Bootlaw November – Stateside legal stuff

Last night I attended my first Bootlaw – a meetup that focuses on legal issues for start-ups.

There was a lot of very interesting stuff covered in the session last night, but before I give you the scoop on what you need to know as a British business about to head over the pond, I wanted to give a shout out to Winston&Strawn. The legal dudes behind the meetup.

Not only did they share a whole bunch of info with us, host us in their own offices and chat with us at the pub afterwards, but they also bought in hundreds of pizza and beer. Their generosity is a brilliant example of this remarkable 2.0 age. To my mind, 2.0 is all about open-source, mashups, collaborations and sharing. The businesses that are using social media best to market themselves aren’t those who spend loads of money on swanky interactive websites that only the digital agencies are interested in (you know who you are!), they’re buying beer and pizza instead and sharing their knowledge with their potential clients. They’re developing relationships, kudos and an easy friendship that is truly priceless. We can all take a page out of their books.

Now, onwards.

Andrew Bridges was man of the moment last night. Andrew’s represented some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Microsoft, Google and pretty much any company logo you can see lying on your desk that involves technology. He told us loads and loads about how things work stateside. Here were the points that resonated with me most of all.

No good idea goes unpunished

A lot of Hollywood vs. The Valley cases are just a way for Hollywood to get a cut of an idea. Suing is a fast way to establish some ownership of the idea or some infringements of rights because of the idea. Once either of these is established, it’s payday for the aggrieved. Simple.

Domain name scheisters really do exist

Pedro, one of the partners in Unchained, never let us search for available domains on registrar’s sites. He reckoned (and we laughed back then but we laugh no more) that the registrars could not be trusted. As soon as they saw people interested in a domain name, they’d buy it and then up the price. Apparently this is no folklore, but the entire, sad truth of it. You have been warned.

Url extension landgrab

Andrew also spoke of the landgrab the ensues every time a new .something is released. See, just like real estate greed in the tangible world, these virtual Realtors promote this a notion of scarcity to get people scrambling for their credit cards. It amuses me to think that people actually buy into these .scams. This morning, as if by magical coincidence, an email arrived in my inbox announcing the availability of a new url extension. The timing was beautiful. Looky here:

scam.asia - all the kids are doing it.

Being sued is a right of passage

It seems the long and short of it is that if you have a good idea you’re going to get sued. So I guess, conversely that if you don’t get sued, it’s a bit of a bummer. Legal action is the business litmus test of the noughties.

Four ways to avoid litigation in the US as a British company:

1. Be fast
2. Be accepted
3. Dominate
4. Try to have little/no money, real estate and people on that side of the pond – this means not only a lesser likelihood of getting sued, but also of being tried within American jurisdiction.

As a partner in a British company that’s just stuck it’s big toe into US water I’ve decided to do these four things (while secretly hoping to get sued just to prove what a great idea Unchained is). And finally, to remember that it is typical start-up behaviour (according to Andrew) to always ask for forgiveness, if not permission.