w3w3.com

Silicon Flatirons Center 13th Anniversary

Telecommunications and policy issues for entrepreneurs
1266_ 9/2/12 - You know what teenagers are like? Especially the first, ah, 13th year? "Basically an adolescent, little rambunctious, looking to do things differently." Well that's how Phil Weiser sees the Silicon Flatirons Center - growing up on the Boulder Campus, part of the University of Colorado is the Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship. Larry interviewed Phil Weiser, Dean of the University of Colorado Law School, and Executive Director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at CU and Brad Bernthal Associate Professor of Law Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurship Initiative Director at CU. Well that's how Phil Weiser sees the Silicon Flatirons Center - growing up on the Boulder Campus, part of the University of Colorado is the Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship. "This is interdisciplinary engagement - which means we're on the Law campus but it's much more than law, it’s technology, business and campus community engagement, bringing community to the campus. Give people a chance to see their ideas in a little broader perspective. Give them a chance to develop young talent. That's a very important part of our overall community. And also do a good job of raising the debates overall for national so we can elevate our local community, raise the debate nationally, support entrepreneurship and encourage our students." That's what Silicon Flatirons Center is about and they're celebrating their 13th Anniversary in January 2013. We're going to kick this off with a fabulous calendar of events. Brad Bernthal "People come to Silicon Flatirons to ideally see around the corner. The 13th anniversary is coming up, but between now and the end of the year, here are some of the things coming up. Phil says, "We kick it off on September 4th, the day after Labor Day, with the 'Future and Dynamics of Video Programming'. "We're going to have the CEO of Aereo, which is the definition of the destructive technology..."
Related Links: Silicon Flatirons Center || Startup Colorado || Startup America || Grow Denver || Venture Capital Channel || Changing Dynamics of Video Programming 9/4/12 || Keywords: Phil Weiser, Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons Center, Startup Colorado, Startup America, Venture Capital, Telecommunications, Policy Issues, Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins. > bytes=7660672
LISTEN TO: Phil Weiser, Brad Bernthal Silicon Flatirons Center 13th year

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Activity picks up in September
1089_ 10/3711 - PHOTOS galore! Oktoberfest on September 1st? That's what the Colorado BioScience Association and Colorado Cleantech Industry Association did to grab the proverbial reins and jump start an invigorated fall season. We celebrated Phil Weiser's return with "Reflections on Serving in the White House" and Silicon Flatirons has a very ambitious slate of events coming up. ACG Denver welcomes their new president, Todd Roebken and their keynote speaker Steve Knopper (Rolling Stones mag) reminds us of lessons learned and still applicable - keep your eyes wide open. While the Rockies Venture Club colludes with Communication Technology Professionals, to look into the future and the power of Telecommunications. Kudos to the Colorado Bio Science Association for the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference and Networking Events. You can listen to Keynote speaker, Roy Davis, President, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. Rounding out the month we have Holme Robert & Owens hosting the September M&A group [with a look at large employers and a trend toward self insurance]. ACG and Howard Potter wrap the month up with their extremely popular, 6th Annual - Investment & Finance Cross Networking event at The University of Denver Daniels College of Business, School of Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management, a fabulous venue. Go see who is actively promoting the future at w3w3.com Event Photos for September 2011. These albums show 100s of photos...these are the events we were able to attend...if you have a photo link to some local business/tech events you have taken, please send us a link and we'll link them and give you credit of course...
Related Links: ACG Denver || CBSA || CCIA || CTA || HRO || RVC || Silicon Flatirons CU || Keywords: Oktoberfest, Colorado BioScience Association, Colorado Cleantech Industry Association, Silicon Flatirons, Investment & Finance Cross Networking, Holme Robert & Owens

Interdisciplinary Approach to Policy Research & Growth
1053_ 7/25/11 - “I did not expect that, at this point in my career, I would be taking on new responsibilities. But when Phil Weiser was called to service in Washington, D.C., I viewed the opportunity to step in as Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons as too important and too interesting to pass up. Phil has, in characteristic fashion, worked diligently with myself, Anna Noschese, Paul Ohm, Brad Bernthal, and the other members of the Executive Committee (Ray Gifford, our chair, Sue Wyman, Dick Green, and Tom Lookabaugh) to ensure a smooth and effective transition. I share his confidence and enthusiasm about the program's future, even though I know that I, like all of us, will miss his vision, energy, and leadership. Washington's gain is our loss,” a quote from Dale Hatfield. Phil Weiser recently said, “I am also glad to announce that, two years after Dale accepted the baton from me, I will take it back, with an event to honor Dale's service.”
Related Links: About Silicon Flatirons || Phil Weiser || Dale Hatfield || Ray Gifford || Brad Bernthal || Paul Ohm || Bryan Tramont || David Getches || Keywords: Silicon Flatirons, Phil Weiser, Dale Hatfield, Ray Gifford, Brad Bernthal, Anna Noschese, Paul Ohm Entrepreneurs, Technology, Law, University of Colorado, Dean CU Law School, David Getches - 7/25/11

Phil Weiser returns to SFC as Dean CU Law School - YouTube Video

Respect, Appreciation and Gifts of Gratitude - YouTube Video

Dale Hatfield, Thanks for the Memories, now let's get to work! - YouTube Video

Jason Haislmaier: The law is a couple of steps behind the technology
1045_ 7/12/11 - One of the things that keeps Jason excited and interested in his work is that it is constantly changing and the law is always a couple of steps behind the technology, and sometimes desperately trying to catch up. Jason Haislmaier, Partner at Holme Roberts & Owen (HRO) in Boulder focuses his practice on IP and technology issues for emerging growth companies here in the Boulder/Denver corridor, out in California and Internationally and then also works with those same issues for larger companies on larger issues. These could be around protection of technology or intellectual property, commercialization, transactions, license agreements, outsourcing development agreements - really the full gambit of protection, commercialization and enforcement of IP rights and technology. As Jason and Larry talked, one of the areas that has come up recently is around the collection and use of, particularly, personally identifiable information and the privacy and security issues that come with that. Jason said, "We've had the commercial Internet for upwards of 15 years and we've had websites and web services out there collecting personally identifiable and other information from their users and from other third parties. And you've also had, over that time, an evolution of legal regulation and legal requirements on what you must be doing if you are obtaining that data, and then using that data. You also have a situation now, where we have, I think I would say conservatively over the next several years, a real situation where we're going to have some big sea change in terms of the legislative aspects" There's more detail, listen now...
Related Links: HRO Home || It's the Law Channel || Mastering Change || In the News || Keywords: Jason Haislmaier, Holme Roberts & Owen, Protection of Technology, Intellectual Property, Commercialization, Transactions, License Agreements, Outsourcing Development Agreements, 7/12/11 bytes=5693756
LISTEN TO: Jason Haislmaier, Partner at Holme Roberts & Owen in Boulder

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Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, Patents, Copyrights
1015_ 5/18/11 - It isn't often that we get to share the personal character of an interview but we've decided this was the time to do so. After all that is what w3w3 aims to do, connect people and resources. Neal Cohen a partner at Holme Roberts and Owen - Boulder, is a delightful guy with a great sense of humor and a fun story. Neal grew up in Queens, New York, attended public school and one of the activities he got involved in was fencing, even before high school. He fenced in high school, the public school athletic league, went on to college and got a scholarship to fence in college, and then fenced after college until he was almost 30 years old. All of that predated his legal aspirations. Larry asked for more background. Neal went on, "Well fencing, as you can imagine, does not go a long way to paying many bills. So I had a lot of jobs to support my fencing habit." After college, Neal was a high school English teacher (which also didn't pay very well back then). He was a health club manager and he was a New York City cab driver. (Imagine, a cab driver that speaks English and knows his way around town!). "Which”, Neal said, “oddly enough, was the best paying job of the three, but had its own little challenges. It didn't hurt to have a foil in the front seat...in some circumstances." Larry said, "Mark Weakly mentioned you are a magnificent litigator. Would you mind getting into some of the litigation issues?" Neal told us,when he started out, the firm he was with did a lot of 'securities litigation'. "That", said Neal, "is sort of how I cut my teeth, in securities litigation." Most attorneys don't stay in one area their whole career and so Neal grew into doing 'employment litigation' and employment litigation invariably leads into 'trade secret litigation' because employees will change employers and take trade secrets with them, sometimes. They're not supposed to, of course, and that always leads to 'trade secret litigation', which is one of the areas of 'intellectual property'. Trade secret litigation took Neal into patent litigation and that lead to copyright litigation and other areas like that. This led to Neal's sub-specialty, patent litigation and he's been doing that for fifteen years. "When I was in law school, I met a cute girl who was sitting near me.. .Listen, there's much more...
Related Links: Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP Home || It's the Law Channel || Blog || Podcast Directory || Keywords: Neal Cohen, Litigation, Mark Weakley, Holme Roberts & Owen, Entrepreneur, Intellectual Property, Coca Cola, Trade Secrets, Patents, Copyrights - 5/18/11 bytes=7322543 LISTEN to Neal Cohen, Partner, HRO-Boulder

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 Do more of what you do well is a great motto 
997_ 4/13/11 - We are with Mike Fries, President and CEO of Liberty Global, who earlier this year spent some time in Davos at a fantastic, marvelous conference. Also joining us is Garth Jensen a partner at Holme Roberts & Owen. Garth set the stage with some background, Mike Fries runs a worldwide operation, primarily in Europe, "As you see technology bringing the world closer and business becoming more global, what are some of your thoughts as you attended this conference in Davos?" Mike replied, "I've been going every year now for 6, 7 years and what happens is the conference has evolved - but your experience within the conference evolves too. The first year I was there I did spend quite a bit of time milling about, experiencing and enjoying different types of events and speeches and panels. But every year since I've become more and more programmed in the sense that I'm involved in an industry partnership group for the telcos. The quality of people you have is world class, of course. For me to be able to interact in a two to three day period with the CEO of Georgia Telecom, CEO of Google, the CEO of Microsoft, all in a relatively small, informal environment and to understand where we're each coming from, with respect to our businesses and to our challenges, is a positive thing. And I always learn something. I always learn something I didn't know coming in. I'm happy to be, and lucky to go." Garth asked, "How do things you learn actually get translated into your services for your customers?" Mike shared his thoughts. "I would say as a CEO you have to have a vision, a clear articulation of where we're going and what we're doing and so I find, in many ways, I come out of there with a better sense of our direction; I understand better where our competitors are going or what they're thinking. So it helps define and refine your strategic vision of your business and your products and your services. So ultimately consumers benefit. Garth pointed out, "Mike I've known and worked with you for about 20 years and your career has been very impressive. You've worked with a lot of the country's best known and most well regarded business people during your career." Mikes reply, "I have been lucky to work with, of course John Malone, who I think is arguably the best boss you could ever have, from so many different perspectives. And of course, Gene Schneider who was a great mentor to me in many ways. I learned a lot from both of these guys." There's much more...
Related Links: Communication Executive of the Year - Photos of Gala Celebration || Liberty Global, Inc || Holme Roberts & Owen || CTP's 11th Annual Communications Executive of the Year and Ascent Award || CTP Home || Podcast Directory || Keywords: Mike Fries, Liberty Global, John Malone, CTP Exec of Year, Garth Jensen, HRO, Communications Technology Professionals, Cable Industry, Ascent Award, Liberty Media, UIH, United Cable, TCI Channel:Law 4/13/11 bytes=9803967
LISTEN to Mike Fries, President & CEO, Liberty Global with Garth Jensen, Partner, HRO, LLP

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Getting the word out!

Links that will make a difference
914_ 10/29/10- w3w3® Media Network is all about supporting business and technology in Colorado.  We specialize in creating valuable links and relationships to help you grow your company, build your team, get insights to various industries, keep you up-to-date, raise money, increase your income and profits, and so much more...Venture Capital; Tech Transfer; Communications Technology Professionals; Mergers and Acquisitions; It's the Law; Training Trends; Colorado Companies to Watch; Mastering Change; Looking for Money; In the News; and more...Just click on the topic of your interest and you'll find treasure trove of information...
Related Links: Venture Capital || Podcasting Directory || Tech Transfer || Communications Technology Professionals || Mergers and Acquisitions || It's the Law || Training Trends || Colorado Companies to Watch || Mastering Change Blog || Looking for Money || In the News || Keywords: Venture Capital, Tech Transfer, Communications Technology Professionals, Mergers and Acquisitions, It's the Law, Training Trends, Colorado Companies to Watch, Mastering Change, Looking for Money, In the News 10/29/10

Anti Patents for Software & Biz Processes

 Brad Feld; Software Patent Tipping Point 
901_ 9/27/10- Larry talked with Brad Feld, Managing Director of the Foundry Group. Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. They discussed a very dicey topic, software patents. Brad started out with, "I want to make it clear that my point of view is only about software and business method patents. I really don't have a strong point of view about other types of patents. I think there is plenty of validity in the patent system, there's a role for the patent system, I think. For things outside of software and business methods, I haven't spent enough time intellectually working through them to have a strong point of view. On software patents specifically and business methods more broadly, I think they are invalid constructs. I think they are massive retardants on innovation; not things that protect and support, enhance or encourage innovation, which of course, is the point of the patent system in the first place. Brad has been very public and vocal about anti software patents for awhile, dating back to 1980's when he was in graduate school at MIT. It was the very beginning of the dynamics around business method patents and software patents just beginning to emerge - It was very loudly discussed that copyright and trade secret were more than adequate intellectual property protection and in fact viewed that software wasn't a valid construct to be patented, anymore than you can patent math or other algorithmic type things. About five years ago, especially as open source had become a mainstream thrust, and had demonstrated clearly that open source did not stifle innovation and that there were lots of different ways to monetize software even in the context of an open source universe. And then in fact, software that was not open source was even more protected without having to have any construct around patent. It's been very interesting over the past five years, to watch a number of people, both in the software industry and lawyers that have been in and around the patent system change their points of view to be anti software patent." Whether you are a leader or in the trenches, listen to this discussion...
Related Links: Foundry Group || Brad's Blog || Venture Capital History || Channel Link to More || S Patent and Trademark Office || Keywords: Brad Feld, Patents, Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, Funding, Portfolio Companies, Investing, Foundry Group, Intellectual Property - 9/27/10 bytes: 9803026 Listen to: Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group

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Due Diligence - Own It or Lose It

836_ 5/3/10 - Due diligence and relationships with investors
" Because if due diligence is left undone, it can undo potential relationships with investors". Larry talked with Mark Weakley, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen, Boulder about this important and touchy subject. Larry asked, "What are some due diligence issues that could kill a deal? Mark shared what was almost an overwhelming group of points ...important for every entrepreneur to be aware of. "IP ownership, I would say. Just make sure you don't have joint ownership - make sure the company owns it! Often the technology that is developed, has been incubated or developed, then they form a company. So the organization of the company should include an assignment of the inventions; describe what the inventions are and make sure it's comprehensive. That's part of what is the consideration that the founders are paying to receive the shares of stock. Also have an invention assignment agreement and a non-disclosure agreement - most law firms that work with these companies have these as a form document. It's not like you have to pay a lot of money for them - but get one from a firm that does a lot of that work. So make sure that everyone that does work for the company has signed an agreement that says the IP belongs to the company. A contractor working for you has every right to file for a patent, as do you, but dual ownership makes the process of owning the technology, moot. On the cap table side, it is often unclear who owns what. We recommend not only do you document who owns what, issue stock certificates, that's the evidence of ownership." Listen for more how-to steps... Mark also pointed out that this and many other important topics to entrepreneurs including how to raise capital will be covered at the RVC Colorado Capital Conference on 5/12/10. See you there.
Related Links: Colorado Capital Conference || Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP Home || It's the Law Channel || Rockies Venture Club || Keywords: Mark Weakley, Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP, Due Diligence, Investors, Colorado Capital Conference, Entrepreneurs, Capital, IP > 5/3/10 Chnl: Law/Entrepreneurs bytes: 8456048 Listen to Mark Weakley, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen

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Global Arbitration, Best Practices

822_ 4/13/10 - Business people and international arbitration
 In today's global market, rules and regulations governing the business activities vary from country to country, culture to culture and international arbitration becomes a very important part of 'the contract'. At w3w3.com we've heard some amazing stories about these conflicts. We went to David Wilson, partner at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO) for some advice. David's guest was Josefa Sicard-Mirabal who serves as Director of Arbitration and ADR in North America for the ICC International Court of Arbitration. In this capacity, she represents and promotes ICC dispute resolution services in the United States and Canada, and advises North American attorneys and companies on all phases of arbitration, including negotiation of arbitration clauses, requests for arbitration, procedural issues and enforcement of arbitration awards. David said, "We're talking about some best practices for business people in international arbitration. From a business person's stand point, how you can make the experience of international arbitration more effective and actually more cost efficient for your company." Josefa describes clauses that have been drafted that really make it more difficult and costly for the business people. "One example would be putting in requirements for an arbitrator to have certain characteristics - which would make it very difficult to go out and find an arbitrator within that time frame that fits the qualification. So it is possible to make the qualifications too specific to be realistic. 1.) So we don't want to over specify arbitrator qualifications. 2.) Time frames for completion of the arbitration exist within the arbitration process. Additional specifications might very well work against you." Josefa has a proverb she uses often, "Dress me slowly because I'm in a rush". What that means is sometimes when you want to get a thing done very fast; you need to pay attention to the details.
Related Links: Holme Roberts & Owen LLP || ICC Home || ICC Arbitration || Josefa Sicard-Mirabal Bio || It's the Law Channel || Keywords: David Wilson, Josefa Sicard-Mirabal, Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, HRO, International Court of Arbitration, ICC, ADR, Arbitration, Litigation, Global 4/13/10 bytes: 7527239 Chnl: HRO LISTEN to David Wilson & Josefa Sicard-Mirabal