Author Archives: mwillee

Businesses go to great lengths in the name of security. They lock their offices when they leave for the day. Valuable equipment and sensitive documents are kept under lock and key.  But are you leaving your most valuable assets unprotected?

Legal protection for ideas and inventions is a matter of civil torte law in the United States. The law only allows you to sue for compensation if you discover a violation of a copyright or patent violation. Vigilance is how to legally protect your business idea under the law.

If you’ve read our latest ebook on HBO’s Silicon Valley, you know the perils that can arise from issues of ownership and work created while otherwise employed. While a creator can easily separate in their mind the work done for each separate entity and see no contradiction or overlap, the law is less forgiving of suchContinue reading “LifeLock in IP Battle With Former Employee”

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a webinar with Kelly Pacatte, Senior Employee Relations Consultant at TriNet and learned about some new HR risks.   We learned that ignoring these risks, like other business risks, is catastrophic.

On the surface, the job description of a marketer is to help their company or their client raise awareness of their brand or educate customers in the hopes of generating sales of whatever product they have to offer. So while it’s logical to view marketers as an extension of sales, they’re every bit as inventiveContinue reading “How Can Marketers Be Better at their Jobs? Add Intellectual Property to Your Knowledge Bank”

Risk is something of a mature subject. That’s not to say that risk is solely the providence of people past a certain age, but we become more aware of it as we age and mature. As kids we don’t ponder the idea of our own mortality or the possibility of failure; it’s less that weContinue reading “How to Avoid Business Risk”

The business world is a rough place. It’s a hyper-competitive ecosystem, and just as animals in the wild will fight tooth and nail to protect their territory, so to must businesses fight to protect what belongs to them. While the actual physical property of a company may seem the obvious example of a business’ property,Continue reading “Protect Your IP from Being Stolen”

Intellectual property is the most valuable asset for all businesses. But too many startups incorporate and hit the ground running without first identifying and taking proactive steps to identify or protect their IP. Without the right coverage, your brand, your name, your slogans and anything else you create is vulnerable to theft.

Busy CFOs, CEOs, and in-house counsel cringe at the thought of preparing for due diligence. Creating and maintaining a deal or data room is of course now a virtual exercise. Gone are the days of inviting auditors and attorneys to your office to review files. However, the initial set-up can be daunting!

Over the past week, Mary has done quite a bit on crowdfunding, with blogs, webinars, and even a TV appearance. And why wouldn’t we? Crowdfunding is a popular subject right now, with entrepreneurs raising funds for their inventions and products and potato salads. So while we continue to wait for the SEC to release theContinue reading “Crowdfunding Compilation”