Initially, I will state for the record the apologies of your
friendly, neighborhood Indiana Technology Lawyer for not posting a
blog in a while. I know that you, my loyal readers, have been
waiting with bated breath in the hope that I would again grace
cyberspace with my knowledge and wit. And, alas, I have
failed to deliver. In my defense, this little technology law
firm has been experiencing exponential growth and prosperity, which
has dictated more work for yours truly. But, that is...
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I don't often re-post articles in full glory, but I couldn't resist
with this one. This is a great article from the OMMA (a
magazine of online media, marketing & advertising).
There are some great quotes from quite a few movers and
shakers in the Indiana technology area. As a technology legal
counsel located in Indianapolis, it warms my heart to see this kind
of great press for the area. Personally, I think all
technology firms should move or open offices here.
Big hat-tip to Jay Baer for...
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Once again, Alerding Castor Hewitt sent at team to participate in
the
O'Reilly's Irish Bar &
Restaurant golf scramble, benefitting
The Alliance for
Responsible Pet Ownership.
On Monday, June 20th, Team ACH assembled a crack team of two
litigators, the client relations manager, and our Butler intern -
who just happens to also be on the
Butler Women's Golf Team - for an fantastic day out of the
business law office and onto the links.

Maribeth, Meg, Scott, and Chris

Ready to get our Rory McIlroy...
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"A champion is someone who is ready when the gong rings - not just
before, not just after - but when it rings."
-Jack Dempsey

Tooting your own horn, ringing your own bell...We've decided to
bang our own gong.
Welcome the newest fixture to the Alerding Castor Hewitt office,
the official New Client/Wrapped Mediation Gong.
The litigation and transaction teams didn't have a celebration
worthy of new business, so partner Michael Alerding came to me with
the idea to buy a ship's bell to ring for each...
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There is a new Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals opinion that is likely to have a significant impact on SaaS
providers. In Digitech Computers,
Inc. v. Trans-Care, Inc. (link
here), the 7th Circuit focuses on a SaaS agreement
for Digitech to provide certain management software licensing
components for Trans-Care (an ambulance and medical transportation
service). The Court ultimately upheld a
breach of contract claim in favor of Digitech, significantly
reduced Digitech’s damages award, and...
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On
Friday, May 6th,
Slingshot SEO announced in a
meeting with Governor Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg
Ballard that the company will create up to 114 new jobs by 2013.
As one of Alerding Castor Hewitt's most beloved clients, we
could not be more thrilled to see how far the search engine
optimization firm has come since its 2006 founding.
In just three short years, Slingshot has seen a dramatic increase
in employees from 9 to its current 65, and the compan

y
plans to invest upwards of...
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The Alerding Castor Hewitt faithful braved the chill and the rain
of Saturday, April 16th to participate in the 2011
Susan G. Komen
Race for the Cure. We're proud to announce that the team
surpassed its goal of raising $1000 to assist the Komen
Foundation's mission to end breast cancer forever and had a
fantastic time walking in downtown Indianapolis.
We'd like to send a big 'Thanks!' to those who donated to the
team's efforts and share a special 'Way to go!' with the team
members, along with...
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The end is finally nigh for the ongoing litigation roller coaster
that is the Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg v. Cameron and Tyler
Winklevoss saga. This has always been an interesting piece of
software litigation based upon (a) the personalities involved and
(b) the scale. It is safe to say that when you are one of the
fastest growing companies in the country, you are going to face
litigation. In fact, that's why you call me. And it is
equally logical that when you are creating a website or working...
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I know there will be an "official" congratulatory press release in
the near future, but I thought I'd take a moment to congratulate
the Alerding Castor Hewitt partners on being included in the 2011
Indiana Super Lawyers.
Brian Hewitt received the nod as one of the Top 50 Super
Lawyers in the state. This is, of course, a recurring honor
for Brian, who has been a Super Lawyer for the past several
years. Brian's practice focus is on business and probate
litigation and mediation.
The voters...
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I have said it a million times since learning the lesson myself in
a failed entrepreneurial effort a couple of years ago, the CEO of
any entrepreneurial venture must understand the importance of
managing cash flows and how to use cash flow analysis for the
strategic growth of the company.
Trust me, I am all into the Six Sigma approach of throwing a couple
of innovators together, rolling out a v1 product as quickly as
possible, and slowly scaling the company from hobby phase to a
successful...
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The first caveat is that I'm sorry I haven't posted anything
recently. Work here at Alerding Castor Hewitt has been going
like gangbusters and yours truly has been up to his distinguished
eyeballs in work. Trust me, however, I'm now dutifully
committing myself to continue providing insight and humor as your
Indiana Internet Litigation guru.
Second caveat is that this post actually has nothing to do with
privacy litigation, software litigation or really any other
technology law issues. ...
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Indianapolis, IN – Mike Alerding, founding partner of Alerding
Castor Hewitt LLP, is slated to teach Business Law at Harrison
College this spring. The course combines the understanding of
legal theory with the acquaintance of the various forms of
contracts. Students will be taught the essentials of the
legal environment of business, tort law, contracts, commercial
transactions, government relations and property.
“I am teaching because I enjoy the process of observing the
improvement and...
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Your friendly neighborhood litigation attorney at Alerding Castor
Hewitt, LLP with a final post for the year to all of our business,
Indiana internet litigation, and technology law
clients. Saturday, December
25th will no doubt be a date of celebration in many
homes. As you spend time with your
family, remember how special the day is and all of the changes that
have taken place in the last 20 years.
Some of you might wonder what I mean exactly. I’m not referring to Christmas. And for those...
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I hope that you all had a thankful and fulfilling turkey day.
Your friendly neighborhood technology legal counsel stuffed
himself horrendously. But, I digress. I know that I owe
you all part 2 of my discussion of the legal landscape of corporate
blogging, and I promise that I will get that posted in the near
future, but two recent opinions in some non-Indiana Internet
litigation piqued my interest and I had to talk about them.
Both rulings involve application of the liability...
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It has been said a million times already on this blog – a CEO,
especially one which is seeking funds from private equity
investors, needs to understand finance. Often a basic
knowledge of sources and uses and cash flow analysis is enough, but
in many early stage investment rounds, savvy investors expect the
CEO to know the company's internal rate of return (IRR) - and
why it matters.
I meet many entrepreneurs who have served as VPs or middle managers
before embarking on their entrepreneurial...
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“What are you doing with my money?” No, it’s not your mom or
dad asking or your friend you lost a bet to on a college football
game – it’s your potential investor and they’re asking one of the
most fundamental questions in a capital raise. Why?
Because you forgot to answer it ahead of time! You’re not
alone, though, too often a sources and uses statement is
overlooked. Many entrepreneurs simply rely on the financials,
general statements in the text of the business plan or...
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Here at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP, one thing that we are called
upon to do as business law, SaaS law, and technology counsel for
our clients is collect on a judgment. I
have previously posted on other topics in the collections world,
which you can find here and here. Today’s topic
is in answer to the question we sometimes get: how long is my judgment good for?
A decision today by the Indiana Court of Appeals in the estate case
of In the Matter of the Unsupervised Estate of
Dwight M. Wilson...
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I can read your mind. You are thinking, "oh, great and
insightful technology legal counsel, what do you mean by a 'legal
landscape' and what does that have to do with blogging?" My
initial response is that, (a) you've asked two questions and (b) if
you plan to use blogging as a component of your business model, you
need to know what potential pitfalls exist. That is the legal
landscape of blogging. It is made up of the hills and valleys
that must be overcome or avoided to reach blogging...
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Thanks to the wonderful folks over at Compendium Blogware, I
presented a fun webinar last week on the Legal Landscape of
Corporate Blogging. Don't fret, dear reader; I intend
to put together several posts over the weekend that hit the
highlights of my presentation. Overall, I discussed topics
like privacy litigation, copyright, defamation, Section 230
protections, etc. The fun stuff of blogging.
One area that I discussed and have had several questions about is
Creative Commons. For those of...
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I know that you are expecting witty and poignant analysis
of some new and exciting aspect of technology and / or privacy
litigation, but that's not really the point of this
post. Rather, the impetus of this concoction of literary
excellence is a realization that I had regarding social
media. In the last two weeks I have experienced the following
(all on a large social media site that shall remain nameless but
that has a movie): (1) received birthday announcements and
pictures of my niece in...
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