Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute (HTLI), in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), is excited to present its Diversity in Innovation Best Practices Manual, version 1.0. The manual is packed with “insanely practical” tips for increasing the diversity of inventors within a wide variety of innovative industries nationwide.
Our research team collected an extensive list of over 90 best-practice suggestions through 6 roundtable sessions held in cooperation with the USPTO, followed by a survey designed to collect information similar to what...
Mentorship and sponsorship are different. Mentors are people who listen and advise, while sponsors open doors and lift you up. Mentors may tell you where the door is, but sponsors open the door. Sponsors have skin in the game and use their personal and professional capital to foster and provide opportunities.
Last night my husband and I were sitting in a sports bar in Cabo San Lucas while I was ruminating on how to write this blog post – romantic, I know…. Quite unexpectedly we struck up a conversation with the man next to us. He was a tall, lean man in his early 50s, and his name...
People talk about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a lot, but what does the FTC really do? Well, I’m glad you asked!
The FTC’s main job is to protect consumers — if you buy stuff, that’s you! The FTC protects consumers by doing three main things:
1. making rules,
2. investigating suspected rule violations, and
3. bringing lawsuits against people who break the rules.
When it comes to consumers and marketing or advertising, the FTC makes clear that “[u]nder the law, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be...
Laura Lee Norris, Associate Clinical Professor
Mary Fuller, Senior Clinical Fellow
Joy Baker Peacock, Interim Managing Director, High Tech Law Institute
Sydney Yazzolino, 2L Tech Edge JD student
Santa Clara University School of Law
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
~Nelson Mandela
As explained in our previous post, Santa Clara University School of Law is partnering with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to conduct a study on best practices in including diverse individuals in the invention and innovation process. We are soliciting...
Laura Lee Norris, Associate Clinical Professor
Mary Fuller, Senior Clinical Fellow
Joy Baker Peacock, Interim Managing Director, High Tech Law Institute
Sydney Yazzolino, 2L student
Santa Clara University School of Law
The Santa Clara University School of Law and the United States Patent Office (USPTO) are partnering on an ambitious diversity and inclusion study. We are taking a deep-dive to identify, understand, and provide actionable advice about the best practices for attracting and including diverse inventors in the invention and patenting process....
Mary Fuller, Founder and Principal of Fuller Tech Law, was
named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women
of Influence list for 2020.
Fuller
is honored along with leaders of corporations, startups, small businesses,
nonprofits, healthcare, education and community services. All of these honorees
came from outside nominations and were chosen by a panel of Business Journal
editors and past Women of Influence honorees.
“It’s
an understatement to say that 2020 is an incredibly challenging time in Silicon
Valley. What’s not an understatement is the recognition that this region has an
abundance...
Two weeks ago
you were furloughed from your job in San Francisco. You’re still on the company’s
health care plan—but are struggling to pay rent, and are worried that these
health benefits will vanish if your employer goes out of business.
During a Zoom
call with your friend in Milan, she tells you that the Italian government may issue “Immunity Certificates”
that would allow people who have recovered from COVID-19 (and are probably
immune from further infection) to return to work. You respond that the US reopening
plans, under current CDC guidance and California’s Roadmap, require employers...
Verona Dorch, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Peabody Energy, was recently interviewed by Kristin Calve of Corporate Counsel Business Journal. Dorch shared several strong messages that resonated with me personally, so much so that I wanted to highlight how they’ve been important in my practice and work with clients.
Influence Leadership
Like Dorch, I’m a strong believer in teams. She says, “I’m a strong believer in building a team of leaders. I like to give people the ability to lead, and I sometimes do it before they are ready.”
This describes how I sometimes...
NDAs (nondisclosure agreements) have become as common in Silicon Valley as Patagonia vests. You just can’t get into a meeting without one. Should you sign what’s presented to you to be polite and get the pitch or interview you covet? Not necessarily. Read the agreement and feel free to push back, even if it means rescheduling. Too many companies are offering wildly broad NDAs with serious implications that may deceptively disadvantage the recipient.
I just taught a Contracts section in the Entrepreneur’s Clinic at Santa Clara University School of Law, where I had the opportunity to...
One of my startup clients called me the other day. It was the CEO. He got right to the point.
“I’ve got a problem,” he said. “I owe you money, and we’ve run into some real financial problems. Here’s what we are doing to overcome it, and you are high on my list to be paid. If you want to stop working with us, I understand.”
Working with startups is an art. You need to know how to triage issues and control legal spend. Most importantly, you need to align your goals for them as a legal adviser with their goals for the company, and understand how to do so in an environment where resources...
