Tech Law Podcast

NFTs are being used to store smart contracts and authentication for digital artwork and other digital assets.  A record is created on the blockchain that records a transaction associated with meta-data.  Meta-data is usually going to be a URL that links to a digital asset, say a digital picture or a digital video. So, when an NFT gets put onto the blockchain, it records the terms and authentication of the transaction related to that digital image. It's like a digital signature.  Like an artist who signs a painting.  That signed painting is going to be worth a lot more than a print copy or an unsigned version of that painting. just like in the real world, the signature of the creator creates scarcity. The scarcity that's driving market prices into the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of dollars for a single NFT auction.

If you are in the influencer marketing space, you know that the results can be dramatic. A celebrity endorsement or influencer post can put revenue in your pocket in real-time. As an attorney who specializes in influencer marketing, I also often see how the stakeholders of the game fail to protect themselves. The various upstream and downstream contracts starting with the photographer all the way through the brand endorsement often fail to address the most basic issue. Permission.

In this episode, influencer and marketing agency attorney Enrico Schaefer discusses the keys to contract drafting in the influencer market.  

Traverse Legal, PLC is a national law firm that focuses on representation of companies at all stages of growth.  In fact, we have an entire practice focused on providing fractional, right-sized outside general counsel services, namely TraverseGC.  Since our founding, we know that the more organized a company, the better positioned to receive legal assistance.  For us, that has meant we can prioritize legal spend in order to ensure our clients achieve a return on their legal investment.  We also have experienced how being proactive in the attorney/client relationship can mitigate against, and potentially avoid, certain legal issues, not to mention enable your company to more efficiently seize opportunities.  As a result, we have developed the Traverse Snapshot.  It includes a curated outline of information so you can focus further on the following parts of your business:  1. Corporate 2. Intellectual Property 3. Contracts 4. Compliance 5. Litigation History  We consider this the latest in how Traverse Legal is Changing the Way Law is Practiced.

This podcast is about helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.  But today I want to talk about the legal market.  In todays world of information and transparency, lawyers need to understand the value of their brand, and that their brand is tied to their reputation.  

If you are an influencer, you need to protect your name, or your social media handle, as a trademark.  Third parties are always trying to imitate you, your name or your handle for their own purpose.  Learn how to create your name as a brand and protect your reputation online. 

In this episode,  Enrico Schaefer interviews attorney Mallory King about third party subpoenas in federal court.  If you have ever come up against a Stored Communications Act objection, or tried to get information from big platform providers, you need to listen to these tips. Mallory shares the nuances of getting the information you are looking for to support your federal claims and defenses.  It is about perseverance and expertise if you have any hope for success. 

Social Media Influencers Can Stop Media Outlets, YouTubers and Bloggers from Using their Instagram Photos. 

One of our most popular topics on the Tech Law Podcast involve Litigation Tips.  So we have reignited our litigation tips seocntio and rebranded as Litigation Tips Tuesday.  In this show, we discuss the challenges of putting your client first, especially in the ego-sport that is litigation.  That high charging, high-stakes practice area where lawyers stand on the front line of big risk.  How does a good trial lawyer know when they have allowed some other interest to trump their client's documented, prioritized goals.  How does a great trial lawyer see the other interests pulling at their decision making and compartmentalize it?  If you want my number one tip, I'll give it to you.  Be constantly aware of what goals are driving your decisions.   Run each scenario though the filter of each competing interest.  Then do what is in your client's best interest. It is easier said than done, but a greatest attorneys find a way to keep their ego, pride and financial interests on the shelf.  

You think about your software as lines of code.  An IP attorney sees your software as a copyright protected work, some of which belong to you and third party copyright protected code which belong to third parties.  How do you know if your software code contains copyright protected third party works?  In this episode, software licensing attorney and open source specialist Russell Gelvin explains what a software audit is, and how a software audit is conducted. Who owns the copyright to your code? Now, there's a lot of different issues we could dig into today, but today we're going to be talking about some very important aspects of doing due diligence on your software code. And the best way to do that is to do a software audit.

And that means to actually do a line-by-line analysis of your code to make sure that you are not violating any third-party copyright notices, that you have the rights you think you do in your code, and to try and resolve any issues that you find. Russell is a licensing and software attorney for Travis Legal. He is an expert in software auditing. Welcome to the show, Russell.

Do you sell a good online?  Internet sales can be the largest portion of a company's revenue.  When you goods are being imitated, copied or stolen online, that hits your bottomline.  Suing someone on Amazon, PayPal, Apple App Store, eBay, or facebook for pawning off your goodwill is never the goal.  The goals is to take down the infringement ASAP.  The ROI of online brand protection can be  an easy way to increase asset value.  

In this episode of Tech Law Radio, we talk to IP attorney Mallory King. Mallory provides you the basics of online brand protection, from monitoring, to strategy and timing, to threat letter tone, ... Mallory will give you the insights you need. 

Are you a Consumer Packaged Good company?  Whether you are a start-up or growth company in the CPG space, this podcast will get you thinking and answer some key questions critical to your success.  Contact Lorrie at www.traverselegal.com for more information. 

Open Source software licensing attorney Russell Gelvin talks about the issues and risks facing open source software companies, and companies which include open source software in their code (which is just about everyone).  What happens if your proprietary software includes open source code with a copy left license?  How do you find out of your code includes open source software?  What do investors need to know when they conduct an audit of any technology company which has, programs or uses software?