Andy Rooney: Mathematician or Lawyer?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

Thanks to fellow Caltech alum Barry A. Cipra, who wrote a wonderful piece entitled “Andy Rooney, Ph.D.” in the The Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol. 10, No. 2 (1988), I realized that much of the drafting I do in licensing is like a mathematician setting up a math problem.  Here are some timeless quotes from Andy Rooney to illustrate my point.

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Posted in Personal

Survey of Most Negotiated License Provisions

Posted on August 11, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment
I am trying to collect data on what are the most heavily-negotiated legal provisions in a typical licensing agreement. If you select up to 5, I plan to publish the results:
















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Posted in Licensing Provisions

Who Reads the Boilerplate?

Posted on August 10, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

When notable software and Internet lawyer Michael M. Krieger suggested I post a piece he did for Soft●Letter in 2003, I was surprised how fresh his article on legal boilerplate was after nearly 10 years. I also figured if his 1-pager was good enough for a newsletter founded by the legendary Jeffrey Tarter and Stewart Alsop, it was good enough for me.


Click here for downloadable PDF: SoftLetter Boilerplate

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Posted in Licensing Provisions, TechTransaction

New Yorker Style Cartoon Caption Contest

Posted on August 6, 2011 by admin| 9 Comments

Even though I did license a New Yorker cartoon, I thought I would try my own version of their cartoon caption contest. Please submit a caption for this cartoon by leaving a comment. Here is my first stab: “HR, time to send up that new Associate.”

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Posted in Personal

What’s the name of that dish with the lamb in it?

Posted on August 5, 2011 by admin| 1 Comment

It’s pretty common when you’re putting together a license or deal not to know the name of what that agreement is typically called.  It’s like going to a restaurant and not knowing the name of a dish but you know the ingredients. Take this menu with you when you ask your attorney what kind of agreement you’re looking for:

Click here for downloadable PDF: TechTrans Agreements

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Posted in Licensing Provisions, TechTransaction

NDA’s: The Stepchild Agreement

Posted on August 2, 2011 by admin| 1 Comment

I like to refer to Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA’s) or Confidentiality Agreements (CDA’s) as the “stepchild” of all agreements since no one wants to pay much attention to them.  Before I look at these agreements, I always like to know who is the party really disclosing the confidential information and then take the analysis from there.

Click here for downloadable PDF: Confidentiality Agreement Analysis

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Posted in Licensing Provisions, TechTransaction

Biotech Valuation

Posted on July 23, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

When I was a young lawyer in 1997 at Cyrano Sciences, a company founded by Caltech Professors Nathan S. Lewis and Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs, someone was kind enough to show me the basic metrics of valuing a drug opportunity.  Nothing fancy.

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Posted in TechTransaction

Did I forget a provision?

Posted on July 22, 2011 by admin| 2 Comments

Whenever I draft or review a license agreement, I like to have a checklist of provisions to make sure I don’t miss anything.  I do the same thing when I travel to make sure I don’t forget something critical, like my toothpaste. Here is such a checklist:

Click here for a downloadable PDF: Patent License Checklist

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Posted in Licensing Provisions, TechTransaction

Patent this logo, trademark this invention ?

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin| 4 Comments

Whenever I hear the words “patent this logo, trademark this invention, or copyright this idea,” I wish I could whip out this one pager out of my back pocket which explains the basic differences between copyrights, trademarks and patents.  Well, here it is (unfolded) ;-) :

Click here for downloadable PDF: IP Summary.

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Posted in Intellectual Property

10 Considerations in a Life Science License

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

When I collaborated with Linda Pullan, Ph.D. (formerly with Amgen, Kosan and Astra Zeneca) on a drug development and license agreement, I thought she gave some terrific advice and so I asked her to put together this list of her top 10 considerations.


Click here for downloadable PDF: Top 10 Life Sciences

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Posted in Licensing Provisions, TechTransaction