Fair Value Measurement

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]

Fair Value Disclosures [Text Block]

Fair Value Measurement

MRV's financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, restricted time deposits, short-term marketable securities, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities and short-term debt obligations, are carried at cost, which approximates their fair market value.

ASC 820-10 Fair Value Measurements defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value, and expands disclosures about fair value measurements. ASC 820-10 establishes a three-level hierarchy that prioritizes the use of observable inputs, such as quoted prices in active markets, and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs, to measure fair value. All of MRV's assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value are measured using the unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that are accessible at the measurement date. Under this standard, fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (i.e., the “exit price”) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.

In determining the fair value of its financial assets and liabilities, the Company uses various valuation approaches. ASC 820-10 establishes a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that observable inputs be used when available.

The Company's available-for-sale securities consisted of U.S. government agencies' obligations and corporate debt securities and are valued using quoted market prices of recent transactions or are benchmarked to transactions of these securities which are considered Level 1 category items within the fair value hierarchy. There were no material re-measurements to fair value during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 of financial assets and liabilities that are not measured at fair value on a recurring basis.