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Patent Prosecution and Litigation Attorneys: Patent Due Diligence in a Corporate Acquisition

When valuating corporate assets during corporate acquisition, the patent intellectual property assets should not be ignored.  A patent portfolio may prove to be a revenue source by generating licensing fees, or become money-making if patent infringement is proven for monetary damages.  Similarly, a patent may be a stand alone asset that another entity seeks to purchase for freedom to practice or other reasons.

Patent Attorney Questions: What Is Patent Due Diligence?

Patent due diligence is an investigation about a patent.  Due diligence is often done prior to patent acquisition, so that the potential purchaser knows more about the asset that she is acquiring.  Due diligence investigations may reveal patent validity problems, patent enforceability problems, or patent prosecution events that impact patent claim scope, which in turn may impact patent infringement.  Generally, in a due diligence investigation, a patent professional will review the patent and patent file wrapper documenting prosecution of the patent application before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Due diligence investigations may include analysis of information concerning the patent owner, named inventors, technical field or market.  Because every patent is unique, patent due diligence should be handled with an individualized approach on a patent-by-patent or portfolio-by-portfolio basis.  Rather than purchasing a patent and finding out later on that the patent claims are worthless, due diligence is a tool that may be used to learn about a patent upfront.

If you have a patent issue, or wish to register a patent, you may contact one of our patent attorneys for a free evaluation or call 866.936.7447 (International Toll Free).