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Jay A. Lefton Senior Partner jlefton@ogilvyrenault.com416.216.4018 Common Mistakes That Cause Turmoil in Licensing, Financing and M&A Transactions Common Mistakes That Cause Turmoil in Licensing, Financing and M&A Transactions Presentation at the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre September 15, 2009
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2 IP Protection Failure to obtain and keep good title to intellectual property Enter into agreements on a timely basis Intellectual property assignment agreements Employees Consultants Including waiver of moral rights Confidentiality agreements Be aware of employees’ pre-existing obligations Instituting an IP and trade secret protection policies/program Failure to have, keep and chronicle key documents
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3 Contracts Only Go So Far Assuming that a contract is all you need Failure to assess the integrity of the people you’re dealing with “Once a trade secret or confidential information is out of the bag, you can’t get it back in” Failure to recognize that patents are different from trade secrets Patents represent exclusive monopoly rights granted by the government in exchange for disclosure of an invention Trade secrets are internal information or knowledge that is not known by anyone else
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4 IP Protection Failure to understand the implications of collaborating with outside parties in the creation of intellectual property Consultants Academics Implications of Joint Ownership of IP Rights of joint owners to act independent of the company
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5 Patent Protection Premature disclosure of invention Failure to pay attention to patent filing deadlines Is there a grace period? In the U.S.: yes Elsewhere: no! Failure to ensure that scope of the patents is broad enough to give protection Underestimating the importance of trade secrets and confidentiality
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6 Due Diligence Failure to constantly be re-evaluating the need for “housekeeping” Don’t be a pack rat: get rid of financial obligations for patent filings you don’t need anymore No one should know the skeletons in your closet better than you, so deal with them, or at least be aware of them Don’t let someone else find the cracks in your walls Misguided priorities: “We’ll save money now and fix things later” Results in bad, inconsistent or non-existent documentation Be cost-conscious, but do it right
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7 Assessment of Third Party IP Failure to properly recognize or license IP rights that are owned by others
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8 Securities in the Company Failure to have proper record keeping of organizational matters Who owns what number of shares? Properly document transfers Grants of options: Don’t just “promise”: implement! Don’t always need a Shareholders’ Agreement Should always have drag-along provisions Make sure that you can deliver 100% of the company Keep your eye on voting control Don’t let the tail wag the dog!
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9 Assignment clauses in Contracts Failure to plan for the future disposition of the company Share Sale: Is there a “change of control” clause in the agreement? Asset Sale: Contracts often require the other party’s consent to the assignment of the contract Include a consent to assignment to a party who is acquiring all of substantially all of the company’s assets or the assets of the division in respect of which the contract relates Be clear that the company is only responsible for obligations up to the date of the sale
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10 Licensing Agreements Assuming that all license agreements are the same Failing to pay attention to detail Nothing is boilerplate! Read the words carefully: they’ll bite you! Failing to tailor the agreement to the realities Failure to plan for the future contingencies Things won’t always be rosy Not being explicit about expectations/obligations
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11 Licensing Agreements Sloppiness in the Grant Clause What is granted to whom? Don’t give what they don’t need Improvements? How broad/narrow is the “whom” defined? Ability to sublicense? What can’t the licensee do? For what purpose? For how long? For where? Exclusivity “exclusive” “sole” (NEVER “sole and exclusive”) “non-exclusive”
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12 Licensing Agreements Failure to create deal terms which properly incentivize/motivate/protect Compensation strategy Types of fees, royalties and payments Royalty obligations based upon what? Currency conversion “Duty to Exploit” obligations Silence? “Best efforts”? “Reasonable commercial efforts”? Particular milestones? Subjective/objective criteria? Limitation of Liability provisions
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13 Licensing Agreements Failure to consider term/termination Be clear as to start date and termination date Be clear on when obligations to make financial payments terminate U.S. vs. Canada Patents vs. know-how Who gets what on termination? When can the agreement be terminated? What rights continue post-termination?
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14 Agreements Generally Blind reliance on precedents Failure to draft the first draft Failure to include all deal terms Failure to make sure that your advisor truly understands what you want from the deal Failure to consider the Choice of Law The law may override your intentions Failure to consider implications when a provision changes A Rubik's cube! Failure to distinguish between a regular “contract” and a “strategic alliance”
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15 Privacy Laws Failure to understand the implications of privacy laws to the collection of “personal information” Establish the proper policies and practices Plan for the ability to share and/or transfer such personal information in the event of a sale of the business
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16 Jay A. Lefton Ogilvy Renault LLP Suite 3800 – 200 Bay Street Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 2Z4 416.216.4018 (o) 416.998.1818 (c) jlefton@ogilvyrenault.com
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