Did the allure of launching a startup make its way to your 2012 “this year I am going to finally do it” plan? Have you been putting together your business plan and feel the pulse of your entrepreneurial spirit quicken as you get closer to Day One of launching? Unfortunately along with the excitement of…
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If you are just starting a business or creating a new product line or service offering, I bet you’re struggling to come up with a name for it. That’s not surprising—good branding is hard work. It takes dedicated time, thoughtfulness, and research. Here are three sure-fire ways from an intellectual property perspective that can really…
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The patent community and the Federal Circuit judges (the appellate judges who hear all appeals in patent cases) have been talking about revisiting the standard for interpreting patent claims for a long time. Currently, patent claim interpretation is a pure legal question. This means that the trial court can come up with a perfectly reasonable…
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My colleagues and I hosted a DCWEEK event focused on the controversial topic of patent and copyright trolls. Read my earlier TechCocktail post if you need an introduction to the topic. (And if you missed our event, check out our patent and copyright troll presentations). We had the opportunity to engage in a lively discussion…
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A lot of companies—especially tech startups with no spare funds—avoid lawyers and lawsuits at all costs. But sometimes they can’t. Inevitably, some companies are caught in a legal dispute and don’t hire a law firm until it’s too late and they’ve made some tactical mistakes. For others, once the lawyer is on board and working…
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Consider, for a moment, all the roles that you play as an entrepreneur. Innovator, manager, marketer, enthusiast, salesman, strategist—the list goes on forever, but does it include farmer? If it doesn’t, it will by the time you finish reading Harvesting Intangible Assets. Entrepreneurs are a special kind of farmers—new agrarians, planning, planting, nurturing and cultivating,…
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Ladies, we may be unwitting victims of a red-shoe war. That’s because a dude judge recently told Christian Louboutin that he doesn’t think that those hot red-soled shoes are worthy of trademark protection. This lacquered red color alone may be protectable as a trademark if it has become distinctive in the high-fashion shoe industry for…
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Hello white shoe law firm! Meet the pants-around-the-knees, skateboarding, slacker Millennial Generation. How you going to keep them down on the farm now that they’ve seen Paree? You know they aren’t making worker bees like they use to. Old school law firms historically grew on the backs of associates willing to kick, scratch, and bite…
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In the fun and exciting category, we have product development, marketing, sales. And over here in the boring but necessary category, we have legal paperwork. As we learned from our panel of experts at yesterday’s conference, making sure your paperwork is in order will save a lot of headaches down the road. The panel was…
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This is the second part of a two part post focused on using licensing to grow your business, by guest contributors Blaire Jones and Aaron Horn. Read the first part here. And now the big question… Should I license? It may be a good idea if your IP is original and can satisfy a need, or…
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This is the first part of a two part series focused on using licensing to grow your business, by guest contributors Blaire Jones and Aaron Horn. Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I will move the world. – Archimedes There are a variety of reasons an emerging…
Read MoreEntrepreneurs good or bad, we all make mistakes. Some take their lumps over and over while others learn more quickly from their mistakes. Scott Walker, the founder of Walker Corporate Law Group, has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and has seen lots of mistakes get made along the way, so he shared five of the…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was written by Ross Kimbarovsky. Ross is the co-founder of crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for creative services ranging from graphic, web and industrial design to copywriting services. Follow Ross on Twitter @rosskimbarovsky and @crowdSPRING. Naming your company can be challenging and time consuming. If you need help or simply don’t have…
Read MorePicking the right legal structure for your startup can save both money and hassle. The three structures most often mentioned are LLCs, Delaware S Corps, and Delaware C Corps. Deciding which structure to go with is dependent upon what your goals are. Venture Capitalists (VCs) will only invest in Delaware C Corps, but sometimes it…
Read MoreMany of us techies, entrepreneurs, and even some legal folks I am sure can’t even answer the question posed above, What is the difference between copyright and intellectual property? But in all honesty for those of you out there building a product and company really need to know the subtle differences to be able to protect…
Read MoreEditor’s Notes: This article was contributed to TECH cocktail by John Guidos who practices law out of Chicago, Illinois at the Law Offices of Guidos & Pierotti LLP. Check out their website at: gplawchicago.com or follow John on Twitter: @johnguidos. As cold weather begins to creep though the streets, prostitutes everywhere can breathe a sigh…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More