This case involves an investment firm in North Dakota and a group of investors who sought to invest millions in an existing company that was entering a new developmental stage. The investor plaintiffs hired the defendant intellectual property law firm to conduct the due diligence examination of the investment target’s patents. The law firm had considerable experience assisting clients in conducting due diligence in transactions involving patents. The purpose in hiring the defendant was to ensure that all of the target company’s patents were owned and controlled by that company. The patents were important to the investors and to the success of the company. After the deal closed, the investors learned that the company did not own one of the critical patents that it believed it owned.
