Here is one of those convergence points where business law and
privacy law intersect and effectuate additional administrative
duties on the business holder. In a rather interesting
bulletin, the Connecticut Department of Insurance issued a
directive on August 18, 2010, requiring "that all licensees and
registrants of the Department notify the Department of any
information security incident which affects any Connecticut
residents as soon as the incident is identified, but no later than
five (5)...
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Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP
here, this time with a probate law update. The Court of Appeals of
Indiana decided an issue of first impression yesterday in an
Indiana probate litigation matter. The case was Avery v.
Avery, --- N.E.2d ---, cause no. 49A05-1004-PL-320 (Ind. Ct.
App. Sept. 7, 2010). In short, the Court concluded that an
answer is required in a will contest. A
copy of that published opinion may be found here.
The facts relevant to the issue on...
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Today I am preparing for a guest lecture at Purdue University's
Discovery Park this week on developing business plans and my
experience as an entrepreneur. I read a lot of business plans
- about 100 per year, and I also help draft business plans and pro
formas for business law clients and my own companies.
Here are some general guidelines to consider when developing a
business plan:
1.
Write to the intended
audience. Is the reader the leadership team or
potential investors? If to...
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Another
post that doesn't quite fit neatly into Indiana Internet litigation
or privacy law, but that intrigues me. BusinessWeek, passing
along a Tim Greene article from NetworkWorld (found here:
www.networkworld.com/nwlookup.jsp),
is reporting that the U.S. military has issued an essay in which it
urges its expertise in defense be put to use in protecting civilian
networked infrastructure, such as power grids, financial
institutions, etc. The essay from Foreign Affairs sets out
the concept...
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I don't often blanket repost other blogs that I see, however, in
this instance, I think it is appropriate. Venkat, writing for
Professor Goldman's blog, writes an excellent analysis of the
recent ruling in the
In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation(S.D. Cal. August 13, 2010). This is a very interesting case
in that it covers several different, more traditional causes of
action and analysis. I'm interested to see what ramification
this case is going to have on SaaS law and privacy
litigation....
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Back in October, 2009, I posted about the new endorsement /
testimonial rules set out by the Federal Trad Commission (
blog.alerdingcastor.com/blog/alerding-castor/0/0/ftc-makes-changes-to-blog-law).
There has been some development since that time, but mostly
everyone is still watching and waiting. The FTC did
threaten to pursue Ann Taylor back in April, but otherwise, it has
been relatively silent.
That is, however, until now. On August 26, 2010, the FTC
reached a settlement with Reverb...
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One of my favorite aspects of building a business law / private
equity firm is seeing clients set and reach business goals.
Many clients face complicated issues that need careful legal
analysis and creative planning. Unfortuantely, most attorneys
focus on the problems with the complicated deals and have trouble
finding creative ways to navigate the legal minefield.
Alerding Castor Hewitt takes a unique approach on business law in
that we consider ourselves "deal makers" rather than what...
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Gather 'round kids, this one is interesting. The decision
actually came out in May, 2010, and I regret that I haven't had a
chance to blog on it until now, but it is still a very interesting
order that should have implications to privacy litigation, and
litigation in general. In EEOC v. Simply Storage Management,
LLC, Docket No. 09-CV-01223, the Southern District of Indiana was
faced with the issue of discovery of social networking profiles of
two individuals that claimed sexual harrassment by...
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It’s not often that we at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP run into
issues regarding the payment of commissions for our business law,
SaaS law, and Indiana technology clients. When the subject does arise, however, it usually
occurs when an employee separates from employment and makes a wage
claim for unpaid commissions. The
debate about whether the commissions are wages centers on whether
the employee was entitled to the commission at the time of sale OR
when the client pays for the product,...
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Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP
here with an issue for those of you who, from time to time, might
find yourselves embroiled in collections litigation over business
law, SaaS law, or technology law matters. How often have you seen a debtor issue a check for
payment and include on the memo line words to the effect of “as
full satisfaction of claim,” “final payment in full of debt,” or
some similar words despite the fact that the debtor owes you more
than the...
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2010
Contact: Lainey Scheetz
317.403.9012
lscheetz@alerdingcastor.com
ALERDING CASTOR HEWITT, LLP CLIENT NAMED 10TH FASTEST GROWING
PRIVATE COMPANY IN INDIANA FOR THIRD TIME
Indianapolis, IN – Iasta, the leading provider of eSourcing
software and solutions, was titled as the 10th Fastest Growing
Private Company in Indiana for 2010 by the Indianapolis Business
Journal (IBJ). A third time honoree, Iasta boosted its
three-year growth rate at 134 percent.
The report...
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I read a Guy Kawasaki blog post this week where he walked through
six reasons why an abundance of capital can hurt an early stage
business. In my entreprenurial law / funding law practice I
work with a lot of business owners through capital strategies and
the private equity processes. Honestly, the drafting of a
private placement memorandum is the easy part of my practice.
The hard part is creating the proper capital structure for
the long term growth and success and reaching investors who...
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This one is a fun little piece of pseudo-software litigation.
The basic facts are that Facebook and its majority stockholder Mark
Zuckerberg have been sued by Paul D. Ceglia, who claims 84%
ownership in the website juggernaut. The part of this story
that has been clogging the Net is that a state court judge in
New York actually issued a temporary restraining order ("TRO")
prohibiting Zuckerberg and Facebook, Inc. from disposing or
selling any of its assets. This has produced the...
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Your friendly neighborhood technology counsel here: A couple
of recent state court decisions are going to start personal injury
attorneys frothing at the mouth, and might render some sleepless
nights for defense attorneys. Both Ohio and Florida recently
issued opinions in which they applied their state's respective
long-arm statutes to garner personal jurisdiction over an
out-of-state resident for tortious conduct that transpired over the
Internet.
First, you need to know what a long-arm...
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Today
is an exciting day for Indianapolis with the establishment of a
brand new local eatery called "
Pure" located in
Fountain Square at 1043 Virginia Avenue.
Working with the business owners through Indiana entrepreneurial
law, I checked in to see what the place had to offer this
afternoon. I couldn't be more excited about the fresh flavors
and the funky atmosphere. With original artwork and high
ceilings, it has a Chicago vibe with a menu focused on
fresh
honest food. Perfect.
Today I chose...
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I read around 2 new business plans per week – about 100 per
year. Some private equity investors I know read upwards of 10
per week – or about 500 per year. When you are reviewing that
many of anything, you get impatient. That is why I encourage
business owners writing plans for private equity investors or angel
investor groups to be succinct.
Get to the point. What does your company do? What pain
are you solving in the market? How will you do that at a
profit?
Business summaries should...
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2010 continues to prove successful for many of our clients.
In the area of business law and private equity we continue to see
many of our clients receive funding and meet their capital
goals. That is exciting. We are up to 9 clients that
have done so this calendar year.
We have several other clients who are still pursuing capital under
a Red D exemption / private placement offering. We are very
cautious about who we take on as clients, and I am hopeful that
each will be funded in full soon.
I...
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Some B2B business models do well in targeting early stage customers
(e.g., less than $5MM revenue) but have trouble scaling with
customers as they grow. Other B2B models cannot hit a price
point for early stage customers and must target customers at later
business stages.
I recently saw a business model that concerned me on this
point. The SaaS application in the model was not cost
effective for early stage customers – there are market alternatives
that are offered for free that do just about...
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If you are a founder of an emerging company looking to do your
first capital raise, consider talking to angel investors BEFORE
having your private equity attorney draft the organizational and
exempt securities documents for your private placement
offering. I meet a lot of business owners at this stage who
make guesses as to what investors are looking for and what the
market will bear. What pre-money valuation should we use?
What preferences (if any) should we include in the private
placement...
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Your
friendly neighborhood technology counsel here: As you likely
know, my goal is to become THE Indiana technology lawyer;
however, technology is not my only area of interest. Like
many of the folks at Alerding Castor Hewitt, technology law
is a passion, but we all strive to be a full service law firm for
all businesses. Thus, in addition to tech stuff, I also
litigate matters for several banking and business clients.
And, as any good lawyer does, when I see changes in the law
that may...
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