What does an investor's IP due diligence checklist include?
An IP due diligence checklist asks four questions: what do you own, do you really own it, is it still alive, and does anyone else have a claim on it. Expect to produce: a schedule of all patents and applications with numbers, jurisdictions, status and deadlines; assignment documents from every inventor, founder, employee and contractor into the company, with recordal at the patent office; employment and consulting agreements with invention assignment and confidentiality clauses; any licences in or out, including university or previous-employer licences and government funding conditions; an inventory of open-source components and their licences; trade secret policies; records of public disclosures before filing; freedom-to-operate analyses or opinions if any exist; and any threatened or actual disputes, cease-and-desist letters or oppositions.
For a seed round, a lighter version suffices: proof of filed priority applications, signed assignments, and clean founder IP. Series A and later investors, and any acquirer, will run the full list and often a freedom-to-operate check on the core product. Two documents carry the most weight: the assignment chain, because a patent the company does not own is worth nothing to it, and the disclosure record, because a publication before filing can invalidate what is on the schedule. Investors tend to accept pending applications and unresolved office actions as normal; what they do not accept is not knowing. Keeping a portfolio register with deadlines and assignments in one place turns a two-week scramble into a one-hour export. See also What is IP due diligence?
