This intensive one-day course will give you many insights into the best practice of organising and conducting an efficient and thorough IP due diligence project.
A properly conducted due diligence search can lead to many opportunities for both buyers and sellers, including long-term relationships and new business synergies.
Attending this seminar will ensure you know how to mitigate the risks involved and will give you key insights into balancing internal resources and outside expertise to the best advantage. It will help you understand the vital aspects of an FTO analysis from a US and EU perspective, plus, learn about the IP landscape in China as well as new opportunities.
You will benefit from the experience of the expert panel during the discussion session and get the solutions you need to your questions.
Why you should attend
By attending this one-day intensive seminar you will:
Gain practical advice from highly-rated experts on how best to prepare for your due diligence and FTO projects
Learn to identify when due diligence and FTO projects are desirable and how to determine what the scope should be
Improve your understanding of the risks around ownership and learn how to minimise these risks
Communicate due diligence results effectively while protecting confidential and privileged information
Understand your obligations if the deal doesn't go through
Be prepared for the FTO questions that will be raised by your client/company when they want to use new technology or expand existing technology
Understand which FTO questions you should ask, to make the most of your time and budget
Discuss best practices for setting up and conducting a thorough analysis
Gain valuable insight into infringement and validity analysis in Europe and the US
Take away practical advice on leveraging the European and US systems to your advantage
Learn to evaluate, minimise and communicate risk effectively
Who Should Attend:
Patent attorneys
In-house lawyers
Business development executives/managers
IP and patent managers
Licensing executives
Trade mark attorneys
Agenda:
Programme
Best practices for organising and conducting an IP due diligence project
Understanding the business goals
Practical issues regarding accessing information
Privilege and confidentiality issues
Developing a comprehensive due diligence checklist to determine project scope under different deal conditions and budgets
Awareness of relevant US IP issues frequently encountered
Potential pitfalls when involving company's technical persons: a list of do nots'
In-house perspectives on conducting IP due diligence and FTO projects
Role of IP - risk factor, nice to have or deal driver?
Coordination of the projects within various business units
Balancing internal resources with the expertise of outside counsel
Impact of IP due diligence and FTO projects on IP awareness within the business units
Mitigating the identified risks
Real examples will be used to illustrate the types of risks that generally arise and how to restructure or end a deal having significant risks
- How much risk is too much?
- What if you are asked to make the deal happen even if the risk is high?
- Can you mitigate that risk?
Communicating results and post-deal issues
Confidentiality obligations if the underlying deal does not go through
Handling negative information
Obligations that remain if the deal is successful
Practical aspects of file retention
Vital aspects of an FTO analysis - US perspective
Tactics for recognising the products and processes to be cleared
Timing and scope of the project
Defining the search - common pitfalls
Validity and infringement analysis - tactics for triage' on the FTO search results
- US perspectives on relevant legal issues
Cost-effective approach for dealing with potentially problematic or blocking' patents
- US perspectives on relevant legal issues
Vital aspects of an FTO analysis - EP perspective
Strategies for analysing whether EP infringement and validity issues in FTO context
Recognising the risks in different EP jurisdictions
EP options for dealing with competitor patents
Best practices for EP counsel and in-house teams
Wrestling the Chinese dragon
IP landscape in China
Strategies used by Chinese companies to leverage IP
Chinese FTO
- Conducting searches for China IP
- The language issue' (using Chinese documents) - Strategic options for specialist support
- Options for dealing with third parties
- Chinese weapons