Archive for 2016
Silicon Valley Lawyer Kristie Prinz to Speak at Upcoming Webinar on “Negotiating Software as a Service Agreements”
I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking at an upcoming webinar “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” on December 19, 2016 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. EST. For more information, please see my firm’s press release on the event: Press Release on Clear Law Institute Webinar
Read MoreSilicon Valley Lawyer Kristie Prinz to Speak on “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms”
I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking at an upcoming webinar on “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms” on December 21, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 PST. For more information about the webinar, please see my firm’s press release on the event published below: Press Release on Stafford Publications Webinar
Read MoreWhy You Should Consult with an Exit Planner Before Considering a Proposal to Buy Your Business or its Core Assets
As a transactional firm in the technology and health tech space, the firm often gets retained by clients to engage in negotiations regarding the sale of a company or its core IP assets to a third party after the client has been approached by a third party with a purchase offer. In many of these…
Read MoreConsider a Business Valuation Before Starting Negotiations to Sell Business
If you are contemplating the sale of your small business or start-up, then you should consider procuring a valuation of your business before you enter into any negotiations. If you are reluctant to invest in such a valuation, consider this: would you enter into negotiations to sell your most valuable personal asset–which for most would…
Read MoreWhy it Pays to Take the Time to Review Disclosure Schedules
If you are in the middle of negotiating an asset purchase deal, you are likely to come across a number of pages that are labeled as “disclosure statements” or “disclosure schedules.” If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, you are likely to glance right over these blank pages and ignore them entirely, and…
Read MoreThe Dangers of Accepting an Earn-Out When Selling Your Business
If you are an entrepreneur, start-up, or small business, it is highly likely that you looking to sell all or part of your business. In my career, I have worked with numerous entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses who consulted me about a deal proposal they received. In the majority of these cases, the first proposal…
Read MoreThe Importance of Evaluating the Trademark Prior to Choosing a Business Name
Do you know how your company decided on its name? Was a trademark search conducted in conjunction with this choice or was the name simply decided on without giving any thought to potential trademark issues? If your company is like many and made its naming choices without consideration of the trademark aspects of the potential…
Read MoreImportant Elements to Include in a Term Sheet for a Chinese Licensing Deal
Young start-ups and entrepreneurs often get frustrated when they approach me about advising them on a deal and I ask them for a term sheet, and then encourage them to write one if they don’t already have one. However, when I ask this question I do it not with the intention of frustrating my client’s…
Read MoreHow to Evaluate an Acquisition Offer from a Competitor Without Putting Your Business at Risk
If you run a start-up or small business, you will likely be approached at some point by a third party that expresses interest in acquiring your business. But how do you know if the interest being expressed is genuine or if it is being made for a reason other than wanting to do a deal…
Read MoreStart-ups Should Consider Corporate Collaboration Opportunities in their Growth Plans
It has been my experience that many of the start-ups and small businesses I’ve come across in my practice over the years have been very focused on the pursuit of financing opportunities for their young businesses, but they often overlook collaboration opportunities with larger companies that may be available and be just as beneficial to…
Read MoreBe Cautious in Making Decisions to Share Equity in a Start-up or Small Business
In my practice, it is not unusual for start-ups or small business owners to call me to discuss a deal they are contemplating which will involve sharing equity–even a significant amount of equity–with new business partners. In these cases, the client is typically considering this equity share either because of cash constraints or because they…
Read MoreFTC Announces Order Against San Francisco Software Company
The FTC has today announced its final order in its case against the San Francisco Software company Vulcan over its business practices in distributing its software product and advertising and promotional activities in connection with the product. The FTC clearly put software companies on notice again that the government is carefully monitoring their business practices…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Lawyer Kristie Prinz to Speak on Best Practices for Negotiating and Drafting Effective SaaS Customer Agreements
Are your SaaS customers really signing an agreement that is effective for your business? How do you even know if your SaaS company is working with a customer agreement that is sufficiently protecting your business? The Silicon Valley Lawyer Kristie Prinz is presenting a webinar on June 13, 2016 at 10 a.m. PDT on “Best…
Read MoreConcerned about Protecting Your Company’s Trade Secrets? Congress Has Enacted New Legislation to Assist You
If your company is Silicon Valley-based, then protecting your trade secrets is likely one of your top concerns and you have probably long been frustrated with the seemingly inadequate protections available under the law for trade secrets. If so, then you will be pleased by Congress’s nearly unanimous passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act,…
Read MoreSoftware Companies Should Prioritize Making Their Products Accessible to the Disabled
If you run a software company, have you ever considered whether your software could be made more accessible to the disabled? If you have never given ADA compliance or compliance with similar state laws any consideration, now may be a good time to focus resources on the issue as I explain in my Silicon Valley…
Read MoreMicrosoft Launches New Constitutional Challenge Against Alleged Federal Government Searches of Customer Data in Cloud
Microsoft has launched a new constitutional challenge against the government over its use of indefinite gag orders when it subpoenas information from customer cloud accounts. Microsoft is claiming that the orders violate the First Amendment free speech rights and the Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable government search and seizure of property. Clearly, this action by…
Read MoreSeeking Venture Capital Investment? Don’t Rule Out the Possibility of Angel Investment
As a tech start-up lawyer, I receive almost daily inquiries from start-ups and entrepreneurs about how to obtain venture capital investment. I encourage many of those making the inquiries to explore the possibility of angel investment as well. In general, I find that start-ups and entrepreneurs are less familiar with the angel investment concept than…
Read MoreDoes a Start-up Need to Be Based in Silicon Valley to be Successful?
Does a start-up have the best chance to succeed if based in Silicon Valley? Or would the same start-up be just as successful, if not more successful, if it were based somewhere else? This firm has developed a large client base supporting start-ups and tech-focused small businesses outside of Silicon Valley, so we have personal…
Read MoreApplying Lessons From the Downturn to Run a Better Business Today
If you ran a business through the downturn as I did, then you probably experience the same nervousness that I do whenever you hear bad economic news or poor economic forecasts. However, whether you are building a business or a law practice, it’s important to recognize that many of the lessons we learned in surviving…
Read MoreFBI Unlocks Terrorist iPhone Without Apple’s Help, Ending Encryption Dispute
The U.S. Justice Department has announced that the third party who came forward and convinced the FBI that it could unlock the San Bernardino terrorist’s encrypted iPhone successfully unlocked the encrypted iPhone, ending the standoff between Apple and the FBI. The Silicon Valley Software Law Blog provided an update on the developments below: Third Party…
Read MoreConsidering a Move to Silicon Valley? It Would Be Prudent to Do Your Homework First
If you are a lawyer at a law firm contemplating opening a Silicon Valley office or a start-up contemplating moving the company to Silicon Valley, it would be prudent to do some serious homework on what you are getting into before taking the plunge. As many of you know, I relocated out to Silicon Valley…
Read MoreDepartment of Justice Reverses Course on Apple Encryption Case
The Department of Justice appeared to be reversing course in its case against Apple this afternoon, when it filed a motion to vacate the hearing scheduled for tomorrow in order to explore a possible method of decrypting the terrorist iPhone at issue proposed by a third party over the weekend. I have written more about…
Read MoreSilicon Valley SaaS Lawyer Kristie Prinz to Speak on “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts”
Silicon Valley SaaS Lawyer Kristie Prinz will be presenting a webinar on “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” for Clear Law Institute on May 6, 2016 at 10 p.m. PST/1 p.m EST. To sign up to attend the webinar, please register through the Clear Law Institute website Clear Law Institute Website.
Read MoreFBI vs. Apple: Who Will Come out the Winner in this Dispute?
When the Justice Department decided to wage a legal battle against Apple over encryption on the iPhone of one of San Bernardino terrorists, the government moved the encryption debate into the public arena and triggered a public debate over the issue. Now, it is reported that the government is considering launching a second case over…
Read MoreSenate Bill Raises Concerns of Scope of Federal Regulation of Non-Commercial Drone Use
To what extent should drone activity be regulated by the federal government? That is the question being raised today by commentators in response to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s approval of the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) reauthorization bill (S. 2658). On one hand, the bill sets a two year time period…
Read MoreTrying to Keep Legal Costs Low? When Should you Consider Breaking the Bank on a Lean Budget?
In my experience, most entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses want to limit their legal budget to the extent possible. But at what point will not finding the money to spend on legal fees do more harm than good and end up costing you more money? In my practice, virtually all of the expensive legal problems…
Read MoreChallenging the Silicon Valley Belief in the Necessity of Venture Capital
I would argue that there is a widely held belief among entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley that you can’t build a successful company without venture capital money. However, the average company in Silicon Valley or the rest of the United States never receives an investment of venture capital. Are the companies launched without an investment of…
Read MoreIt Pays to be Cautious When Asked to Sign a Contract with an Employer
As a Silicon Valley tech transactions attorney, I regularly receive calls from engineers, developers, and other employees in the technology industry who have concerns about something that an employer has asked them to sign in the past or is asking them to sign at the time of the call. Inevitably the person calling is torn…
Read MoreBuilding a Successful Business based on the Commercialization of an Open Source Product
It’s not every day that I get a call from an entrepreneur or start-up looking for representation in conjunction with an open source-based business, but the question of how to develop a profitable company when your business is built around an open source product interests me as a software attorney, since if you know anything…
Read MoreCould a Strategic Alliance With the Right Business Partner Accelerate the Growth of Your Business?
If you are an entrepreneur or you work at a start-up or small business, you have likely spent many hours contemplating how to grow the business to the next level. If you are honest, it is probably the one thing that is almost always on your mind, even in your so-called leisure time, assuming you…
Read MoreContemplating a Response to a Patent Troll? You May Want to Consider this Company’s Example
If you are in the technology industry, then you are likely familiar with the concept of the “patent troll” and realize that it is almost inevitable your business will at some point be approached by one. Patent troll demand letters have unfortunately become one of those business realities that every technology business just has to…
Read MoreLatest Data Breach Involving Taxpayer Data Stored in Tax Preparation Software Suggests Need for Greater Government Regulation
With all the recent calls for greater FTC regulation of consumer data generally, it’s interesting that there has been very little commentary about the need for greater regulation of taxpayer data. However, the disclosure of a second data breach since the first of the year affecting a major tax preparation software company suggests that consumers…
Read MoreNegotiating Your First Big Deal as a Start-Up or Entrepreneur? How to Pick the Right Lawyer to Get it Closed
If you are a start-up or entrepreneur and are on the verge of landing your first big business deal, you may be wrestling with the idea of hiring a lawyer for the first time to assist you on negotiating and reviewing your important business contract. It may be tempting to call the firm you are…
Read MoreCongress Introduces Bill to Include Women in Draft: What Should be Next Steps?
A bill was introduced in Congress today requiring women to register for the draft. If you have been following the issue of including women in the draft, the debate over the issue really began when the decision was made to officially allow women to serve in combat. The media publicized over the last few days…
Read MoreTo Cut Legal Costs, Start With Taking a Hard Look at Your Business Partners
If your business is like most, you currently work with one or more really difficult customers or clients, whether because you currently generate significant revenue from that customer or client or because you anticipate generating significant revenue from that customer or client in the future. But is this really the right strategy for your business? …
Read MoreWhat Were the Most Significant Internet Developments in 2015?
Internet lawyers habitually follow trends and developments in Internet law. My colleague Santa Clara Law Professor Eric Goldman has just compiled his latest list of what the top Internet developments were in 2015. Among the items making his list are the well-publicized Ashley Madison database breach, stronger geographic borders on the Internet, and the FTC’s…
Read MoreDo entrepreneurs focus excessively on landing venture capital?
In my work with entrepreneurs and new business ventures, I am often surprised to find how many of them are convinced that they cannot build a business without venture capital financing and how few of them have even considered the idea that there might be very good reasons why they should not pursue venture capital…
Read MoreFTC Signals to Health Software Companies an Intention to Increase Scrutiny over Advertising Claims
The FTC has just reached a settlement with Lumos Labs over claims that the company was deceptively advertising the health benefits of its Luminosity software program. The FTC’s action over this issue should serve as a warning to the health software industry regarding how health software companies are advertising their products. I addressed this issue…
Read MoreKristie Prinz to be Featured Speaker on “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” on February 25, 2016
I am going to be featured as a speaker for the webinar “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” for the Arlington, Virginia-based Clear Law Institute on Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EDT.
Read MoreAvailability of Contingency Fee Deals Could Generate Increased Patent Litigation from Tech Transfer Offices
Is an uptick of patent litigation initiated by university tech transfer offices on the horizon? The Tech Transfer eNews Blog is reporting that law firms are increasingly extending contingency fee deals to universities, and that this move is eliminating the barriers preventing universities from pursuing patent litigation. The article is linked here: Contingency Fee Deals…
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