Venture capitalists and acquirers should conduct due diligence into the intellectual property held by Israeli companies. Shulamit Hirsch PhD, Technion’s Head of IP, discusses the following related issues. 

How to protect inventions during the research phase. 

Avoiding entanglements with research sponsors such as universities. 

When inventors should seek releases from research institutions. 

When to file for patent protection versus maintaining trade secrets. 

How emerging Israeli companies can manage their patent budgets in view of their worldwide ambitions. 

What happens to Intellectual Property sponsored by the Israeli government when Israeli companies are acquired by non-Israeli companies. 

Shulamit also discusses specific questions venture capitalists and acquirers should ask relative to target companies’ prior art searches, patent assignment histories, claims coverage and presence of patent continuations. 

Shulamit Hirsch has a PhD and is one of Israel’s leading intellectual property practitioners and advisors. She is the Head of IP, Outsourcing at the Technion. 

Shulamit also consults with some of Israel’s most promising private companies, Israel’s largest public companies and clients around the world such as the Guangzhou Sino-Israel Biotech Fund.