The number of different open source licenses is growing and the variation in their terms and complexity is increasing. A number of licenses that appear to be, or are commonly referred to as “open source” do not actually meet...more
3/10/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Contract Drafting ,
Copyright ,
Corporate Financing ,
Due Diligence ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Mergers ,
Open Source Software ,
Patents ,
Software ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector
The chances are high that your company uses open source software (“OSS”) in some capacity. While the benefits of OSS are clear, it is also clear that OSS can pose significant legal risks that must be addressed. The best way...more
6/19/2019
/ Copyright ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Open Source Software ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Management ,
SaaS ,
Software ,
Software Developers ,
Software Licenses ,
Technology Sector
Sound View Innovations is launching patent attacks against commonly used open source software including jQuery and Apache Hadoop. Sound View is targeting end users of these software components. This is a typical tactic of...more
1. Blockchain Games and Collectibles Are on the Rise – The use of blockchain (or distributed ledger) technology for games (a.k.a blockchain games) and token-based digital collectibles is on the rise. The overnight popularity...more
3/20/2019
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
FinCEN ,
Gambling ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Video Games
The use of open source software and cloud-based computing individually are growing at a rapid pace. The use of open source in cloud deployments is also growing. Until recently, the OSS license issues with cloud deployments...more
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) kicked-off its annual global conference this week in Orlando, Florida, addressing leading topics in healthcare information technology. Over 45,000 healthcare and...more
The first day of the HIMSS19 conference featured a day long blockchain symposium focusing on “How Blockchain Technology Brings Value to Healthcare.” The room was packed.
The morning presentations included an overview of...more
Blockchain applications for healthcare have garnered significant attention recently. For example, as we recently blogged, five major healthcare companies – Humana, MultiPlan, Optum, Quest Diagnostics, and UnitedHealthcare –...more
Smart contracts, also referred to as chaincode in the Hyperledger world, are one of the most powerful aspects of blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). This “self-executing” code can receive various inputs and,...more
11/28/2018
/ Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Smart Contracts ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
Blockchain technology and smart contracts have the potential to become major disrupters in the energy industry. For example, these technologies may accelerate the automation of some or all aspects of the electricity delivery...more
On their own, blockchain technology, open source software, and patents each present legal issues that are often complex and frequently misunderstood. When combined, the complexity and misunderstandings of these three topics...more
10/31/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Open Source Software ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Proprietary Information ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Software Developers ,
Software Patents ,
Technology Sector
Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that has great potential to solve many of the fundamental challenges facing the music industry today. In fact, this technology is uniquely suited to address issues across the various...more
10/2/2018
/ Artists ,
Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Privacy ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Licensing Rules ,
Music Industry ,
Patents ,
Risk Management ,
Royalties ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smart Contracts ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales
As we have previously reported, the number of blockchain patents being filed and granted is continuing to increase. According to a Thomson Reuters report, 225 out of the 406 blockchain patents (55.4%) filed in 2017 came from...more
5/23/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Video Games
The use of blockchain technology for crypto games and token-based digital collectibles is on the rise. One of the first crypto games of note was CryptoKitties. It may turn out that CryptoKitties becomes to crypto games what...more
5/11/2018
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
FinCEN ,
Gambling ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Money Transmitter ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Technology Sector ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Currency
Blockchain technology is finding its way into every industry. Healthcare is no exception. According to a recent report by Deloitte, “blockchain technology has the potential to transform health care, placing the patient at the...more
4/4/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Information Technology ,
Medical Records ,
Patents ,
Patients ,
Smart Contracts ,
Technology Sector
As the number of blockchain-based patents and patent applications increases, more companies have become interested in pursuing these patents. Other companies still think that blockchain-based inventions are not patentable....more
4/2/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Divided Infringement ,
Ethereum ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Section 101 ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are rapidly emerging as disruptive technologies. As has happened with many new technologies, particularly disruptive ones, a patent arms race is occurring. The number of patents...more
1/17/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Design Patent ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Applications ,
Patentability Search ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO ,
Utility Patents
A recent federal district court decision denied a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by Artifex Software Inc. (“Artifex”) for breach of contract and copyright infringement claims against Defendant Hancom, Inc. based on...more
5/16/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Use ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Gaming ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Open Source Software ,
Popular ,
Preemption ,
Source Code ,
Technology Sector
Candy Lab AR, makers of the augmented reality poker game Texas Rope ‘Em, sued Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, over an ordinance alleged to be violating the First Amendment. The ordinance states: “Permits shall be required before...more