Understanding patents: How to be prepared for due diligence

By M. Henry Heines, Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP -- 5/16/2007

Contents Introduction What is due diligence? The scope of due diligence Due diligence vs. warranties How to improve your chances for successful IP due diligence IP beyond patents

Editor's note: The following is a chapter excerpted from Patents For Business: A Manager's Guide to Scope, Strategy, and Due Diligence, by M. Henry Heines, partner, Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP.

Introduction

With the proliferation of alliances, acquisitions, investments, and deals and fundraising activities in general in today's technology climate, any technology business entity has a likelihood of enduring at least one due diligence review. Due diligence typically involves exposing internal and confidential information to outside counsel who is otherwise unfamiliar with the company's operations or technology and yet must review the company's entire intellectual property landscape and make recommendations within a limited period of time.

Information revealed in the review can be the controlling factor in the reviewer's decision as to whether or not to recommend that the transaction or investment go forward. Because of the pivotal role of due diligence in these matters, any business entity will benefit from an understanding of due diligence and the issues that it can reveal.

This chapter will illustrate how due diligence impacts most, if not all, of the aspects of intellectual property.

>> Continue to What is due diligence?

© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.