Legal insights
Analysis from the front lines of IP & technology law.
Our attorneys write about the developments shaping intellectual property—from the PTAB and the Federal Circuit to the practical realities of protecting fast-moving technology.
Seeking Discretionary Review in a State Supreme Court
A state supreme court grants review in a small fraction of the cases presented to it, and the reasons it grants have little to do with whether the decision below was wrong. Discretionary review exists to resolve conflicts, settle questions of first impression, and correct decisions of institutional significance, which means a petition arguing that the intermediate court misapplied settled law to particular facts is asking for something the court does not do. This guide covers what the criteria actually require, how to preserve and frame an issue so that it is reviewable at all, the mechanics and deadlines that vary by state, the drafting of the petition and the answer, and what happens after review is granted. It also addresses the strategic questions—federal claims, amicus support, publication practice, and stays—that shape the outcome before any brief is written.
Popular Legal Documents for Startups
Every startup runs on a small library of paperwork, and the difference between a clean fundraise and a stalled one usually comes down to whether that library was assembled correctly from day one. This guide takes a plain-language but rigorous tour of the documents that matter most: the formation and governance papers that bring the company into existence, the founder documents that pin down who owns what (including the famously unforgiving 30-day 83(b) election and its interaction with the qualified-small-business-stock exclusion under Section 1202), the equity machinery of cap tables, option plans, and 409A valuations, the fundraising instruments from SAFEs and convertible notes to the priced-round NVCA suite, and the commercial and employment agreements that keep the business protected. We explain what each document does, when you actually need it, the legal authority behind it, and the expensive mistakes founders make when they skip or fumble it. Worked examples with our recurring hypothetical, Acme Robotics, Inc., show how the pieces fit together. The goal is not to turn you into a corporate lawyer but to make you a far more dangerous client: one who knows what to ask for and why.
Debt Collection Lawsuit Response Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist turns a collection summons into a worklist. It starts with the answer deadline, because seventy percent of these cases end in default judgment for no other reason than silence. It then works the pre-answer investigation that identifies the limitations and standing defenses, the answer and affirmative defenses that must be pleaded or waived, the discovery aimed at the documents debt buyers usually lack, the arbitration motion that often ends the case, the settlement terms to insist on, and the post-judgment exemption claims that determine what a creditor can actually take. Separate sections cover vacating a default judgment and knowing when bankruptcy is the better answer.
Troubled Technology Project Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist tracks a troubled software implementation from the first missed milestone through recovery, notice and cure, termination, transition, and claim preparation. It is written for in-house counsel, outside counsel, and project executives on both the customer and the vendor side, with vendor-specific items flagged throughout. Each phase lists specific, actionable tasks tied to the governing contract provisions and legal authority, including UCC adequate assurance, material breach standards, deemed acceptance, copyright ownership of custom code, preservation duties under Rule 37(e), and arbitration rules. Red-flag boxes identify the moments when a project problem becomes a legal problem. A deadlines table, a list of common failure points, and a short worked example involving a hospital system's revenue-cycle software rollout show how the phases fit together.
Social Media Account Ownership and Impersonation Response Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist turns the law of social media account ownership and impersonation into tasks a business, its counsel, and the people on the other side of a dispute can check off. It starts with the ownership foundation: an account inventory, company-controlled credentials and business portfolios, a written ownership policy that respects employee password-privacy laws and the NLRA, and account clauses in employment, agency, and influencer agreements. It then covers onboarding and offboarding, first-hour triage of any incident, and separate response phases for hacked accounts, accounts held by insiders or agencies, impersonation, squatted handles, and platform suspensions. A litigation-readiness phase covers the demand letter and the injunction record, and a defense phase covers the employee, creator, agency, or parody account on the receiving end. Red-flag boxes, a deadlines table, common failure points, and a short worked example close the checklist.
Enforcing Trademarks Against Online Sellers and Platforms: A Practical Guide
This guide takes brand owners, accused online sellers, and platforms through online trademark enforcement in the order it actually happens. For brand owners, it covers the foundation (registrations, marketplace brand programs, Customs recordation, and genuine exemplars), monitoring and triage, test purchases with a chain of custody, sorting counterfeit from gray market from lawful resale, platform notices and escalation, identifying sellers through INFORM disclosures and subpoenas, demand letters, and the choice among a single-defendant suit, a Schedule A case, a claim against the platform, and border and domain remedies. For accused sellers, it explains how to read a takedown, appeal with documents, answer a demand letter, and defend a Schedule A case on authenticity, personal jurisdiction, joinder, and the scope of an asset freeze. For platforms, it describes the notice-handling record that Tiffany v. eBay rewards and the seller verification the INFORM Consumers Act requires. It explains the decisions that shape each step, including Tiffany, Omega v. 375 Canal, Y.Y.G.M. v. Redbubble, NBA Properties v. HANWJH, and Gucci America v. Weixing Li, with timelines, costs, and the evidence each stage demands. A worked example follows a water filter brand through three marketplaces and a Schedule A case, and the guide closes with common mistakes, an FAQ, and practical takeaways.
Clearing Your Criminal Record: A Practical Guide
This guide runs record relief from the first step, which is finding out what your record actually says, through the last, which is confirming that private background check companies have stopped reporting it. It covers obtaining a state criminal history and an FBI summary, getting certified dispositions from every county, analyzing eligibility case by case, clearing the outstanding court costs that stop more petitions than anything else, filing with or without a lawyer, presenting a discretionary petition persuasively, what to do when a prosecutor objects, and then the second half that most people skip entirely: sending the order to every repository and database, disputing inaccurate background reports under the FCRA, and using adverse action rights to correct an error before a job is lost.
Filing a UDRP Domain Name Complaint: A Practical Checklist
The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy is a fast, low-cost administrative route for recovering a domain name from a cybersquatter. This checklist walks a trademark owner and its counsel through the entire process: confirming the case is a clean fit, gathering and dating evidence by element, choosing a provider, drafting a complaint that proves all three required elements, handling the mutual-jurisdiction statement and registrar lock, and managing the post-decision transfer window. It explains the three cumulative elements—identical or confusingly similar, no rights or legitimate interests, and bad-faith registration and use—and flags reverse-domain-name-hijacking risk and when ACPA litigation is the better tool. WHY notes and traps accompany each phase. Verify current provider fees and rules before filing.
Business Tax Planning Toolkit: Entity Choice, Compensation, and Exit
Business tax planning is a small number of decisions made at predictable moments, and the ones that matter most are made when the business is least able to evaluate them. This toolkit sequences them: the entity and classification choice at formation, the compensation architecture that follows from it, the state footprint that accumulates invisibly, the equity incentives that carry their own elections and deadlines, and the exit, where the structure chosen years earlier determines the after-tax proceeds. Each stage identifies the decision, the deadline if there is one, the documentation an examination will request, and the point at which the choice becomes irreversible. The final stages address the exit, where every earlier decision is finally priced and where the difference between an asset sale and a stock sale is measured in real money.
Farm Lease and Agricultural Operation Compliance Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist covers the recurring compliance obligations of a farm operation and the diligence required to buy or lease farmland. It front loads the two absolute deadlines that end operations, the farm lease termination notice and the crop insurance notice of loss, then works farmland purchase diligence including water rights and conservation compliance, farm lease terms from both sides, the credit and lien picture, crop insurance and program elections, the trust preservation practices that determine whether a producer gets paid, pesticide and organic and food safety records, labor and agritourism items, and the annual succession review.
Antitrust for Technology Companies: Monopolization, Platform Conduct, and the IP-Antitrust Interface
Technology companies operate in markets with network effects, near-zero marginal costs, and winner-take-most dynamics, which produce high concentration through ordinary competitive success and also create powerful incentives to keep competitors out. Antitrust law is the body of doctrine that tries to distinguish between the two, and it has been unusually active in the technology sector for the first time since the Microsoft case. This article explains the framework a technology lawyer actually needs: the elements of monopolization and attempted monopolization under Section 2, why market definition decides most cases and why it is unusually hard for platforms after Ohio v. American Express, the specific conduct theories that recur in technology disputes including exclusive dealing, tying, self-preferencing, refusals to deal and interoperability, and predatory pricing, and the rule of reason framework that governs agreements under Section 1. It covers the major recent cases, the merger review regime and the 2023 guidelines, and the interface between intellectual property and antitrust, including standard essential patents and FRAND commitments, patent settlements after Actavis, licensing restrictions, and refusals to license. It closes with a compliance program, a worked example, an FAQ, and related reading.
Legal Research Guide: A Beginner's Guide to Legal Research
Legal research is the disciplined art of finding the law that governs a problem and confirming it is still good. This beginner's guide explains the difference between primary and secondary authority, between mandatory and persuasive authority, and how the hierarchy of legal sources fits together—constitutions, statutes, regulations, and cases. It teaches you to decode a legal citation, to choose between free tools (CourtListener, Google Scholar, govinfo, Cornell's Legal Information Institute) and paid platforms (Westlaw and Lexis), and to use secondary sources like treatises, American Law Reports, and law reviews to get oriented fast. It lays out a repeatable, step-by-step research process and explains how to verify that a case is still "good law" using a citator such as Shepard's or KeyCite. Whether you are a law student, a self-represented litigant, a paralegal, or simply a curious citizen, you will leave knowing how to start, where to look, and when to stop.