Keiretsu Forum Academy

Wednesday, April 5th – Noon - 1:30pm

Lane Powell PC – Mt. Baker Conference Room

1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4200

Seattle, WA 98101

Academy Topic: 

The Value of IP Due Diligence for Investors and Management Consultants

About the Topic:

 Alan's presentation discusses how prospective investors and others can use an intellectual property (IP) due diligence process to (a) identify the possible innovations that have been developed or are being developed by a company, (b)assess the effectiveness of a management team in identifying and protecting those innovations (or other intellectual property), and (c) determine how well management has implemented steps to build a strategically valuable asset from that IP. Because properly constructed IP portfolios may be used as a business asset and have multiple value propositions (offensive, defensive, as a tool for engaging others in business negotiations, etc.), it is essential to properly identify and develop a protection plan for innovations that are expected to drive revenue and differentiate a company in the marketplace.  A management team's effectiveness at performing these tasks can be evaluated through an investigation that determines what innovations may be present and the strategies being used to protect those innovations, including how innovations are described and expanded upon in patent applications.  An effective due diligence effort can provide information regarding how well management has implemented processes to identify, capture, and develop its IP, and if those ways are sufficient to produce a valuable business asset.  This may be of assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of management in general, as well as whether the assets have the potential to increase the valuation of a company and generate additional funds in the case of a funding round or liquidation event.

SPEAKER BIO

Alan Minsk is a former systems analyst, radar system engineer, and software engineer who became a Patent Counsel and Intellectual Property Strategist.  He has served as both a law firm Partner and as an in-house Patent and IP counsel.  His law practice is focused on developing and implementing strategies for protecting clients’ intellectual property, and counseling clients (typically one or more of GC, CTO, and VP of Product Development) with regard to intellectual property issues that arise during the course of their business operations. He provides services that include identifying potential innovations in a client’s products and services, determining an effective strategy for protecting those innovations, patent application drafting and patent procurement, patent portfolio evaluation and the development of strategies for increasing the value of patent portfolios, performing due diligence for purposes of product clearances, portfolio evaluation, mergers and acquisitions, and pre-litigation risk assessment, assisting R&D and product development efforts to increase the likelihood of obtaining meaningful patents, and establishing and administering in-house patent programs for clients.  He has extensive experience working with technical, engineering, and product management staff to identify innovations in product lines and to develop an appropriate protection strategy, taking into account long term business objectives, budget, and the competitive environment (including working with in-house legal and financial departments to establish and execute patent programs and operations within budget or other resource constraints).  Alan's experience includes working with technologies such as electronic payment systems, network security, fraud detection, mobile device user interfaces, eCommerce business models and platforms, mobile payment applications, communications systems, software as a service (SaaS) platforms, messaging systems, search methods, semiconductor processing methods, flash memory systems, imaging arrays, radar systems, lasers, signal and image processing methods, neural networks, adaptive control systems, machine learning techniques, optical computers, and wireless data services.  He has represented clients ranging from start-ups to publicly traded companies, including Visa, Jawbone, NetSuite, National Semiconductor, Micron, Nordstrom, Amazon, Dimensional Mechanics, iLike, and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Parking: Parking is available in the U.S. Bank Centre.

We look forward to your attendance and participation!

The Keiretsu Forum Northwest Team
 

RSVP:

Member or invited guest? Log In to RSVP for events. 
New to Keiretsu? Register first, then you can RSVP for events.
Forgot your password? Click Here to reset your password with your email address.
Questions? Please call 206-529-3687