By 2004, according to Debra Logan of Gartner, companies that adopt IPAM software and services could increase IP-related revenue by at least 50%.

FORBES: Managing your knowledge

Gartner, the research and consulting firm, has gone so far as to anoint this emerging space with an acronym, IPAM (intellectual property asset management).

FORBES: Managing your knowledge

"We now have very strong evidence that Brazil's ability to generate electricity depends on forest conservation, " said co-author Dr Daniel Nepstad, executive director of IPAM-IP.

BBC: Rainforest plays critical role in hydropower generation

"It could be that many of the susceptible trees were killed off in 2005, which would reduce the number killed last year, " said Paulo Brando from the Amazon Institute of Environmental Research (IPAM) in Belem, Brazil.

BBC: Amazon drought 'severe' in 2010, raising warming fears