Last week’s Traklight on Forbes series was a recap of the CodeX Demo Event on Legal Technology, which featured top legal tech company founders’ perspectives on the growing industry. Check back every Thursday for more content. Thanks for reading!
Going with a Halloween theme, this week Mary covers the topic of Non-Practicing Entities (NPE’s), also known in the world of intellectual property as “patent trolls.” These trolls strike fear in business owners because of the financial burden of litigation and the potential to wipe out business’ valuation. NPE’s buy patents, and use their claim on overly vague patents to pursue legal action against businesses with the intent of winning a settlement. These NPE’s never actually attempt to use the patent to develop their own product, hence the name Non-Practicing Entity. Their whole business model is based on abusing the legal system.
Continue reading “Forbes Update: Combat Your Fear of Non-Practicing Entities”
If you were anything like me as a child, you had an unyielding love of the Star Wars films. From the wreched hive of scum and villainy that was Mos Eisley to a floating outpost called Cloud City, the films presented a world unlike anything I had ever seen. Perhaps most important to its longevity, it created an entire universe ready to be filled with stories of heroes and villains and rogues and every dramatic possibility that might ensue. And in the 35+ years since A New Hope landed in theaters, Star Wars has grown from a single movie to an entire industry, with numerous books, video games, and TV series building on the far,far away galaxy George Lucas created. Given the moneymaking potential inherent in putting the Star Wars name on a product, the desire to protect the brand is understandable, which is why Luke and Leia’s parent company finds a recent trademark filing disturbing.
When you hear about job growth in the US economy, you might attribute that to large corporations removing their hiring freezes or small businesses growing their employee base. You might be surprised to know though, that there is another factor that has a significant role in the job growth of the US economy: startups. 
Mary has spoken in the past about the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. But this time, she interviews the executives of Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Association (CFIRA), two months before the end of 2014 and just in time for the annual Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation and a public CFIRA meeting.
If you grew up in the United States, you probably learned in school that the founding fathers were always wealthy property owners. Many of them were wealthy because of inherited land property and all that comes with it, but many were also wealthy because they started businesses and succeeded.