Safford & Baker - Legal Advisors to Technology Businesses » Uncategorized

Ann Arbor New Tech July Meetup

mbower — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:20:30 +0000

Ann Arbor New Tech, brought to you by a2geeks, is a group of people from various industries and backgrounds (e.g., entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, lawyers, marketers, students, etc.) interested in fostering local technology startups by organizing events, sharing resources, and building a supportive community. Ann Arbor New Tech’s signature event takes place on the third Tuesday of each month, at 6:30 p.m., at Blau Auditorium, UM Ross School of Business, 701 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. The monthly event features three to five companies who are each given five minutes to demo and five minutes to answer questions. Open announcements and networking follows. This month’s meetup is on Tuesday, July 20th. Hope to see you there. --Matt

Safford & Baker in the News: “Bloomfield Law Firm Aims For More Tech Clients”

mbower — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:47:27 +0000

The Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report (GLITR) is a daily read around these parts. Matt Roush has covered the tech world from a Michigan perspective for almost ten years now. That's one of the reasons why we're all very honored that our firm is featured in this GLITR article highlighting our commitment to working with technology startup companies. From the article:

Added [Don] Baker: "We've made a commitment to working with startups, because we felt like in addition to the legal part, we had skill sets and network relationships that could be helpful to folks that were trying to get something started." [Randy] Safford said tech startups "have a lot of special needs -- a high intensity need ...read more

Clients in the News: Myine Electronics and Livio Radio

mbower — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:54:25 +0000

Clients Myine Electronics and Livio Radio are featured in this New York Times article on the new wave of Internet radios. From the article:

A wide variety of stand-alone players are now available that allow consumers to listen to Internet radio without using a PC. One compelling feature: many offer wireless connectivity — with a wireless router, you can place the player anywhere in the home within range of the signal, and use the player as you would with a normal radio. Livio Radio’s wireless line includes its AARP, NPR ...read more

May Employers Monitor Personal E-Mail?

mbower — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:35:49 +0000

If you are an employer, are you monitoring your employee’s personal emails sent from work? Can you? Until recently, courts have generally accepted the argument from employers that they can monitor anything over their corporate computer networks, including personal emails sent from work. The Wall Street Journal recently reported, however, that courts are now more likely to side with the employee, unless the employer has put the employee on notice that personal emails may be monitored. In the absence of such notice, courts have said that employees have a reasonable expectation that their personal e-mails will remain private and will not be accessed by ...read more

Kauffman Foundation’s CEO: Entrepreneurs Can Revive Detroit

mbower — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:23:40 +0000

Kauffman Foundation's CEO, Dr. Carl Schramm, believes the city can revive itself through entrepreneurship. From the article:

The rise of Detroit in the 20th century was a result of entrepreneurs such as automotive icon Henry Ford taking risks, innovative thinking and start-up companies that provided jobs. "This city can do it all over again," he said. One of the Kansas City, Mo.-based foundation's missions ...read more

Clients in the News

mbower — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:03:54 +0000

Safford & Baker client Nextep Systems, Inc., a Troy-based touch-screen kiosk developer, is featured in the Great Lakes IT Report for their next generation drive-thru kiosks. "Nextep and MRI have introduced a new concept of touch screen drive-thru kiosks that empower customers, improve order accuracy and efficiency, boost upsell opportunities and can increase revenue." --Matt

Ann Arbor New Tech November Meetup

mbower — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:28:11 +0000

Ann Arbor New Tech is a group of people from various industries and backgrounds (e.g., entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, lawyers, marketers, students, etc.) interested in fostering local technology startups by organizing events, sharing resources, and building a supportive community. Ann Arbor New Tech's signature event takes place on the third Tuesday of each month, at 6 p.m., at Chesebrough Auditorium at UM's Chrysler Center on North Campus. The monthly event features three to five companies who are each given five minutes to demo and five minutes to answer questions. Open announcements and networking follows. This month's meetup (on November 17th) features:

The Sixth Circuit and the “Substantially Similar” test

mbower — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:00:36 +0000

Our very own Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. UMG Recordings, Inc., recently affirmed a jury's verdict that the defendants willfully infringed plaintiff-Bridgeport's rights in the song "Atomic Dog" – a song created by George Clinton, leader of Parliament-Funkadelic – and awarded the plaintiffs $88,980 in statutory damages. On appeal, the defendants challenged the correctness of the jury instructions on several grounds but most notable with respect to the instructions on whether the two songs were “substantially similar” in order to find copyright infringement. The Court of Appeals, like most circuits, previously followed the standard “substantially similar” test which requires the jury to determine “whether a lay observer would consider the works as ...read more

Michigan’s University Research Corridor ranked third in creating startups in 2008

mbower — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:02:34 +0000
From Crain's Detroit Business:
Michigan's three research universities gained ground in cultivating new startup companies, but still lag their peer university clusters nationally in other technology transfer areas, according to a study released today. The University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University — known collectively as the University Research Corridor — helped cultivate 28 new startup companies in 2008, up from 14 in 2007 and 18 in 2006, but on par with the 28 launched in 2004.
The full article can be read here. --Matt

“Remixing the Rules” Video Now Available

mbower — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:14:15 +0000
Back in March I participated in a panel discussion called "Remixing the Rules" on independent filmmaking and the Fair Use Doctrine, as part of the 47^th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, at the WORK Gallery in Ann Arbor. I previously posted about it here and here. A video of that panel discussion is now available via YouTube. It's divided into six parts, due to YouTube time limits. A brief trailer follows: --Matt