Posts Tagged: "M&A"

Exploring Joint Development Relationships: Part I, Prevent Common Problems

As investors and business-minded IP litigators, we see many situations where IP holders get the short end of the stick. But one stands out from the rest: joint development relationships. Too often we see great American startups losing their technology and competitive edge to joint development partners/investors with a front-row seat to everything. What follows is a multi-part series that we hope any company going down the joint development path will take to heart. We start with tips to prevent a problem. Future installments will focus on what companies can do after their “partner” uses the guise of venture investment to steal critical IP and know-how.

Michael Gulliford & Michael Renaud

October 10, 2022

A Lack of Focus on Trade Secrets Can Pose Serious Risks

We all talk about the importance of data as business assets, but when it comes to buying and selling the companies that own them, we seem not to pay much attention. My anecdotal survey reveals that colleagues who focus on mergers and acquisitions confess to a lack of focus on trade secrets. This may seem odd, even crazy, given the increasing percentage of industrial property represented by intangible assets—up from 17% in 1975 to 84% in 2015. The problem appears to start with the fact that secret information, no matter how central to the success of the business, is mysterious. Unlike the “registered rights” of patent, copyright and trademark, there are no government certificates defining secrets; and valuing them is hard. Add to that the imperative to get deals done faster and cheaper, and it’s easy to see how secrecy may have become the blind spot of transactional IP.

James Pooley

March 28, 2019