Archive for 2008
Should Your Business Conduct an IP Licensing Audit?
Entrepreneur.com ran an article this month, which advised business owners to practice “preventive lawyering” or “litigation avoidance” by conducting audits in some key areas of the business such as contracts and intellectual property. I agree with the advice in this article. Regardless of their size, businesses need to conduct a periodic review of their operations…
Read MoreCopyright Reform: Is it Time to Take Patent Reform Off the Table and Work on Copyright Reform?
Given where we are on the patent reform debate, is it time to move patent reform off the table and work on copyright reform? If you haven’t heard many calls for this lately, you are not alone, but according to Wired, Judge Miriam Hall Patel, who presided over the Napster case has had time to…
Read MoreShould the Blogosphere Adopt the Creative Commons Licensing Model?
A posting by Kevin Smith on the Scholarly Communications @ Duke Blog explores the argument that the academic world should consider adopting the Creative Commons Licensing system for their academic works. The article got me to thinking: should the blogosphere consider adopting the same model? Smith’s argument is that the problem with the current copyright…
Read MoreRetired NFL Players Win Verdict Against Union For Failing to Include Them in Licensing Deals
A verdict was reached yesterday in an interesting case filed by retired NFL players against the players union for failing to include them in lucrative licensing deals involving video games and other sports products. NFL Gridiron Gab reported on the verdict as follows: NFL Players Association was ordered by a jury on Monday to pay…
Read MoreUnited States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Read MoreU.S. Copyright Office
U.S. Copyright Office
Read MoreLicensing Executives Society, Silicon Valley Chapter
Licensing Executives Society, Silicon Valley Chapter
Read MoreTrade Secrets Case Provides Important Lesson to Employers and Employees on the Significance of Employment Agreements
The case making headlines today regarding an ex-Intel Corporation employee accused of stealing trade secrets and giving them to his new employer, rival Advanced Micro Devices, provides some important lessons to employers and employees on the significance of employment agreements. The Mercury News reported on the case against former engineer Biswamohan Pani as follows: Federal…
Read MoreCorporate Designs: Does Your Business Really Have the Rights to its Designs?
When I speak with the average small business owner about what I do for a living, 9 times out of 10 they advise me that they wish they could use me, but that there is business just does not have intellectual property to protect. However, in most cases, when someone tells me this, they are…
Read MoreCutting Legal Costs by Investing in Good Templates
In a recent blog post, AdamsDrafting suggested that the recession should prompt companies to look at overhauling their contract template process. AdamsDrafting wrote A recession should provide a greater incentive for a company to do something about the considerable amounts of time and money that it’s wasting due to its mediocre templates and primitive contract…
Read MoreOpen Source Licensing: Is it a Viable Business Model?
Open Source Software Licensing in its “pure” form is not a viable business model, reported CMS Wire on a study recently conducted by the 451 Group. According to the CMS Wire report, the 451 Group study looked at the business strategies of some 114 open source vendors, and found as follows: -The majority of open…
Read MoreLicense Grant Language: How Should it be Drafted?
Ken Adams at Adams Drafting raised an interesting question about the proper drafting of a license grant in a software license. In particular, Adams questions the drafting of the following clause: Acme hereby grants Widgetco a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, worldwide license to the Software (that license, the “License“). I agree with Adams…
Read MoreConsortia Licensing: Is this an ideal way to license intellectual property?
The Licensing Handbook Blog ran an interesting posting today on consortia agreements. I am currently in the middle of a consortia negotiation, so the posting caught my attention. The Licensing Handbook Blog posting responded to a posting by SpendMatters, which had stated that participating in purchasing consortia can be an excellent means of leveraging resources…
Read MoreYahoo Music to Shut Down Service, Issue Refunds to Customers
Yahoo Music has advised its customers that it will be shutting down its digital rights management (“DRM”) service on September 30, 2008, but will be issuing refunds to customers who request them, reported Techspot. According to Techspot, Yahoo Music has decided to shut down its DRM licensing service in order to become part of Real…
Read MoreBlog Content Licensing: Is there a market for it?
PlagiarismToday raised an interesting question today when it asked if blog content licensing was dead. I have given several presentations on blog law issues now, but I must say that I had never really given thought to the issue of whether or not there was really a market for blog content licensing–beyond, of course, thinking…
Read MoreiTunes Music License: Is it Really Enforceable?
Is the iTunes Music License really enforceable? This is the question raised by F. Scott Kieff in a recent article for IP Law & Business. According to Kieff, the issue is as follows: the iTunes contract for service allows the customer to copy a song for a small number of times–the license provides that users…
Read MoreIP Licensing Lawyer Kristie Prinz Shares A Brief Guide to Intellectual Property
A Brief Guide to Intellectual Property (PDF, 24kb)
Read MoreInternet Lawyer Kristie Prinz shares Recording “Employee Blogs and Websites: How to Protect Your Company from the Legal Risk of Workers Going Online”
To view a recording of the presentation available in The Prinz Law Store, click here.
Read MoreBlogosphere Reacts to Associated Press Assault on Fair Use Doctrine
Should the Associated Press have the right to set its own standards as to how much quoting from an Associated Press article constitutes fair use and how much requires the payment of a royalty? The Associated Press (“A.P.”) apparently thinks so, based on recent coverage of its plans to adopt blogging guidelines for quoting A.P.…
Read MoreIP Licensing Lawyer Kristie Prinz shares Recording on Leveraging an IP Portfolio in the Development of Partnering Relationships
To view a recording of the presentation available in The Prinz Law Store, click here.
Read MoreSupreme Court to Consider Fantasy Baseball Case: Do Players’ Names and Statistics Constitute Major League Baseball Intellectual Property?
The Supreme Court is considering whether to take a case which would address the issue of whether major league baseball players’ names and statistics constitute the intellectual property of Major League Baseball, requiring the payment of a royalty fee. Fox News reported on the case as follows: St. Louis-based company called CBC Distribution and Marketing…
Read MoreWelcome to the Silicon Valley IP Licensing Law Blog!
Welcome to the The Prinz Law Office’s Silicon Valley IP Licensing Law Blog. The mission of this blog will be to explore legal issues related to the drafting, negotiation, validity, and enforcement of a variety of different types of intellectual property licenses. This blog will also look at some closely related issues such as the…
Read MoreTech Transactions Lawyer Kristie Prinz Shares Presentation and Recording on Getting Started with Drafting a Nondisclosure Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations
To view publication and accompanying presentation now available in The Prinz Law Store, click here.
Read MoreTechnology Transactions Lawyer Kristie Prinz Shares PowerPoint on Getting Started with Drafting a Development Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations
Getting Started with Drafting a Development Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations (Powerpoint Presentation, 96 Kb)
Read MoreSilicon Valley Business Lawyer Shares Presentation on Getting Started with Drafting a Services Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations
Getting Started with Drafting a Services Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations (Powerpoint Presentation, 86.5 Kb)
Read MoreIP Licensing Lawyer Kristie Prinz Shares Presentation on Getting Started with Drafting a License Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations
Getting Started with Drafting a License Agreement: A Brief Guide to the Elements and Key Considerations (Powerpoint Presentation 91Kb)
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