According to the law, intellectual property rights in a broad sense can be used as a form of capital contribution. Therefore, copyright, such as related rights, trademarks, patents, non-proprietary technology, manufacturer's name right, integrated circuit layout design, undisclosed information, etc. Are all available ways of capital contribution.
In addition, even if there are many types of intellectual property rights that can be invested, there will be legal risks in the choice of specific investment forms. Because different types of intellectual property rights may have different values and different market application values, these need to be seriously considered, and we must choose relatively mature types of intellectual property rights with broad market prospects or commercial value to contribute.
Therefore, for high-tech enterprises, intellectual property is the main contribution in the initial stage, but the scope of contribution is relatively large. Non-proprietary technologies that are not protected by patents can also contribute capital, and should not be limited to patents or trademarks. Otherwise, the universality and value of intellectual property rights will not be fully exerted, and the probability of successful investment will be reduced.
(B) the legal risks of intellectual property defects
For technology investors, they should avoid any legal risks to the legality and integrity of intellectual property rights. If there is a dispute over the ownership of technical achievements and software job works, it will fundamentally affect the establishment of capital contribution.
Therefore, it can be considered to state in the investment agreement or contract that "the investor guarantees that the invested high-tech is its previous proprietary technological achievement, and all relevant property rights are complete, sufficient and free from any defects", and stipulate the corresponding liability for contracting fault.
(C) the legal risks in the evaluation of intellectual property investment value
The evaluation value of intellectual property rights is related to its market application and profit value, as well as the proportion of equity or the strength of control rights. Therefore, based on objective, true and comprehensive evaluation data, it is a problem that high-tech enterprises must consider in the process of technology investment.
In the evaluation process, ignoring the following factors often leads to the wrong evaluation results.
1, the audit of high-tech pre-development expenses is not true.
2. The market risk prediction of similar products or technologies is inaccurate, and the market potential and value analysis are biased.
3. The subsequent development cost forecast is inappropriate.
If the evaluation is inaccurate or improper, the technology investors will suffer great disadvantages in the protection of intellectual property value.
(D) the legal risk of the proportion of intellectual property investment
According to the law, the highest proportion of intellectual property investment can reach 70%, which shows that the law encourages intellectual property investment, but there are legal risks if the proportion of investment is too high or too low. Therefore, we must choose the appropriate investment ratio according to the actual situation.
(five) the legal risks of the limitation of intellectual property rights.
The patent right and trademark right in industrial property rights must be within the validity period. If it exceeds the time limit, it is a defect in capital contribution, and the non-patented technology is infinite, which is also a place to pay attention to.
(six) the legal risk of intellectual property rights transfer after the capital contribution.
Even if there is no dispute about the ownership of intellectual property rights, investors will face the problem of technology owners restricting the transfer of intellectual property rights, because this is related to the risk interests of investors, and improper transfer or transaction may not be conducive to the maintenance and utilization of intellectual property values.
Holding enterprises not only have the accounting significance of consolidated accounting, but also have the control significance of mastering the initiative of management. In order to truly control an enterprise, in addition to the absolute advantage of the controlling party's investment ratio, the controlling party must also serve as the chairman and have the nomination right to appoint the general manager and chief financial officer. Only in this way can the resolutions and management concepts of the board of directors of enterprises be implemented more effectively. For investing in a high-tech enterprise, the deeper significance lies in that the controlling shareholder can really master the invested high-tech and prevent the high-tech from being replaced by another company, which will cause huge investment losses to investors.
Therefore, in the cooperation agreement, if the parties neglect or despise the ownership of technological achievements, or the agreement is vague, it will easily lead to disputes, especially for technology developers, which will cause great obstacles to intellectual property protection. This hidden danger may lead to improper use, leakage or incompleteness of the components of technological achievements.
In order to prevent high-tech from being transferred without authorization, the following measures can be considered in the investment cooperation agreement or the company's articles of association:
1. clearly stipulates that intellectual property rights belong to the company.
In the agreement on the establishment of high-tech enterprises, the ownership of high-tech before and after investment is listed, and all investors' guarantees and commitments to the invested high-tech are included, so that all investors' behavior in dealing with high-tech achievements is bound by law. Only after the transfer procedures are completed can the intellectual property contribution be truly owned by the enterprise and controlled.
Accordingly, it can be stipulated in the company's articles of association that the proprietary technology related to this high-tech (including but not limited to specific production processes and processes and other technical secrets that should be reasonably regarded as proprietary technology according to laws and practices) belongs to the established company, and each party promises not to raise objections at any time and on any occasion, and not to transfer it in its own name.
2. Clearly stipulate that all parties have the obligation to keep intellectual property confidential.
Restricting the use and confidentiality of relevant intellectual property information and technical secrets by all parties, if the confidentiality obligation is not restricted and corresponding confidentiality measures are not taken, will lead to the risk that all parties may use, transfer or disclose it at will.
If high-tech is illegally leaked, it will seriously affect the commercial existence value of established enterprises and the risk interests of venture capitalists. Therefore, it is considered to add high-tech confidentiality obligations and disclosure penalty clauses to the contract articles of association of high-tech enterprises, and to prevent the disclosure of trade secrets by formulating a perfect enterprise trade secret system.
3. Protect intellectual property rights through equity incentives for technicians.
Driven by shareholders' interests, scientific and technological personnel take technology as a share, which is not only conducive to the application of high-tech, but also conducive to the protection of high-tech patent rights, and the subsequent development of high-tech has also been guaranteed. For example, Yili Group gave a large number of stock options to the core technical backbone, which stabilized the core competitiveness of the technical team and the whole enterprise.
To sum up, high-tech enterprises in intellectual property investment mainly face many legal risks such as incomplete understanding of the scope of intellectual property rights, defects in intellectual property rights, false evaluation of intellectual property rights, limitation of the validity period of intellectual property rights, and intellectual property rights transfer.