Trademark &; Intellectual property application:
In the process of investment and financing, how to judge the investment value of the target company is the most concerned issue for investors, especially in the face of small and micro enterprises of science and technology, ignoring the characteristics of assets increases the difficulty of investment decision-making.
The legal team of Guangzhou Yuanjing Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuanjing) has found an effective way to solve this problem by making full use of intellectual property rights in many years of practice. "When the investee is a technology-based enterprise, the key to determine its investment value is the technical strength and R&D capability of the target company, and intellectual property is an important dimension to consider its innovation capability." Defying Zhuang _, vice president and legal director, said.
Zhuang _, with a professional background in intellectual property, has been active in the front line of corporate legal affairs, with many years of practical legal experience, especially proficient in intellectual property issues in the process of investment and financing. She has a profound understanding of how to play the role of intellectual property rights in the process of investment and financing. "In the investment process of enterprises, due diligence on intellectual property rights is the first step to determine the investment intention before investment. In the process of investment, detailed intellectual property agreements can reduce the sudden risks during this period. After the investment is completed, helping the invested company to do a good job in intellectual property management and eliminate intellectual property risks is an important link to ensure the realization of investment value. " Zhuang _ means.
Before investment: fully adjust intellectual property rights and investigate investment risks.
Before entering Vision, Zhuang _ had been in charge of legal affairs in many companies at home and abroad, and accumulated rich experience in the fields of investment and mergers and acquisitions. For example, during his animation work, Zhuang _ was responsible for obtaining trademarks and copyrights of related animation images such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, as well as other intellectual property work in domestic and foreign investment acquisition projects, including obtaining trademarks, copyrights and patents at home and abroad. With the continuous accumulation of practical experience, she has a deeper understanding of the role and value of intellectual property rights. "The investment M&A of Orpheus Animation pays more attention to trademarks and copyrights. The core of project negotiation is intellectual property rights, which means that whether intellectual property rights are done well or not determines the success or failure of the project to a certain extent. " Zhuang _ means.
20 15, Zhuang _ added visual source. Founded in 2005, Vision Source Co., Ltd. is mainly committed to improving the rich and efficient information exchange experience of electronic products, and continuously extending and enriching the product structure through technological innovation. The products have been widely used in the fields of consumer electronics and commercial electronics.
The investment field of Shiyuan shares is more focused on high-tech industries, and patents have become an important indicator to judge the investment value. Unlike traditional investors who only pay attention to the number of patents, Zhuang _ has a clear plan when investigating patents. "In the adjustment of intellectual property rights before investment, the two core issues we are concerned about are whether the patents of the target company can form competition barriers in the future market competition; Is there any infringement risk after the related products are expanded? " Zhuang _ means.
"The adjustment of intellectual property rights should include three parts. First, review the patent ownership certificate and investigate the patent ownership dispute; Then, conduct FTO due diligence to investigate the future patent infringement risk; Finally, the patent value is statistically evaluated. " Zhuang _ introduced that in the first link, it is not simply to check the patent certificate, but to let the patent engineer communicate face to face with the technical R&D personnel and judge whether there is a patent ownership dispute in combination with their work background. In FTO, patent engineers communicate with technicians, conduct targeted patent retrieval and analysis, and judge their innovation ability. In addition, in this link, the patent engineer will also search the patents of the industry and competitors from the perspective of possible patent infringement, and analyze the past patent lawsuits in the industry to investigate the patent infringement risks from multiple angles. The last step is to screen truly valuable patents on the basis of the above two steps, and evaluate the value from multiple dimensions such as technical height and industry leading degree.
Investing in China: an intellectual property agreement to improve prevention ability
During the period from the determination of investment intention to the completion of investment, because the investment behavior has not been completely completed, there are often many variables during this period, which are likely to affect the investment value of the target company.
"For technology-based SMEs, once the investment intention is established, patent disputes often follow. If the FTO in the early stage is not solid enough, the patents of the invested enterprises will be invalid, leading to the ineffective work in the early stage. Not only that, but also because of patent payment, patent operation and other problems, the patents of the invested enterprises will be invalid and licensed, which will greatly affect the investment value of the target company. Therefore, during this period, it is extremely important to make a good agreement on intellectual property rights and prevent intellectual property investment risks. " Zhuang _ said that the practice of Vision Source Co., Ltd. is to make an agreement with the target company on the terms of intellectual property rights, that is, all intangible assets of the invested enterprise must remain valid after the deadline and cannot be sold or changed. In the operation of intangible assets, the R&D team is also required to make a promise and statement that the transfer is not allowed.
"Intellectual property rights are intangible assets of enterprises, and the emergence of intellectual property risks will adversely affect the value of enterprises." Zhuang said that in the market, it is not uncommon for enterprises to suffer losses and their development is blocked due to intellectual property issues. For investors, how to prevent intangible assets from depreciating in investment will be an extremely important issue. At present, Zhuang _ is also exploring ways to improve the prevention of intellectual property risks of investment banks in China by involving professionals in management in advance and modifying the scope of adjustment.
After investment: intellectual property management realizes investment value
After the investment is completed, how to manage the intellectual property rights of enterprises in a unified way and give full play to their value will test the "skill" of investors.
"In the post-investment management process of the holding company, the intellectual property rights have been adjusted before the investment, and a very detailed risk list has been released. We will formulate the post-investment management plan and follow-up form according to the list, equip professionals and professional teams according to different types of intellectual property rights, and directly enter the enterprise for risk rectification. " Zhuang _ said that Yuanjing can provide all-round legal services such as intellectual property rights, and the holding company does not even need to set up a legal department, but only needs to do a good job in technology research and development and product promotion. This not only improves the work efficiency, but also improves the overall quality of visual intellectual property rights. In addition, for joint-stock companies, Vision mainly monitors intellectual property risks in real time, and once intellectual property problems arise, Vision's intellectual property team will also provide professional services for them.
Relying on this intellectual property work covering the whole process of investment and financing, Vision Source Co., Ltd. has accelerated the pace of investment and enabled the target company to realize the value of intellectual property rights. Zhuang _ introduced that at the beginning of cooperation and negotiation with a technology enterprise, both sides left a good impression and maintained good communication. However, the involvement of the intellectual property team of Shiyuan shares found that there were many problems in this enterprise.
"In the process of intellectual property adjustment, we conducted an all-round investigation on this enterprise. Patent engineers screen official website information, product catalogs and public information. From the perspective of external publicity, and based on these external information, enter the enterprise to conduct patent infringement investigations and communicate with R&D personnel one-on-one. " Zhuang _ said that she later found that the enterprise not only lacked innovation ability, but also had serious trademark infringement risks in its main products. In the end, due to unqualified intellectual property rights, this investment project was not completed. "It took us more than half a month to find out the development history of this enterprise in the past five years, and the final survey results were also recognized by this enterprise." Zhuang _ means.
In Zhuang's view, with the continuous improvement of enterprises' intellectual property awareness and management ability, the value-oriented role of intellectual property rights in the process of investment and financing will become more obvious. How to give play to the leading role of intellectual property rights deserves every investor's consideration. "Intellectual property rights are an important tool to discover the investment value of enterprises. For investors, it is necessary to know how to make good use of intellectual property rights for investment purposes in order to make this tool play its due role. " Zhuang _ means.
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