Intellectual Property Audits

What intellectual property rights do we have? What more should we be doing to protect our intellectual property rights? How can we best exploit our intellectual property rights to improve our business? These are some of the questions that can be answered by an intellectual property (IP) audit. In an IP audit, Reinhart's skilled attorneys will meet with you, usually at your facility, to review and evaluate your business with a specific focus on intellectual property issues. All forms of intellectual property rights that may add value to the business can be considered including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.

Portfolio Analysis

An IP audit typically begins with a review of your current IP portfolio. We will review the intellectual property you have and provide advice on how the current IP rights of the business can be best maintained. We will also explore with you how the best value can be extracted from the existing intellectual property portfolio. For example, we may help to determine which of your products or services are covered by the current portfolio, which competitor's products or services are possibly infringing, potential licensees and the next steps to take. The objective of the analysis is to give you a strong understanding of the intellectual property your business owns and its value to your business.

Business Analysis

Another important part of an IP audit is when we turn our attention to your current products, services and plans for the future with an eye to expand the existing intellectual property portfolio in the most effective manner. We help you determine what and how best to protect your intellectual property from a business point of view. The objective of the business analysis portion of an IP audit is to provide you with a strategy or plan for building the intellectual property portfolio of the business into the future.