Due Diligence Guides
Practical, source-cited guides to running due diligence on companies and individuals — built by the team behind OpenDD.
Customs EnforcementCBP Enforcement Watch: Recent U.S. Counterfeit Seizures & IP Enforcement
Recent weeks have seen a surge in CBP intellectual-property enforcement actions targeting counterfeit watches, jewelry, and handbags, with seized goods totaling tens of millions in
Law & RegulationPackaging Compliance: EPR, Toxics-in-Packaging & the Chasing-Arrows Rule
The packaging rules sellers overlook — state Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) registration and deadlines, Toxics-in-Packaging heavy-metal and PFAS limits, California SB 343 chasing-arrows restrictions, and Amazon FBA poly-bag requirements.
Law & RegulationBedding Material Compliance: The Restricted-Substances Spec for Pillows
The purchase-spec approach to selling filled bedding: restricted substances (PFAS, formaldehyde, phthalates, azo dyes, heavy metals, flame retardants), filling-specific rules, the antimicrobial and “hypoallergenic” claim traps, and the testing worth paying for.
Law & RegulationBedding Licenses by State: The Law-Label & Registration Map for Selling Pillows
What you actually need to sell filled bedding like pillows in the U.S. — the IABFLO registration-number (URN) map, which states require it and what it costs, plus the federal, chemical and labeling rules on top.
Industry GuideAgentic Payments Field Guide: How AI Agents Pay in 2026
A 15-section field guide to agentic payments — the protocol stack, card-network rails, agent identity, the fraud happening now, liability, regulation by jurisdiction, and the gap between forecasts and real adoption.
GuidesFree Due Diligence Tool: How to Run Due Diligence for Free
What a genuinely free due diligence tool should do, the six checks it should cover, and how to run them on any company from primary public records.
GuidesFree AI Due Diligence: Screen Any Company with AI, for Free
Where AI genuinely speeds up due diligence, where a human still has to look, and how to get a sourced report in one pass — at no cost.
GuidesDocument Review Isn't Due Diligence
An AI that summarizes your data room only tells you what was disclosed — real diligence verifies the company against independent public records. Here's the difference.
GuidesHow to Do Due Diligence on a Company for Free
A step-by-step walkthrough — which free public record answers each question, from SEC EDGAR and USPTO to CourtListener, OFAC and BIS.
FundamentalsWhat Is Due Diligence? A Practical Guide for 2026
What due diligence means, the main types (IP, corporate, financial, litigation, sanctions, adverse media), and how to run each using public records.
ComplianceOFAC & Export-Control Screening: A Plain-English Guide
How U.S. restricted-party lists work — SDN, BIS Entity List, Denied Persons, Unverified List, DDTC debarred — and how to screen a counterparty.
ComplianceExport Compliance Program Best Practices: BIS's 8 Elements
How to build an ECP that holds up — the eight core elements BIS looks for, its best practices, the Know Your Customer red flags, and where counterparty screening fits.
Intellectual PropertyThe IP Due Diligence Checklist Every Deal Needs
Patents, trademarks, copyrights, domains and open source — chain of title, encumbrances, disputes and renewals — what to verify before you sign.
Intellectual PropertyPatent Due Diligence: Ownership, Chain of Title & Validity
Confirm the current assignee, trace chain of title and security interests, check maintenance fees and PTAB challenges, and map the worldwide family.
Intellectual PropertyHow to Find Out Who Owns a Patent
Run a patent ownership search — trace assignments and chain of title, check whether a patent is still in force, and map the worldwide family, from USPTO and EPO records.
Intellectual PropertyTrademark Due Diligence: Owner, TTAB & Renewals
Verify the registrant and chain of title, confirm live status and Section 8/9 renewal deadlines, and check TTAB oppositions and cancellations.
Intellectual PropertyDomain Name Due Diligence: Ownership & Look-alikes
Confirm a company controls its domains, read WHOIS and registrar records, catch expiry and transfer risk, and surface typosquat look-alike variants.
Intellectual PropertyOpen Source Due Diligence: License Risk in the Code
The code a company publishes vs what it consumes — permissive, copyleft and AGPL license risk, no-license repos, dependency manifests and SBOM compliance.
Intellectual PropertyOpen-Source License Compliance: Auditing a Repo's Dependencies
Turn a license list into a verdict — read a repo's SBOM, classify each license by risk tier, identify each dependency's owner, and flag AGPL/GPL conflicts.
Intellectual PropertyOpen-Source License Types Explained: Permissive vs Copyleft
A plain-English guide to MIT/BSD/Apache vs GPL/LGPL vs the AGPL — what each license requires, and which are risky for a commercial or SaaS product.
CorporateCorporate Due Diligence: How to Verify a Company
How to run corporate due diligence using SEC EDGAR and public records — legal name, good standing, officers, ownership and corporate family.
FinancialFinancial Due Diligence: How to Read the Numbers
Reading a company's revenue, margins, cash and debt across years of SEC filings — and the red flags to watch for.
LitigationHow to Search U.S. Federal Court Records
Searching federal litigation — PACER, the free CourtListener/RECAP archive, nature-of-suit codes, and how to read what you find.
LitigationA Free PACER Alternative: Search Federal Court Case Records
How to run a federal court case search and lookup for free — find dockets, parties and filings through the public RECAP archive instead of paying PACER.
LitigationHow to Check If a Company Has Been Sued (for Free)
Find out whether a company or person has been sued in U.S. federal court — a free company litigation search by party name, with no PACER account.
ComplianceAdverse Media Screening: How to Do It Right
How to run adverse-media screening without drowning in noise, and grade findings by seriousness so one bad headline doesn't distort the picture.
ComplianceRegulatory Enforcement Due Diligence: A Guide
Checking a company's enforcement history across US and international regulators — and why it differs from adverse media.
ComplianceLicense Due Diligence: Required vs. Held
Identify the licenses a business must hold, check what it actually holds across registries and disclosures, and flag the gaps.
Vendor RiskThird-Party & Vendor Due Diligence Checklist
A checklist for vendor due diligence — corporate standing, financials, security, privacy, sanctions and enforcement — before you onboard.
Information SecuritySOC 2 vs ISO 27001: What Each Really Tells You
What each certification actually proves, how they differ, and how to read them when assessing a vendor's security.
PrivacyPrivacy Due Diligence: GDPR & CCPA Signals
Assessing a company's privacy posture — legal bases, data-subject rights, transfers and cookie consent under GDPR and CCPA.
PrivacyHow to Check If a Company Is GDPR-Compliant
Assess a company's GDPR posture from its public disclosures — legal bases, data-subject rights, transfers, retention, a DPO and the cookie-banner test.
AI SafetyAI Governance Due Diligence: What to Look For
Assessing responsible-AI posture — governance, transparency and safety testing against NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001 and the EU AI Act.
Data GovernanceData Governance Due Diligence: Retention & Residency
Assessing how a company manages its data — retention and deletion, subprocessor transparency, data residency, DPAs and return of data on exit.
Information SecurityInformation Security Due Diligence: A Practical Guide
What SOC 2 and ISO 27001 really prove, vulnerability disclosure and bug bounties, breach history, and the public security signals worth reading.