Deck 24: Intellectual Property Audits and Due Diligence Reviews

Question 1

Under federal law, intellectual property cannot be used as collateral when its owner secures a loan from a bank or other institution.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

What advantage might there be for a patent owner who decides to donate five patents to the University of Delaware?

Answer 2

The patent owner may be able to take a tax deduction for the donation (although the IRS will subject such to scrutiny).​

Question 3

Changes in the law may trigger the need for an IP audit.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In many instances, clients and companies are simply unaware of the IP assets they may own.

Question 5

A company can always predict the costs involved in conducting an IP audit.

Question 6

What is the primary difference between an intellectual property audit and an intellectual property due diligence review?

Question 7

In what way might the 2013 decision by the Supreme Court in the Myriad decision that naturally occurring genes cannot be patented affect or trigger an IP audit?

Question 8

How can owners of intellectual property "monetize" their intellectual property assets to achieve a stream of revenue?

Question 9

Why is an attorney usually involved in an IP audit (rather than having it conducted solely by the company and the law firm's paralegals)?

Question 10

Through an IP audit, a company discovers that it is no longer using two trademarks and two utility patents. What might or should the company do?

Question 11

Federal law requires IP audits to be conducted once annually.

Question 12

Why do venture capitalists often look favorably on companies with patent portfolios?

Question 13

If intellectual property is not protected properly, it may be lost.

Question 14

Why does a legal team conducting an IP audit often meet with company employees first to explain the nature and process of the audit?

Question 15

Through an IP audit, a company discovers that five copyright and three trademark registrations it acquired last year when the company merged another company into it remain in the name of the acquired company. What should the company do? Why?