Malte Köllner
Malte Köllner, Köllner & Partner, Patentanwälte, Partner, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Legal aspects influence patent valuation. Scrutinizing these legal aspects is generally termed patent due diligence (DD). In case DD is omitted, legal uncertainty remains. Speaking in financial terms, uncertainty leads to discounting. We will derive the mathematical framework and discount values that are to be used in patent valuation under these circumstances. The message is: Use either discount values or DD. Taking this into account yields interesting results also for the planning of DD, where legal certainty to be achieved can be optimized under budgetary restrictions.