Raising Capital: Is Intellectual Property Addressed in Your Business Plan?

February 5, 2010

It is an obvious fact that the ability to raise capital is vital to many small (especially “high-tech”) businesses. In doing so, small business founders and other entrepreneurs spend a significant amount of time drafting a business plan and toiling with presentation slides. Those plans invariably define a market, describe the new service or product [...]

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Nine Considerations When Drafting Art Exhibition Loan Agreements

January 31, 2010

It is not uncommon for museums (or other artistic, non-profit and philanthropic organizations) to organize art exhibits which include works of art (e.g., paintings, sculptures, etc.) that are not owned by the museum itself.  In such cases, the museum curator must borrow the desired works from their owners (i.e., the artist themselves, other museums, corporations [...]

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Accelerated Patent Examination Process Now Available for “Green” Technologies

January 25, 2010

On December 7, 2009, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new pilot program that would make certain green technology-related patent applications available for an accelerated examination process.  The goal of the pilot program is to reduce the current pendency period of “green tech” patent applications, which is approximately 40 months from [...]

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12 Important Considerations For IP License Agreements (Part 3 of 3)

January 19, 2010

9. Invalid IP.  An IP-related agreement is, by definition, about IP rights in the form of exclusive rights to do certain acts or the right to exclude others from doing certain acts.  That is, after all, the whole point of IP rights.  Thus, when the parties negotiate an IP agreement, their expectations are based upon [...]

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12 Important Considerations For IP License Agreements (Part 2 of 3)

January 15, 2010

5. Obligations.  In order for the parties to be happy during the course of performance under the agreement, each party must tailor their behavior to conform to the other party’s expectations.  Thus, besides the transfer of IP rights, the agreement must clearly set forth the respective obligations of the parties so that no side becomes [...]

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12 Important Considerations for Drafting IP License Agreements (Part 1 of 3)

January 10, 2010

1. Recitals.  Often overlooked and underdeveloped, the recitals (i.e., the “Whereas” statements that begin most agreements) should “set the stage” for a third-party reader of the agreement.  Generally speaking, in a later dispute, the recitals are presumed to be true statements held against both parties.  Thus, the recitals should tell the story about how the [...]

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12 Important Considerations For Non-Disclosure (Confidentiality) Agreements

January 4, 2010

Happy New Year!  With the second decade of the new millennium upon us, I wanted to discuss the most common agreement individuals and companies enter into that affects intellectual property – the Non-Disclosure (i.e., Confidentiality) Agreement.  While this type of agreement is no doubt considered “routine” or “standard,” maybe this is a good time to [...]

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Intellectual Property Due Diligence in Corporate Transactions: A Checklist for SMEs

December 29, 2009

I have often written that the lifeblood of any small (and especially high-technology) enterprise is the intellectual property (IP) that it controls or potentially controls.  In other words, the short-term salability, the long-term profitability, and the eventual ability to undertake an initial public offering of the small company all depend upon its ability to develop, [...]

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Ten Considerations for (Entertainment) Production Finance Agreements

December 24, 2009

In the entertainment field, it is not uncommon for a producer to seek capital (i.e., financing) in order to produce one or a series of films, concerts, comedy shows, stage plays, musicals or other theatrical productions.  Such financing can come from one or more individuals, financial institutions, (for- and non-profit) organizations and/or the like.  As [...]

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Five Common Intellectual Property-Related Mistakes Made By Small High-Tech Companies (Part 4 of 5)

December 15, 2009

No. 4: You Do Not Actually Own the Copyright to “Your” Source Code
No matter how much the phrase “work for hire” is thrown around in the tech world, let me be very clear: Software code CANNOT be a work for hire under U.S. copyright law.
That is, simply paying someone to write software code for you [...]

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