An important aspect of any intellectual property (“IP”) due diligence effort is to evaluate how the target company has managed its relationships with its personnel and whether infringement claims could possibly arise from those relationships.  Requesting and reviewing the documents that memorialize the terms and conditions under which the target company retains consultants, vets prospective […]

In 1972 Atari released its simulated table tennis game, Pong.  My parents purchased a copy for our family.  My sister and I spent hours playing against one another.  The only feature you could adjust was the speed of the ball, but we were transfixed to the television set recreating famous tennis matches we had seen […]

You’re the CEO of a software company.  You’ve identified a new start-up company that claims to have developed a mobile application that could provide your company, indeed your entire industry, with an exciting new platform to deliver products and services to fast moving customers globally. Your board of directors has authorized you to move forward […]

As we discussed last week, intellectual property (“IP”) due diligence comes up in many different types of transactions, including licensing transactions, joint development agreements, M&A deals, and venture capital investments.  Anytime an acquisition or investment is based, in part, on the target’s or issuer’s IP – and in the San Francisco Bay Area it frequently […]

Your software company has been approached by a start-up company that has developed a mobile application that could provide your company, indeed your entire industry, with an exciting new platform to deliver products and services to customers globally.  As a CEO, your first instinct is to lock up the start-up’s technology quickly because you don’t […]