emerging companies go through a common, if painful, birthing process. born of a great idea, start-up companies are initially funded with money from credit cards, friends, and family. as the product develops, the need for more money grows. for some, the company generates more money by selling more of the product or service. for others, outside investors pay money in exchange for ownership of the company. at some point the product matures and is commercialized. profit ensues.

throughout the process, the inventors or founders are continually challenged to handle more sophisticated facets of the operation. technology, operations, finance and accounting, marketing, human resource management and legal. depending on time, money and know-how, some functions are contracted to third parties, others are handled in-house. each is critical at some point - usually when it�s about to blow up.

emerging companies run differently than established companies. the pace is faster; it often runs in fits and starts. etherton law group is familiar with the problems faced by emerging companies, and is flexible enough to work with these companies through frequent changes in direction.

from shower thought to ipo, etherton legal group is your partner for emerging company intellectual property contract matters.

our services

• intellectual property licenses
  • patent licenses
  • trademark licenses
  • technology licenses
  • trade secret licenses
  • copyright licenses
    
    
• non-compete agreements
  
  
• non-disclosure agreements
  
  
• intellectual property assignments
  
  
• perfecting security interests in intellectual property assets
  
  
• asset purchase and asset sale agreements
  
  
• developer/vendor/supplier contracts
  
  
• customer contracts
  
  
• preparation of intellectual property risk factors and review of assets for private placement memoranda and other investor agreements
  
  
• intellectual property enforcement and dispute resolution, excluding litigation
  
  • cease and desist letters to infringers
    
  • responses to threats of infringement lawsuits
    
  • trademark oppositions and cancellations
    
    
• domain name infringement and piracy issues
  
  
• due diligence
  
  • preparation for others to review your intellectual property assets
    
  • review of others� intellectual property assets
    
    
• employee vs. independent contractor issues