NEW HP vs. Hurd/Oracle – Lessons for Southeastern Tech Companies

September 13th, 2010
Employment, MMM Tech Perspectives

The recent lawsuit by Hewlett Packard against Mark Hurd (former HP CEO) highlights interesting issues for technology companies in the Southeast.   (Read the complaint filed by HP against Hurd here).  Here are a few practical pointers to be considered:

1.    If you have executives in California, you can generally forget about being able to enforce non-competition covenants to prevent them from working for a competitor. 

2.    HP is relying on Mr. Hurd’s agreement to hold trade secret information in confidence and not disclose it to others.   On the other hand, Oracle will likely assert that Mr. Hurd is being fenced off from sharing such information

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NEW The Importance of Patents to Economic Recovery

September 13th, 2010
Patents/IP

 Comment:  A recent article by Paul R. Michel, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Henry R. Nothhaft, a chief executive at a technology miniaturization firm, discusses how reduction of backlog at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) could help create jobs and spur economic recovery.  An interesting quote from the article indicates that “[t]hree-fourths of executives at venture capital-backed startups say patents are vital to getting financing. . .”  The USPTO has initiated several new efforts in recent months to improve patent processing and reduce backlog, including hiring new patent examiners, unveiling

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NEW USPTO Launches Data Visualization Center

September 8th, 2010
Patents/IP

Comment:  The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has publicly released its data visualization center and patent dashboard. The site provides a window into the state-of-affairs at the USPTO, including current patent backlog, average pendency of patent applications, patent allowance rates, number of patent examiners, and other interesting information.  The goal of the site is to increase transparency at the USPTO and reduce backlog by enabling patent applicants to make better-informed decisions regarding patent filing.  In the past, much of the information shown on the site was either difficult to obtain or unreported. 

 

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Yates Perspectives–Vol. II

September 7th, 2010
MMM Tech Perspectives

The “Series A” Dilemma

The line is growing of entrepreneurial companies seeking Series A funding in the range of $1-2 million.  In the course of my three decades of representing tech companies, I can’t remember so many entrepreneurs looking for Series A money at the same time.

This is a good news/bad news story.  The good news is there are dozens of entrepreneurs starting companies and bootstrapping them with their own money and cash from friends and family.  A significant number of these new entrepreneurs are first-timers — and many of them are bouncing back from a recent lay-off or consulting role. 

The

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USPTO Issues Updated Examiner Guidelines Regarding “Obviousness” Standard

September 2nd, 2010
Patents/IP

 

Comment:  The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued updated guidelines on September 1, 2010, regarding examination of patent applications under the “obviousness” standard in light of Federal Circuit decisions that have issued since the Supreme Court’s ruling in KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc. in 2007. The Updated Examination Guidelines provide practical and instructional examples for patent examiners to utilize when examining patent applications.

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