Intellectual Property Audit

Project Case Study

EverEdge IP was approached by a major functional foods company to carry out an Intellectual Property Audit. The Audit was conducted specifically to assist the company to prepare for an international trade sale.

About Client

The client is a major functional foods manufacturer which processes fruit in a manner that it retains its natural goodness. The health giving compounds of these fruits are extracted and converted into a form which can be readily consumed to enhance metabolic effects and general health. The client was a venture capital backed company and had a significant intellectual property portfolio.

The Business Problem

The client had carried out research without considering the market opportunity or the possible intellectual property protection that could be gained. Intellectual property strategy had been sporadic and costly resulting in a fragmented patent portfolio that had little commercial value and a large number of trademarks which were of little value. EverEdge IP was engaged to assist the client by auditing its intellectual property portfolio, determine potential risks and opportunities and develop an intellectual property strategy to go forward with.

EverEdge IP Solution

EverEdge IP worked closely with researcher staff and the management team to conduct a comprehensive and detailed intellectual property audit. This involved reviewing multiple classes of intangible assets as well investigating company systems, contracts and policies, including specifically human resources. It was quickly realised that a large portion of the company's commercial value; lay not in registered intellectual property assets such as patents but in trade secrets and technical know-how. EverEdge IP worked with the management team to develop methods for optimally protecting such assets and to leverage them for the anticipated trade sale. Systems were put in place to align R&D to market opportunity. This turned R&D fom an ad-hoc approach which added very little value into intellectual property assets that are aligned to market opportunities and generated strong commercial value.

The Result

The Intellectual Property Audit highlighted important issues in the client's intellectual property portfolio, de-risked the venture for investors and helped align research and development with market opportunities.