The upside and downside of intellectual property.
Yahoo!, once a leading tech company valued at $125 billion, was acquired by Verizon for $4.8 billion. The media’s coverage of the deal was not kind:
* Verizon to End Yahoo Survival Fight With $4.8 Billion Deal (2016-07-24)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-24/verizon-said-to-announce-4-8-billion-deal-to-buy-yahoo-tomorrow
* Yahoo Dies at 22 (2016-07-25)
“An obituary for nobody’s favorite tech company.”
https://theringer.com/yahoo-dies-at-22-e38e06abcf9b
* Yahoo 1996 – 2016 (2016-07-25)
“Yahoo, once valued at over $125 billion, created an iconic brand that ruled the Internet in its early days. But over the past two decades, Yahoo has been outrun by Google and Facebook, and it is now selling itself to Verizon. Follow the acquisitions, CEO switches and strategy changes that led to Yahoo’s rapid rise and long stock-market decline.”
http://graphics.wsj.com/yahoo-stock-history/
Yahoo! (which became a client in 2007 after acquiring Clocktower Law client Right Media) ceased being a client in 2015. Interestingly, at least two other Clocktower Law clients have been acquired by Verizon (Inceptor in 2006, CloudSwitch in 2011).
Clocktower Law, however, doesn’t practice a lot of what we call the “downside” of intellectual property law (e.g. M&A, bankruptcy, litigation), preferring instead to focus on the “upside” (patent and trademark filing, prosecution, and renewals).
Speaking of the upside of IP:
* Do Apple Trademarks Reveal What It’s About To Launch? (2016-09-06)
Answer: yes.
Bonus point: the answer to headline questions is almost always yes.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160906/00375635442/do-apple-trademarks-reveal-what-about-to-launch.shtml
Finally, I’m working on a fun project this school year. Check it out:
* What’s The Goal Of The ‘Year Of Disruption’ Project? (2016-09-06)
http://web.archive.org/*/www.yearofdisruption.com/76.html
P.S. Go Red Sox!
17 Seconds is a publication for clients and other VIPs of Clocktower Law. Email version powered by MailChimp and the beat of a different keyboard player.
