Category: Computer and Software Law
Attorney Carole Clark Isakson Speaks at Women Venture Event
January 10, 2018 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.On Tuesday January 9, 2018, BGS attorney Carole Clark Isakson had the pleasure of teaching a group of motivated women entrepreneurs about intellectual property issues in small businesses. Topics included trademark registration and use, software licenses, who owns the IP when you use a third party, and other topics relevant to small businesses in general. The seminar was arranged by Women Venture, a non-profit organization that serves women entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities area. It offers training, advice, loans and related services to women who complete various training and have a solid business proposal. To date Women Venture has served more than 1000 clients! Carole recently became a volunteer with Women Venture, and is excited to be part of such a great endeavor. Women Venture is an SBA approved micro-lender and CDFI; it also works with local banks and community partners. After the enjoyable and interactive seminar for female business owners, Carole answered questions for almost an hour! And then headed into a second meeting with the Women Venture staff to talk about the new LLC Act and how it impacts Women Venture and the community it serves. It was a long but productive afternoon at Women Venture. BGS is proud to support the work of Women Venture and entrepreneurs in general!
Read MoreLunch and Learning: Carole Clark Isakson Presents ACBA CLE Seminar
September 27, 2017 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.On Wednesday September 20, 2017, BGS shareholder Carole Clark Isakson presented an informative and enjoyable lunch seminar to attending members of the Anoka Country Bar Association. Carole has decades of experience handling business transactions, including those relating to intellectual property rights. She put her experience to use in crafting the seminar, entitled ‘7 Things Every Business Attorney Should Know about IP (But Probably Doesn’t)’. Her solid advice to business attorneys highlighted the actions that can and should be taken early on in the formation of a business to avoid issues in the future. For example, when an entity is created it is important to make sure that the entity owns (or licenses) all of the software needed to run the company. Social media accounts should be owned by the company. The use of outside programmers should be the subject of a strong written agreement to ensure that the company owns the work – and the same is true when hiring web site designers or advertising professionals. Attendees of the luncheon learned about this type of intellectual property and important concepts that sometimes don’t come to the forefront during the creation and day to day running of a business. If you have questions about how intellectual property, particularly in the areas of software development,…
Read MoreWHO OWNS THAT SOFTWARE?
August 9, 2017 | Carole Clark IsaksonOwnership is important… especially in the context of a sale. If you want to sell your company, whether as an asset sale or through an ownership sale, the buyer will want to make sure that it can continue to use the software that you use. Conversely, if you are buying a company, don’t forget that the accounting software and whatever else is used in running the company is an important asset! Business owners FREQUENTLY forget about this. When investigating assets do not forget about the software (and make no assumptions…) Ownership is incredibly important, as this gives that person: The right to reproduce the code The right to create “derivative works” based on the code The right to distribute copies of the code The right to “display” the code, for example by posting to a web site. (17 S.C. § 106) The basic rule is this – the person that puts fingers to the keys and creates the code, owns it, except for three exceptions…. There are three exceptions to the basic rule that almost consume the rule itself. These exceptions are: Work “made for hire” Code written by an employee in the SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT Work specifically contracted for (i.e. project based) in one of ten named categories (see 17 USC 101)…
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