Digimarc Corp. , a technology firm that makes digital watermarks, has replaced its auditor, Grant Thornton. The reason, Digimarc and its auditors are unable to reach an agreement on how to account patent licencing revenue.
In October 2010, Digimarc licensed a substantial portion of its patent portfolio to Intellectual Ventures for a $36 million fee and 20 percent of future profits from the patents.
The company filed an 8K on December 27, 2010 in which it states that “during 2010, there was one disagreement with GT on a matter of accounting principles in which GT communicated that it disagreed with the Company’s proposed accounting treatment concerning revenue recognition related to the patent licensing arrangement entered into between the Company and IV Digital Multimedia Inventions, LLC, an affiliate of Intellectual Ventures (“IV”), on October 5, 2010. ” (as stated in the 8K)
The company has hired KPMG as its new auditor.