Intellectual Property

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The U.S. Copyright Office is making changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor agent registration process. The changes impact both new online service providers as well as existing online service providers who have already registered an agent. Read on for details about what you will need to do.
Continue Reading Deadline Approaching: Action Required by December 31 To Avoid Losing DMCA Safe Harbor Protection

A recent federal district court decision denied a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by Artifex Software Inc. (“Artifex”) for breach of contract and copyright infringement claims against Defendant Hancom, Inc. based on breach of an open source software license. The software, referred to as Ghostscript, was dual-licensed under the GPL license and a commercial license. According to the Plaintiff, those seeking to commercially distribute Ghostscript could obtain a commercial license to use, modify, copy, and/or distribute Ghostscript for a fee. Otherwise, the software was available without a fee under the GNU GPL, which required users to comply with certain open-source licensing requirements. The requirements included an obligation to “convey the machine-readable Corresponding Source under the terms of this License” of any covered code. In other words, under the open source license option, certain combinations of proprietary software with Ghostscript are governed by the terms of the GNU GPL.
Continue Reading Important Open Source Ruling Confirms Enforceability of Dual-Licensing and Breach of GPL for Failing to Distribute Source Code

Episode 21 is a delightful maze of plots, plot twists and omens.  At Pied Piper, Richard fails in his attempt to go over CEO Action Jack’s head and have Laurie, the investor, force Jack to scrap his Box and build the consumer platform.  As a result of this failed coup, Jack warns Richard darkly, “if you’re going to shoot the king, you’ve got to be goddamn sure you kill him.”  Undeterred, the team opts for covert action:  they will build their consumer platform while pretending to build Jack’s box. They form a secret ‘startup within a startup,’ aptly/obviously codenamed “Skunkworks.” But before they can even get to work, Richard lets the Skunkworks plans fall into the enemy, sales team hands… and it seems like the entire scheme is blown!
Continue Reading Trade Secrets and Lies (Silicon Valley – Episode 21)

One of the most common agreements entered into by an emerging company is the confidentiality agreement, also known as a non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”).  You are likely to routinely be involved in discussions with third parties about possible collaboration or partnering, and in these situations it is customary (and recommended) to enter into an NDA before proceeding with substantive discussions involving the disclosure of confidential information.  Whenever possible, you should try to use your own form of NDA which has been provided by your attorney.  However, as a startup you are likely to often be in the position of reviewing the other party’s form NDA, and if you are dealing with a much larger company, you may not have much, if any, negotiating leverage.  In an effort to help you help yourself, this blog post focuses on ten key issues to consider when reviewing another party’s form NDA.
Continue Reading Coping with Confidentiality Agreements

By Ashley Merlo

Patent reform has been a topic of congressional debate since the introduction of the Patent Reform Act of 2005. Having failed to enact the 2005 legislation or any subsequently proposed reform, patent reform has again been introduced into the Senate, this time entitled The Patent Reform Act of 2011. (S. 23, 112th Cong. (2011).)Continue Reading Patent Reform Is Again Before Congress – The Patent Reform Act of 2011