Patent evaluation mandate in the context of a grant of exploitation rights

Mandate description

The mission aimed to estimate the economic value of a set of patents relating to implantable devices for surgical use.

The objective was to determine an independent reference value before signing a concession contract, in order to ensure economic balance between the parties.

As part of this mandate, a comprehensive historical cost due diligence relating to the development of patents was conducted.

This detailed analysis made it possible to Replenish all the costs of research, design, clinical trials, and legal protection associated with intellectual property.

The process, which was longer and more thorough than the usual assessment missions, was part of the global mandate entrusted by the client, including economic, technical and legal analysis of the patent portfolio.

Key issues

The main challenges consisted of:

• determine the economic value of a research-intensive technological asset;
• identify and value reconstructed historical costs, often scattered over several accounting years;
• estimate expected future royalty and licensing flows;
• ensure consistency between the technical, economic and legal value of patents.
  

Approach and results

The evaluation was based on several complementary approaches:

• Income approach, based on royalties saved and future concession flows;
• cost approach, enriched by the comprehensive reconstruction of historical development, engineering and certification expenditures;
• Market approach, based on recent transactions in the field of medical technology.
  

The study made it possible to determine a robust and justified value range, recognized by the customer and used in the context of contractual negotiations with the industrial partner.

This mandate, which lasted longer than average, illustrated the complementarity between financial analysis, technical audit and sector expertise, necessary for the valorization of highly complex medical patents.