Intellectual Property

The Low Down on End User License Agreements (EULAs)

If you’ve used the Internet any time recently, you’ve likely had to click “I accept” or “I agree” in order to use a particular website or software application. Typically, you are accepting and agreeing to an “end user license agreement.” As a software developer, it’s incredibly important to protect the intellectual property behind the software, as well as reduce as much liability as possible. These end user license agreements spell out the terms of the license for your use of the particular software. Today’s post highlights some of the key characteristics of end user license agreements.

What is an end user license agreement?

An end user license agreement (EULA) is an agreement between a software developer or author and an individual or...

— Gavin Johnson

Business Startup

News Roundup: Glowforge 3D Printers; Geekwire Summit; and Venture Capital

What we’ve been reading this week at InVigor:

Glowforge, a Seattle based startup, opened up sales for 3D laser printers yesterday. They hit $1 million in just 12 hours.

The GeekWire Summit is next week. The conference convenes business leaders, engineers, investors and innovators for conversations about the future of business and technology.

Pragmatic advice from the Health Innovation Summit for aspiring healthcare entrepreneurs.

Sweden has is experimenting with a 6-hour workday, proving working smarter is better than working longer. Could the U.S. ever adopt this kind of system?

4 angel-certified steps to get your startup off the ground without any venture capital

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— Collin Roberts

Corporate Finance & Securities

Securities Law: An Overview of Regulation A+

Regulation A+ is a new way for companies to raise money from investors. In this post we discuss Reg A+ and compare it to other options for raising capital....

— Kyle Hulten

Intellectual Property

What are Common Law Trademark Rights?

Trademarks can be an extremely valuable asset for your business. Think about the value tied to Nike’s Swoosh or the McDonald’s “golden arches.” Protecting the value behind these trademarks is one important step towards building a wall around your company’s intellectual property. Many people don’t realize that certain trademark rights arise automatically once you begin using a trademark. Today’s post highlights these automatic rights, also known as common law trademark rights.

Common law trademark rights versus registered federal and state trademark rights

“Common law” is a term for the rights that have developed through case law versus statutes or codes. Common law trademark rights arise automatically and give the owner of a particular trademark certain rights (see below) without the need to...

— Gavin Johnson

Business Startup

News Roundup: Chicago Women Entrepreneurs; Amazon Under Fire; and Historical Heroes

What we’ve been reading this week at InVigor:

Chicago is the top city for women entrepreneurs in the world.

Today marks 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This article reminds us that natural disasters are far from equal-opportunity catastrophes

Amazon under fire, but has yet to yield same day shipping for all products

US National Labor Relations Board is redefining what it means to be an employer

4 amazing charts from historical heroes. Everyone loves a good chart

This man spent a month replying to all his PR emails with “I love you”

Flickr I Photo: Liquer Felix

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— Collin Roberts

Corporate Finance & Securities

Amendment to Stock Legend Guidance for Restricted Securities

Recently, the Securities Division of Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions adopted amendments to WAC 460-44A-502 to provide stock legend guidance for restricted securities.

The adopted amendments remove a reference to an outdated North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) guideline and instead provide the suggested language for the legends in the text itself. A “legend” on a stock certificate is a statement noting restrictions on the transfer of the stock, often due to SEC and state requirements for unregistered securities.

The new suggested legend language in Washington state is as follows:

(d) A written disclosure or legend will be deemed to comply with the provisions of WAC 460-44A-502 (4)(b) or (c) if it states:

“(i) These securities have not been registered under the Securities Act of...

— Collin Roberts

Business Startup

News Roundup: Avvo Raises Cash; Closing the Gender Gap; Microsoft Maternal Leave

August 7th, 2015 News Roundup

Here’s what we’ve been reading this week:

15 Free Online Learning Sites Every Entrepreneur Should Visit Some very helpful (and free) resources

Legal Advice Startup Raises $71.5M Yay Avvo!

Closing the Gender Gap in Leadership Starts with You

Identify Your Entrepreneurial Personality Type A short and insightful assessment to identify your entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses

Google’s New Update tells you when places are busiest. Great for the busy summer weekends!

Jon Stewart’s 5 Best Interviews on Entrepreneurship Don’t leave

Flickr I Photo: Zarko

Seattle’s Microsoft Now Offers 12 Weeks of Maternal and Paternal Leave Awesome ...

— Collin Roberts

Business Startup

LLC Basics: Appealing Characteristics of LLCs

Over the last 20+ years, LLCs have become one of the most popular types of business entity. Entrepreneurs find LLCs appealing because they offer limited liability, pass-through taxation, flexibility in management and operations, and have relatively simple statutory requirements. We’ve highlighted the “LLC basics” in today’s post.

Limited Liability Protection

Like corporations and other limited liability entities, limited liability companies offer owners (also referred to as “members”) protection against personal liability. If the owner of a sole proprietorship or general partnership gets sued, then their personal assets are at risk. But if the owner of an LLC gets sued, the business assets would be at risk, but their personal assets will generally not be subject to the lawsuit.

Pass-Through Taxation

The federal government does not...

— Gavin Johnson

Business Startup

Entity Structure Considerations When Choosing Between a LLC and a Corporation

It’s important to understand the significant (and sometimes subtle) differences between the various choices when determining the right entity structure for your new venture. Today’s post details some important distinctions between corporations and LLCs.

The Distinction Between State Entities vs. Federal Tax Elections

For state law purposes, there are two primary entities that the choice of entity generally comes down to: corporations and LLCs. Corporations and LLCs both offer limited liability to owners of the company. This means that (absent extraordinary circumstances) if the business is sued, only business assets are at risk and the ownerss personal assets will be shielded from the company’s liabilities.

For federal tax purposes, there are three primary tax classifications that most companies are organized under: C corporations, S corporations, and...

— Gavin Johnson

Intellectual Property

A Few Questions Buyers Should Consider to Protect Intellectual Property Rights When Purchasing a Business

When purchasing a business, buyers often overlook one important part of the purchase: formally transferring the seller’s intellectual property rights to the buyer. The most common IP rights include copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Today’s post highlights three simple questions buyers should ask before purchasing a business.

Can you and do you want to transfer the business’ trademarks?

In most purchases, trademarks will be easily assignable from the seller to the buyer. However, in some situations even if the trademarks are assignable, you may not want to acquire them. For example, if the business’ logo infringes on trademark rights of another business, then you wouldn’t want to transfer ownership of the logo and risk being held liable for trademark infringement once...

— Gavin Johnson