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For founders
What investors actually check about your IP
What will their counsel ask for?
Chain of title, accuracy of what you have claimed publicly, freedom to operate, and whether anything critical exists only in someone's head.
The four things that come up every time
Title. A signed, recorded assignment from every named inventor for every filing. Gaps here delay closings more than any other IP issue.
Accuracy. Whether your deck, website and packaging describe your position correctly. Saying patented when you hold a published application is a statement counsel will test.
Freedom to operate. Increasingly asked. The answer we looked, and here is what we found is far better received than we have a patent, so we are fine.
Concentration risk. Whether the critical technology is documented, or lives only with one person who has no present assignment in place.
What impresses and what does not
A small number of filings with clean title, honest claims and a scoped FTO view is a stronger position than a large number with missing assignments.
Count is the metric founders reach for and the one investors' counsel care least about. What they read is claim 1, and whether anyone would have to avoid it.
What to actually do
- Assemble assignments before the data room opens, not during diligence.
- Audit every public claim about your patent status.
- Have at least a scoped FTO view with the assumptions written down.
- Document critical know-how so it does not depend on one person.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
Related
Before a funding round or an acquisition
IP diligence rarely finds bad patents. It finds missing paperwork - and that is what delays closings and re-prices rounds.
Nobody wrote down who owns it
An invention belongs to its inventors unless something in writing moves it. Filing in the company's name does not by itself transfer anything. Ownership defects are …
Patent valuation
Estimating the economic value of a patent or a portfolio - typically by cost, by market comparables, or by the income it can be expected to protect or generate.
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.
Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.
Last reviewed by Ragulika IP on 2026-08-23. Indian patent law and Patent Office practice change; check the position before you rely on it.