I'm an Investor:
Investing is a process that should not be rushed and should be carried out with great care from the beginning to the end. Investors should conduct deep and comprehensive research before investing to meet their investment expectations. In order to make an accurate and efficient investment, it is important for investors to conduct IP due diligence, IP reliability search, make license agreement optimization and analyze freedom to operate reports before investing. By this means, investors can foresee the current situation and potential of the enterprise they invest in and make a realistic business plan for the near and distant future as well.
Why IP due diligence is important?
IP due diligence is defined as "A review of the specifics of a proposed investment or acquisition, carried out by investors or their agents, where the review includes a verification of all the material facts pertinent to the investment or purchase."
In order to accurately assess the risks for the investor, BATI IP conducts successful IP Due Diligence investigations by bringing together technical experts familiar with the technologies to be analyzed and legal practitioners with experience on the interpretation of the existing license and assignment agreements in the company to invest.
Why Freedom to Operate Reports are important?
Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis identifies potential obstacles or constraints to the production and commercialization of the technology to be acquired by identifying pertinent third-party IP rights and evaluating the likelihood that the prototype product or proposed process will violate these IP rights.
To determine whether a prototype product or technique may violate prior patents held by third parties, FTO reports first examine the patent literature (public patent applications and granted patents, plant varieties, utility models, and design patents).
In addition to technical considerations on the scope of protection, legal analysis such as the legal status of the IP rights found, their territorial scope and term of protection should be taken into account while conducting a FTO analysis.
What is the importance of IP reliability search?
Pursuant to the principle of territoriality, intellectual property rights are limited to the territory of the country where they have been granted and provides protection in the territory where it is duly registered only. In addition to the territoriality, intellectual property rights grant a protection for a certain period of time. When the protection period expires, intellectual property rights may be lapsed. It has great importance for the investors to detect the validity and availability of the intellectual property rights and determine how many years more they can benefit from these rights to determine the investment amount and to examine the factuality of the business plan of the company to be invested. Thus, it is recommended especially for the investors to conduct an intellectual property rights reliability search before investing.
