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On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The Act provides for a new exemption from the SEC's requirement to register public offerings, possibly paving the way for startups to issue up to $1 million of securities to up to 2,000 public investors, via online funding portals. Read More »
Startup companies have unique challenges, but succession planning is one area that both startups and well-established businesses should likewise be considering. No matter the stage of your business, the time to start thinking about succession planning is now. Read More »
With Election Day nearly here, the end of political ad season is finally upon us. As Iowans know, these days you can't use the TV, Internet or radio without being bombarded with ads telling you why you should vote for a particular candidate or, more commonly, what's wrong with the candidate's opponent. Read More »
Recently the SEC announced a settlement with Erik T. Voorhees, an operator of two Bitcoin-related websites, for publicly offering shares in the two web ventures, FeedZeBirds or SatoshiDICE, without registering the offerings. Read More »
The news of Google's acquisition of Nest Labs for $3.2 billion cast a spotlight on an ongoing debate in startups: Should they bother to seek patents to protect their inventions or not? Read More »
Trademarks are most often thought of as words or designs that convey the source of the product. Everyone knows whose product it is when they see the Nike "swoosh" or encounter the words "Coca-Cola." Read More »
Patent trolls, who buy vague and overly broad patents to demand fees from companies, have recently started targeting tech startups with patent infringement lawsuits. Read More »
Angelina Jolie recently made headlines for her preemptive mastectomy after learning that she carried the BRCA genes, which are linked to breast cancer. It is not often that pop culture intersects with patent law, but on June 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an opinion that had been anxiously awaited by many in the scientific community and had ties to Jolie's news. Read More »
Companies, both big and small, take a variety of approaches when it comes to protecting intellectual property. Some companies focus on product development and marketing with little focus on protecting intellectual assets, while others narrowly protect their own products or planned products. Read More »
The U.S. Patent Act defines the circumstances in which the federal government may issue patents. Until recently, our patent laws had not been significantly updated since 1952, the year that patents were issued for the PEZ dispenser, Mr. Potato Head and the earliest bar code scanner. Read More »
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