ABSTRACT
Entrepreneurs may choose to sell their business for a variety of reasons, but a prepared seller should have a legitimate, marketable reason for selling the business. This chapter summarizes some common internal and external motivations for selling. Factors typically considered include current rates of return in the marketplace, growth rates, industry outlook, organization's management structure, business's financial and operational strength, and the competitive advantages of products or services. The motivations of patent buyers vary, and they acquire for a variety of purposes. However, as a patent is merely a right to exclude others and enforce in court, buyers can be broadly categorized as either assertive or defensive. Pending patent applications are generally too speculative to justify any value as the patent or some of the claims may never be approved by the patent office. The chapter shows that intellectual property rights are a subset of intangible assets, which in turn are a subset of an enterprise's total asset base.
