NOTE 4 — INTANGIBLE ASSETS, NET

Intangible assets include patents purchased and patents acquired in lieu of cash in licensing transactions. Patents purchased are recorded based at their acquisition cost and patents acquired in lieu of cash are recorded at their fair market value. Intangible assets consisted of the following:

Intangible assets are comprised of patents with estimated useful lives between approximately 1 to 13 years. Once placed in service, the Company amortizes the costs of intangible assets over their estimated useful lives on a straight-line basis. During the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, the Company capitalized a total of $6,450,000 and $252,946 in patent acquisition costs. Costs incurred to acquire patents, including legal costs, are also capitalized as long-lived assets and amortized on a straight-line basis with the associated patent. Amortization of patents is included as an operating expense as reflected in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. The Company assesses fair market value for any impairment to the carrying values.  Management concluded that there was an impairment to the carrying value in the amount of $11,958,882 for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to an impairment to the carrying value in the amount of $5,793,409 for the year ended December 31, 2015. The Company determined the fair value using a Level 3 fair value category of unobservable inputs and concluded that the fair value on these intangibles was zero.

Amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 was $7,453,004 and $10,825,164, respectively.  Future amortization of current intangible assets, net is as follows:

Since November 2012, the Company has continued to add to its intangible assets, through either the purchase of intangible asset directly or purchasing entities holding intangible assets. During the years ended December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Company made the following intangible asset acquisitions: