danray
- Karma
- 22
- Created
- August 16, 2012 (13y ago)
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Lawyer for start-ups, focusing on technology issues and IP. All views expressed are my own.
[ my public key: https://keybase.io/danray; my proof: https://keybase.io/danray/sigs/fPqw_A6so7peQqtM9EZqxWUZW9hkNtvk8rUmvwHy4mw ]
Makes me think of the second verse of "Joyride," from one of Built to Spill's first, punkier albums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gncB-kQUUgQ&t=72s "This part of the song is called the second verse Sounds just like…
One wrinkle -- even under current case law, payments can still validly be collected for non-patent IP (most often trade secrets). Thus, the best practice from the licensor's is to delineate what portion of the royalty…
Interesting. I tracked down the transcript (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/496/t...) and found the section I think you're remembering: And for the 16 companies that did settle, the verdict may…
A good license would probably say royalties are nonrefundable, and this makes sense -- if you threaten to sue me for $1 million and I settle for $25K, I've essentially paid to make the suit go away. So long as you don't…
If your lawyers are "going to try and wrap up every single detail without considering any of the downside risk," you should get better lawyers. In particular, I find transactional lawyers have a much better "deal sense"…
Interesting way to look at it. Another example, of course, would be digital rights management. Interestingly, DRM's high-water mark (from the perspective of those who insisted on it) began shortly after this article was…
In addition, serious SV firms will offer a fixed-price basic incorporation package. This is great, not only because the fixed fee is low, but because it tells you your company won't be the firm's guinea pig as it learns…
I'm not sure what you mean here. In almost every circumstance, a Delaware incorporation is the best choice. As the author said, if you don't start there and don't fail, you're likely to end up reincorporating there…
Good points in this article. Note as well that the LGPL requires you to permit reverse-engineering of your proprietary code. There are good reasons for this, but it's unrealistic in a lot of organizations. A lot of…
I've edited to be clearer -- I'm referring to the use of Comcast's (and Time Warner's) logos, not the FCC's. I agree that there are fair use arguments, which is why I said "practically": hosts take down fair-use content…
Be careful -- practically speaking, using Comcast's and TWC's names/logos is more likely to attract their attention early, and will give their lawyers a stronger argument (against Github or third-party sites) to have it…
Simpler, but not effective. In almost every country in the world, copyright vests in the author automatically, even if the author doesn't use the old "All Rights Reserved" magic words. Practically speaking, not…
Half of these are unethical (i.e., they violate actual, binding rules of professional ethics with actual consequences). The other half should be spelled out in the engagement letter. If you don't like it, tell your…