Due Diligence

In the course of mergers and acquisitions of companies or parts of companies or when buying or selling patent portfolios, it is necessary to at least qualitatively assess the value of the intellectual property rights involved and to gain a clear understanding of the risks relating to the respective rights and the corresponding technology. This involves, among other things, conducting a risk assessment regarding any existing or potential infringement and revocation proceedings, analyzing the applicable employee invention regulations, carrying out a legal evaluation of existing license agreements and considering the issue of the factual ownership of the protective rights.

The value is further essentially determined according to whether a suitable filing strategy was pursued in the past, whether, for example, patents were filed in the relevant markets and whether the core technologies are sufficiently covered, as well as according to the age structure of the portfolio. BARDEHLE PAGENBERG’s attorneys have the necessary practical experience to evaluate all the risks involved and have advised a number of notable companies in connection with M&A transactions.