Amazon’s Court Win May Not Spare Others From Bills

A detail in Amazon.com Inc.'s recent major court win suggests that the decision’s impact won’t extend to how companies should approach cost-sharing arrangements in the future.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit pointed to 2009 temporary regulations that expanded the definition of intangibles to include assets such as the value of employee experience or a company’s reputation. It also referenced statutory changes in the 2017 tax law to include those assets and any other item with value that doesn’t come from tangible property or a person’s services.

“If this case were governed by ...