Patent ID: 7716060

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for facilitating a merger and acquisition transaction for an acquiring entity, the merger and acquisition transaction having an identify potential targets stage, an evaluate/analyze stage, a due diligence stage, and a negotiation stage, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving identification of a target entity; receiving a request to invoke a technology classification tool comprising one or more computers; performing technology classification processing including: identifying intellectual property assets assigned to the target entity; determining, by a computer, the number of intellectual property assets assigned to each technology class in a predetermined set of technology classes; and graphically presenting the number of intellectual property assets per technology class; receiving a request to invoke a patent citation tool comprising one or more computers for a presented technology class; and for each intellectual property asset in the requested technology class, performing patent citation processing in response to the request to invoke the patent citation tool, including: identifying forward-cite intellectual property assets which cite the intellectual property asset being processed as a reference; identifying backward-cite intellectual property assets cited by the intellectual property asset being processed; color-coding the identified forward cite intellectual property assets and the identified backward-cite intellectual property assets according to a freedom-to-practice metric, thereby generating a color-coded citation tree; and graphically presenting the color-coded citation tree; and determining, based on the technology classification processing, whether a strategic fit exists between the acquiring entity and the target entity, wherein criteria for determining a strategic fit includes one or more of: level of overlap between intellectual property assets assigned to the acquiring entity and the target entity; and number of complimentary intellectual property assets assigned to the target entity.