Due Diligence and Opinions INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Thorough and purposeful intellectual property-related due diligence is a critical part of public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and spin-offs. We help companies, investment banks and venture capitalists achieve their business goals and protect their intellectual property rights—both externally and internally—by conducting landscape analyses of competitors’ patents, as well as clearance studies and patent portfolio audits. We provide opinions and advice in all areas of technology regarding patentability, infringement, validity and freedom to operate.

We regularly work with the firm's corporate lawyers on major equity and debt offerings, mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs, evaluating significant intellectual property issues ranging from patent protection for lead products and product candidates to the intellectual property positions of close competitors. 

Experience

We have worked closely with our colleagues in the firm’s corporate practice on transactions such as:

  • WebMD’s $160 million acquisition of VIPS
  • Idenix Pharmaceuticals’s $156.8 million IPO and private placement to Novartis
  • NitroMed's $61.34 million IPO
  • A $49.4 million follow-on offering for Lexicon Genetics
  • A $69.7 million follow-on offering for EPIX Medical
  • Predix Pharmaceuticals's merger with Physiome Sciences

We also worked with a number of clients to analyze their patent portfolios vis-a-vis their field of interest and the effect of targeted competitors' portfolios on their business, and completed freedom to operate analyses concerning a variety of products and technologies.