo; $291M of tax benefits lifted net income 36%, just 4% without them. EPS guide: $8.57–$8.62.
Thermo Fisher Q3 2026: revenue rose 9% to $12.14B and adjusted EPS 15% to $6.68, as the $9.1B Clario deal added $5.9B of goodwill and new debt.
Depreciation expenses tangibles minus salvage value; amortization writes off intangibles with none — and the IRS stretches acquired intangibles over 15 years.
Patent filing and legal fees are capitalized, not expensed — then amortized over the shorter of 20 years or useful life under Section 167.
