Free eBook about:

ICO LAWS AND COMPLIANCE

ICO Regulations and Legal Framework

Blockchain Law

Legal Aspects of Cryptocurrency and ICO

Initial Coin Offering

Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and Cryptocurrencies are attracting investors at an exciting pace, whereas regulatory aspects of ICO and cryptocurrency present major challenges across various nations. This write-up is aimed at discussing legal, tax, accounting, know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and business due diligence aspects for the FinTech (Financial Technology) sector, with a special focus on ICO and Cryptocurrencies.

Subscribe to Our Exclusive List

Download the eBook here.

[slideshare id=104505338&doc=icolawsandcompliance-180706083457&type=d]

Global Blockchain Lawyers are also required to draft legal documents (agreements and contracts) for the sale of ICO tokens and coins, including website terms, privacy policy, terms of use, ICO Private Placement Offering Document, pre-Crowd Token Offer (Pre ICO), Crowd Token Offer Agreement (ICO), in addition to writing ICO legal opinion letters.

Global Blockchain Lawyers (www.GlobalBlockchainLawyers.com) is a digital platform to discuss legal issues, latest technology and legal developments, and applicable laws in the dynamic field of Digital Currency, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and raising capital through the sale of tokens or coins (ICO or Initial Coin Offerings).

Blockchain ecosystem in India is evolving at a rapid pace and a proactive legal approach is required by blockchain lawyers in India to understand the complex nature of applicable laws and regulations.

Software Patent FAQs:

• How are software patents granted in India?
• Does Indian patent law allow software patents?
• How to apply for software patent in India?
• How to patent a software in India?
• How to patent a mobile application in India?
• What are the examples of software patents in India?

How to Patent an Idea

General Patent FAQs:

• What is a Provisional Patent Application?
• What are advantages of Filing a Provisional Patent Application?
• How can Patent Search help in determining Patentability of Invention?
• What is the meaning of Patent Pending Status?

Journey of my blog from LinkedIn to 30+ news portals

Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter

Flagship Speaking Engagements

Patent Forum (Munich, Germany) | News Channels | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | ASSOCHAM | FICCI | Brand Licensing India | BioEnergy International

Featured Publications

Economic Times | The Hindu | BioSpectrum | International Bar Association | LawAsia | SwissInfo | Global Legal Post | HT Live Mint | Outlook Money

 

Considering an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) requires expert legal strategy due to the dynamic nature of applicable laws, including, securities, taxation, corporate structure and agreements. An ICO is also considered as a Token Generation Event (TGE), which refers to a novel way to raise capital by issuing crypto tokens. Companies issuing tokens or coins via ICO generally structure the offering in a manner such that the tokens or coins are linked to a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain or similar platform.

Subscribe to Our Exclusive List

Resources:

• Free eBook: ICO LAWS AND COMPLIANCE – ICO Regulations and Legal Framework – Legal Aspects of Cryptocurrency and ICO

In essence, the tokens or the coins are issued as a right to use the technology that is being funded by the ICO. It would be apt to compare an ICO with an Initial Public Offering (IPO), wherein shares of a company are issued to the investors. It is a common belief that tokens or coins issued by way of ICO are equivalent of securities, whereas mostly they are different from securities, and hence, it is important for companies to highlight such difference to their investors and token buyers. Since the tokens or coins do not represent equity shares of the company, issuing these during ICO shall not affect or dilute the equity of the founders.

ICO Structuring – Blockchain Law

A crucial strategy to structure ICO involves having separate legal entities to issue the tokens or coins and to operate the business. This can ensure minimum legal liabilities and further allow the founders to have flexibility to opt for desired legal structures for both the entities. For example, ICO can be executed using a trust or a foundation, whereas operating entity can be a private limited company capable of issuing equity shares to the founders and investors. In addition, it may be more advantageous to incorporate both the entities in different jurisdictions to avail the advantages of local laws and regulations. For example, ICO operating entity can be incorporated in any of the jurisdiction selected from, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man etc.

Blockchain and ICO – Role of Lawyers

Legal aspects of Blockchain and ICO are crucial for business consideration due the dynamically changing nature of this field. Beginning from ICO legal opinions to ICO structuring, to legal entity incorporation, and further including international legal compliance, ICO lawyers and Blockchain attorneys always work on the edge to assist their clients.

Technology lawyers and law firms that are required to review legal aspects of Blockchain and ICO focus primarily on laws applicable to a business that is on the verge of implementing a Blockchain technology for business operations. This legal analysis also includes determining the best jurisdiction to incorporate legal entity, obtain the required licenses and permits, ensure local and international legal compliance (KYC and AML compliance) etc.

For issuance of coins or tokens during the ICO, lawyers assist clients by reviewing and auditing the ICO legal structure, application of the Howey Test, Family Resemblance Test, Risk Capital Test etc. Additional services include review and audit of the ICO White Paper to ensure compliance with domestic and international laws.

Global Blockchain Lawyers are also required to draft legal documents (agreements and contracts) for the sale of ICO tokens and coins, including website terms, privacy policy, terms of use, ICO Private Placement Offering Document, pre-Crowd Token Offer (Pre ICO), Crowd Token Offer Agreement (ICO), in addition to writing ICO legal opinion letters.

Global Blockchain Lawyers (www.GlobalBlockchainLawyers.com) is a digital platform to discuss legal issues, latest technology and legal developments, and applicable laws in the dynamic field of Digital Currency, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and raising capital through the sale of tokens or coins (ICO or Initial Coin Offerings).

Blockchain ecosystem in India is evolving at a rapid pace and a proactive legal approach is required by blockchain lawyers in India to understand the complex nature of applicable laws and regulations.

Software Patent FAQs:

• How are software patents granted in India?
• Does Indian patent law allow software patents?
• How to apply for software patent in India?
• How to patent a software in India?
• How to patent a mobile application in India?
• What are the examples of software patents in India?

How to Patent an Idea

General Patent FAQs:

• What is a Provisional Patent Application?
• What are advantages of Filing a Provisional Patent Application?
• How can Patent Search help in determining Patentability of Invention?
• What is the meaning of Patent Pending Status?

Journey of my blog from LinkedIn to 30+ news portals

Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at rd (at) patentbusinesslawyer (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter

Flagship Speaking Engagements

Patent Forum (Munich, Germany) | News Channels | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | ASSOCHAM | FICCI | Brand Licensing India | BioEnergy International

Featured Publications

Economic Times | The Hindu | BioSpectrum | International Bar Association | LawAsia | SwissInfo | Global Legal Post | HT Live Mint | Outlook Money

Summary:

Inventors and small business owners have always found the patent strategy a complicated maze for navigation, and patent attorney Rahul Dev has recently launched an innovative intellectual property creation program to address such needs. Not only this program is cost-effective, his decade long experience as patent attorney and technology business lawyer has proven to be an invaluable asset during development of this program aimed at innovative companies worldwide.

Rahul Dev, patent attorney and corporate lawyer, has launched a new small business program, called ITPAS (Ideas to Patents and Strategy), which will seek to expedite the process of creating valuable patents with a view to add value to a company’s intangible assets. The idea is to get global inventors and innovative business owners to define the title and ownership of creative business models, which can further be patented across multiple jurisdictions (US, Europe, Asia Pacific), subject to the patent eligibility criteria.

This would mean lesser chances of disputes between Startup CoFounders in cases one or more founders decide to leave the venture midway. ITPAS would create a means to sidestep the often long and complicated process of defining and claiming intellectual property ownership.

“It is a strategic patent creation program intended to really eliminate the friction of the possible conflicts relating to patent ownership,” explained Patent Attorney Rahul Dev in an interview. “So the typical patent process for small businesses and individual inventors is challenging, exact patent scope and rights of ownership are difficult to identify for both clients and patent lawyers. Clients tend to start out really high believing their innovative products will disrupt the market and patent lawyers tend to start out really low citing complicated procedure to obtain patent rights, and negotiations can take months instead of weeks.”

Dev further explained, “So what this program really does is instead of filing full-fledged patent applications right away, clients are counselled to first define their inventions in a proprietary format provided to them, which is subsequently vetted to determine the most valuable and innovative features. Thereafter, such features are protected by way of an initial level IP protection, including provisional patent applications, copyrights, trademarks and design patents. This helps in saving costs and in certain cases, strong contracts and agreements are drafted to ensure protection via trade secret.”

“Future plans include actively growing the patent consulting portfolio,” Dev said. It is part of the broader efforts to grow the patent consulting practice beyond Asia growing forward and expand the business in US and Europe.” In past, Rahul Dev has handled multiple issues regarding false defamation on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter), and while this isn’t directly related, you can likely bet his experience in getting defamatory content removed promptly by closely communicating with legal cells of tech companies is helping this aggressive new IP creation strategy.

Media coverage: 247 News, DNews, Daily News Tech, New York Time Magazine, PR Press, Daily Media, PR Wire

Internet of Things (IoT) Patent Attorney: Software Patent FAQs:

• How are software patents granted in India?
• Does Indian patent law allow software patents?
• How to apply for software patent in India?
• How to patent a software in India?
• How to patent a mobile application in India?
• What are the examples of software patents in India?

General Patent FAQs:

• What is a Provisional Patent Application?
• What are advantages of Filing a Provisional Patent Application?
• How can Patent Search help in determining Patentability of Invention?
• What is the meaning of Patent Pending Status?

Rahul Dev is a IoT Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at info (at) techcorplegal (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter

Flagship Speaking Engagements

Patent Forum (Munich, Germany) | News Channels | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | ASSOCHAM | FICCI | Brand Licensing India | BioEnergy International

Featured Publications

Economic Times | BioSpectrum | International Bar Association | LawAsia | SwissInfo | Global Legal Post | HT Live Mint | Outlook Money

Tech Corp Legal – Indian Law Firm

Tech Corp Legal LLP is an international law firm specialised in business and technology law providing patent drafting (software patent drafting, mobile app patent drafting, patent drafting for computer related inventions), searching, filing and PCT national phase services along with trademark and other aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in addition to corporate law practice governing cross-border M&A transactions, technology licensing, agreements and contracts.

Not every layoff is legal and during tough times, businesses need to take difficult decision of letting their employees go with a view to target larger business goals.

Originally published here.

Do Startups Deserve Special Treatment? Why Do Startups Take Employees For Granted? Act Responsibly If You Are A CEO – Respect Employee’s Legal Rights

However, termination of employees without justification is illegal and employees should always enforce their basic and legal rights.

Off late, startups have been in news for disputes among cofounders or termination of employees without reasonable cause.

Steps to be taken in case of Employment Termination

Unpaid Salary

Sometimes startups and companies terminate the employment of employees without giving notice period or without following proper procedures. In such cases, first step should be to determine what amount of money is unpaid, i.e. calculating salary dues are extremely important as employer is liable to pay full salary corresponding to applicable working days.

Variable Component

Employment contracts and agreements usually comprise variable component in addition to fixed salary compensation. Once unpaid salary is determined, next step would be to calculate exact variable component payable to the employee by the employer. In cases where exact calculations are not possible, approximate amount can also suffice. But startups and employers have no right to withhold such unpaid salary component, be it fixed or variable.

Equity

It is common for cofounders and early stage employees to be allotted or promised equity by startups. If that is the case and employment is terminated, it can get tricky to calculate the amount of equity component payable to the terminated employees.

Severance and Unemployment Benefits

Based on terms of employment and local laws, the terminated employees may deserve severance and unemployment benefits. Such benefits usually ensure employees who have been terminated can transition to the next employment smoothly.

Legal Advice – Hiring Employment Lawyer

In case terminated employees don’t get deserved compensation, it is advisable to engage an employment lawyer. In addition, executing cofounders agreement and employment contract is crucial for startups and early stage companies to ensure smooth business operations.

Startup Laws – Legal Considerations for Startups

Determine Nature of Business

Before identifying relevant laws and legal provisions applicable to a startup, it is advisable to determine exact nature of business. This is usually done by following 2 step process, wherein 1^st step includes determining the general category of business, i.e. Software/IT, Manufacturing, Sales, Services, Marketing etc.

Subsequently, sub-categories of business should be determined, such as, for example, SaaS (Software as a Service), Mobile Application, Marketplace business, on-demand services etc. Once done, this can help in determining required steps to ensure complete legal compliance for startups.

Deciding Relevant Business Structure

Prior to incorporating a company, it is crucial to determine appropriate legal entity to suffice the exact needs of business. Under Indian laws, startups can select appropriate legal entity by selecting between a private limited company (pvt. Ltd.), one person company (OPC), limited liability partnership (LLP), conventional partnership firm, subsidiary of a foreign company etc.

In case of private limited company, it is advisable to select right amount of paid up capital depending upon priorities of the shareholders (stockholders or promoters or cofounders). Once corporate structure is in place, startups can engage company secretary (CS) and chartered accountants (CAs) for managing regulatory compliance, accounting, book keeping, taxation, including filing of income tax (IT) returns, service tax returns, sales tax returns, professional tax returns etc. Prior to that, startups also need to register their business for tax registrations, including service tax, sales tax, import export license (IEC), VAT etc.

CoFounders Agreement

Structuring equity among cofounders requires drafting of shareholders agreement (SHA) including crucial provisions relating to equity distribution, vesting of shares, lock-in period, voluntary exit of cofounders (shareholders), termination of cofounders (shareholders), rights and responsibilities, investments by cofounders, and the like.

With a view to comply with the legal provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, it is strongly advisable to ensure the incorporation documents of the company (MoA, AOA) are in strict synchronization with the shareholders agreement (SHA).

Startup Growth – Scaling the Business

Every startup aims to reach growth phase quickly and hiring employees form an important step to achieve such growth. While hiring employees, it is extremely important to execute appropriate employment contracts. Companies are also required to ensure labor law compliance and strict enforcement of “Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy”.

In addition, business growth also includes appropriate IP protection, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial design etc. In case of digital startups embodied as websites and mobile applications, drafting and publishing website terms and conditions, mobile app terms, privacy policy, user agreements, vendor agreements are equally important.

Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at info (at) techcorplegal (dot) com &@rdpatentlawyer on Twitter