In some organizations the effective development and use of innovation and intellectual properties are primary forces driving corporate success and shareholder value. However, many of the same organizations do not have a comprehensive base of information about the intellectual property assets they own, how these assets are being protected, and how they are [...]
Protection Processes: The above section addresses the processes by which intellectual assets are created. Coupled closely with their creation is the topic of protection. Since intellectual assets reside primarily in the minds of the company’s officers and employees, it is critical that they be schooled in what intellectual assets are, how valuable they [...]
Protection of Intellectual Assets – Conversion To Protected Intellectual Property Assets Protecting intellectual assets is often accomplished by converting them into one of four types of intellectual property. The distinction is that intellectual property is an asset class whose rights are carefully defined and if violated can be litigated in a court of [...]
Example of an Event Horizon Table Another tool used to tie patent activity to business activity is an Event Horizon table. This is shown in the “Example of an Event Horizon Table” figure. In this figure significant business announcements are listed down the left-hand column in the order in which they were made, [...]
IP tools used for answering due diligence questions have varied over the years and will continue to evolve. With each iteration they become much more effective and efficient at saving time and inspiring thinking for better decision-making. Using analytical tools to create a visual display of information saves valuable time during the due [...]
Identifying New Market Segments Finally, using patent to SIC or NAIC concordance codes may identify potential licensees of the proposed merger’s patents. This can be done as shown in the Identifying “New Market Segments” figure. The concordance results show nonaffiliated business segments that use the same underlying core technologies. This is especially useful [...]
Patent Citation Root-Trees to Uncover Hidden Competitors The use of patent citation root-trees, shown in the “Patent Citation Root-Trees” figure, can also uncover technologies which might be under exploration by competitors of the merger. Such trees also have the advantage that they show companies that might be interested in sublicensing the art who [...]
Patent Citation Trees for Freedom-To-Operate Another way to check if the highly cited patents are of interest to potential competitors is to build patent citation trees as shown in the “Patent Citation Trees for Freedom-To-Operate” figure. In this graphic competitors can be color-coded and in so doing they stand out when they surround [...]
Highly Cited Patents Likely Have The Most Value Another quick check for IP due diligence is to determine which patents might have the most value. A good, but not perfect, patent value metric is the number of citations that a patent receives. For due diligence, looking at the patents that have received the [...]
Time Taken for Patent Prosecution Another due diligence check is to make sure that all art is at the negotiating table. As shown in the “Time Taken for Patent Prosecution” figure, by plotting the years that it takes for patent prosecution against the year the patent is issued it can be determined the [...]
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