Intellectual Property

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Consultation (10) Contracts (6) Corporate Formation (2) Corporate Governance (1) Due Diligence (1) Employment/Labor (5) Finance/Fundraising (2) Intellectual Property (3) Nonprofit Formation (1) Nonprofit Governance (4) Tax (2) Tax Exempt/Nonprofit (6)

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POKET Inc.

Advise on Redlines to a Software Services Agreement

Summary:

Help a social enterprise creating mobile tools to support research by advising on a redlined Software Services Agreement.

Referred by:

Jurisdictions: U.S.
About the Organization: Poket works with organizations and researchers to create a suite of mobile tools that they can use to crowdsource data for projects/programs. Through these efforts, the Poket team empowers citizens, students, research participants and field teams to submit data and receive rewards. Their tools are used around the world from farmers in Nigeria crowdsourcing the price of soybeans in their local markets to citizens in Bangladesh reporting which healthcare clinics offer the COVID-19 vaccine in the last mile.
Legal Entity Type: For-profit
SDG(s):Good Health and Well Being, Partnerships to achieve the Goals, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, Reduced Inequalities
Legal Issue(s):

The Poket team has been hired by an organization to develop a suite of tools for a federally funded humanitarian program. They are already working together, have a good relationship, and have signed a Letter of Intent. However, the organization hasn’t signed Poket’s template Software Services Agreement and returned a redlined version for consideration. The Poket team is now seeking assistance reviewing the edits and guidance on any changes they should push back against.

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Solutions Journalism Network

Advise on Fair Use

Summary:

Assist a nonprofit news organization by advising on “fair use.”

Referred by:

  • Anonymous Collaborator
Jurisdictions: U.S.
About the Organization: The Solutions Journalism Network is a nonprofit leading a global shift in journalism, focused on what the news misses most often: how people are trying to solve problems and what we can learn from their successes or failures.
Legal Entity Type: Nonprofit/Charity
SDG(s):Affordable and Clean Energy, Clean Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, Decent Work and Economic Growth, End Poverty, Good Health and Well Being, Partnerships to achieve the Goals, Reduced Inequalities, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Zero Hunger
Legal Issue(s):

Solutions Journalism Network has a public database with links to thousands of journalistic articles drafted by independent parties (news outlets around the world. Currently, for each piece, their staff draft a bespoke short summary explaining the content of the article for users, who then can click off to read the article from its original source. Drafting the summaries is very time consuming. Moving forward, they would like to simply include a short excerpt from each piece (perhaps the first paragraph). They do not have relationships with the authors and are seeking guidance on whether including these excerpts is permitted under fair use. The Solutions Journalism Network team has received initial guidance from an attorney but is seeking a second opinion.

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Creating Economic Opportunities for Women (C.E.O. Women)

Advise on the Use/Ownership of IP

Summary:

Advise the founder of a nonprofit that created economic opportunities for low-income immigrant and refugee women on the use/ownership of IP.

Referred by:

Jurisdictions: U.S.
About the Organization: Creating Economic Opportunities for Women (C.E.O. Women) was a non-profit organization founded and ran from 2000 – 2011, to address systemic poverty and lack of income mobility faced by low-income immigrant and refugee women in the San Francisco Bay Area. The mission of C.E.O. Women was to create economic opportunities for low-income immigrant and refugee women through teaching English, communications and entrepreneurship skills. During their tenure they provided over 2,000 women from 44 different countries with training, support and capital to start their own small businesses.
Legal Entity Type: Nonprofit/Charity
SDG(s):Decent Work and Economic Growth, End Poverty, Gender Equality, Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities
Legal Issue(s):

During the life of C.E.O. Women, the team developed a program to exponentially reach more women through the use of technology and media. The program, named Grand Café, is an educational soap opera series, designed to teach English for entrepreneurship and business skills to low-income immigrant and refugee women. Six of the eighteen episodes were produced under the non-profit. When the non-profit dissolved, the IP and content of the program went to C.E.O. Women’s local community bank as collateral on a line of credit the organization still owed. The bank recently released it back to C.E.O. Women’s founder, who would now like to revive and distribute the content of the program. She is now seeking legal support to help her understand and structure how to set up and manage the IP of the program, given it was funded by grants and the original non-profit no longer exists.

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