Enforcement-Related Considerations For Patent Valuation: The Perspective From Canada

Organisations acquire patent rights in a number of different ways and for a number of different reasons. Innovators may conceive of new inventions and file patent applications for them. These applications may be filed for a variety of reasons, including gaining market/technology exclusivity and attracting investment. Patent licensing companies may acquire patents from innovators for the purpose of licensing them to third parties as part of a monetisation campaign. Operating companies may also obtain patents from innovators with the objective of holding them for defensive purposes (eg, as intellectual property to potentially assert, if ever sued by a competitor for patent infringement). Separate and apart from patent acquisition, implementers of patented technology often enter into licence agreements with patent owners in order to settle or avoid court actions for infringement.