Is the End Near for Patent Trolls? Vermont Passes New Law Targeting Patent Trolls

Patent-trolling is a growing nuisance for business owners, particularly start-ups. Patent trolls will buy numerous patents – or buy struggling businesses just for the patents – for the sole use of threatening infringement claims on businesses. Most of the time, the threats are unfounded and rarely state which patents are being violated or how the target's use of that patent amounts to infringement.

Vermont has passed a new law that targets these patent trolls and allows their targets to pursue lawsuits against them. The law allows for a cause of action against "bad faith assertions of patent infringements," but does not define what this phrase means. Instead, it provides the courts a list of characteristics to consider when determining if an infringement assertion was made in bad faith. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Patents, Regulatory

Did Newegg Save Online Retail?

In 2007, Newegg adopted a strategy to deal with patent trolls: Never settle – ever.

One of the first times it applied this new strategy was against Soverain Software. While Soverain's website appears legitimate, it has never made a sale. Instead, it targets large, online retailers that use shopping cart checkout technology. Soverain claimed that through two patents, numbers 5,715,314 and 5,909,492, it owned the "shopping carts" present in nearly every online retailer's website. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Patents

Is There a Digital Afterlife?

We currently live in an era where our grandchildren will have access to everything we are currently posting online. In many ways, we are defined by our emails, pictures, Facebook likes, and tweets.

Typically, we make serious plans on who will get our houses, cars, money, and property when we die. But have you ever considered who will own – or control – your emails, online pictures, Facebook account, or social media profiles? Read More ›

Categories: Privacy, Social Media

XG Sciences Announces New Battery Anode with Four Times the Capacity of Conventional Materials

Lansing-based XG Sciences, Inc. has launched a new generation of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with four times the capacity of conventional anodes. The new anode material is produced through proprietary manufacturing processes and uses XG’s xGnP® grapheme nanoplatelets to stabilize silicon particles in a nano-engineered composite structure. The material displays dramatically improved charge storage capacity with good cycle life and high efficiencies.

This is great news for applications like smartphones, tablet computers, and other products that use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. XG is working with battery makers to translate this exciting new technology into batteries with longer run-time, faster charging capabilities, and smaller sizes.

Click here for more information about this exciting development.

Categories: Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets

Veronica Mars Kickstarter Success

As noted in a prior blog article, investment crowdfunding is awaiting SEC regulations. However, “reward” and “experience” based crowdfunding via websites such as Kickstarter have seen success.

On March 13, 2013, Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, launched a Kickstarter project to fund the making of a Veronica Mars movie. Veronica Mars was previously a television show on UPN that aired from 2004 to 2007.  It took only 11 hours for the project to meet its funding goal of $2 million dollars. The initial fundraising goal was to raise $2 million in 30 days. Read More ›

Categories: Crowdfunding, Venture Capital/Funding

White House Decrees Free Access to Government Research

The White House has declared that the results of government funded research, with certain exceptions for classified data, will be available to the public for free within in a year. Such results include peer-reviewed publications and digital data. Read More ›

Categories: News & Events, Regulatory

While We Wait for the SEC on Crowdfunding, UK Sees Success

Here in the U.S., we continue to wait for the SEC to issue regulations before we can use investment based crowdfunding under the JOBS Act. In the meantime, investment crowdfunding has been available in the UK for two years.

Crowdcube, a UK based crowdfunding portal, recently released its results after two years of operations: Read about Crowdcube's success ›

Categories: Crowdfunding, Venture Capital/Funding

Michigan’s New Law Protects Online Privacy

Michigan’s new law, the Internet Privacy Protection Act (IPPA), protects employees, potential employees, students and applicants from giving employers and educators access to their personal social media accounts. Under the new law, accounts such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Twitter are covered. Employers and school administrators can’t discharge, fail to hire or admit or otherwise penalize their current or potential employees or students for refusing their request. Read More ›

Categories: Employment, Privacy

FINRA Issues Voluntary Interim Form for Equity Crowdfunding Portals

On January 10, 2013, FINRA (the Financial Regulatory Authority) issued a voluntary Interim Form for Funding Portals.  Under the JOBS Act, once the SEC adopts its crowdfunding regulations and equity crowdfunding becomes legal in the United States, equity crowdfunding portals will be required to become members of FINRA.  FINRA currently regulates broker-dealers. 

In the meantime, FINRA is requesting confidential information from equity crowdfunding portals that it can use to help it develop the rules it will impose on portal members.  Click here for the FINRA release and link to the form.

Categories: Crowdfunding, Venture Capital/Funding

Tech Professionals to Feature their Products at DemoCamp Lansing

The Lansing Chapter of the Michigan Technology Network (MITN) is teaming up with DemoCamp for a holiday tech event.  Sponsored by Foster Swift, DemoCamp Lansing will bring together local programmers, entrepreneurs and community members to show off cool products and websites and to learn about new technology.  This relaxed and casual event is free and will be held at the Michigan Historical Museum on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 5:30pm.  Click here for registration and other information.

Categories: News & Events