Intellectual Property Due Diligence in M&A Transactions: Key Risks and How to Minimize Them

On October 19, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., the Center for Private Law Studies at the Department of Civil Law of the Faculty of Law at Moscow State University, in collaboration with KKMP, will host a lecture titled “Legal Due Diligence of Intellectual Property in M&A Transactions: Key Risks and How to Minimize Them.”

The session will be led by Elena Polevaya, a senior attorney at KKMP and a patent attorney. Elena is a member of the Intellectual Property Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, a member of the Intellectual Property Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Russia), and a member of the Intellectual Property Committees of the Association of European Businesses (AEB) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). For over 20 years, she has specialized in intellectual property, information technology, and information security.

Intellectual property often becomes a key asset of an acquired business and, at the same time, a source of significant risks.

In this session, we will discuss:

• how to verify the target company’s rights to intellectual property;

• what risks are most commonly identified during an intellectual property due diligence review;

• how to review relationships with employees, freelancers, and contractors;

• what to look out for when using open-source code;

• how a buyer can mitigate risks.