Creative and Inventive Contractors: What You Want to Know

Creative and Inventive Contractors: What you want to know before you sign on the dotted line. Whether you are signing a developers agreement or an independent contractors agreement there are some key topics you should be aware of and familiar with: how does a non-disclosure or non-compete work, what rights if any do I have in my creative works, should I use my own equipment, should I ask for equipment, what are my typical obligations after my task, and/or the entire project is completed. And when it comes to intellectual property who owns the creative rights, what other issues are there, and what counts as intellectual property. Andrew will discuss some of the typical legal ramifications related to these areas and help provide a base level of understanding of different issues that are typically over looked when accepting contract work.

Andrew is a partner and registered patent attorney with Lee & Hayes, an industry-leading intellectual property law firm consistently recognized as one of the nation’s highest-quality IP law firms in the United States. Andrew primarily assists clients with the development of strategic intellectual property portfolios. Andrew is well versed in both patent and trademark law and regularly counsels clients on patent and trademark licensing matters. Andrew also has experience representing clients regarding portfolio negotiations and sales.

Andrew particularly enjoys assisting startups with the development assets directly related to business growth and development. After years of working as General Counsel for an Austin based medical startup, Andrew is able to provide his clients with unique insights and knowledge regarding the legal challenges and benefits of building and maintaining intellectual property in a startup environment.

In addition to his work as an attorney, Andrew is a named inventor on three issued patents 8,565,458, 8,582,790, and 8,611,570 and published patent applications 20130177188. Andrew has been featured on the struggling entrepreneur and as a judge for the Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition. Andrew has also been invited to speak for organizations and events including: SXSW V2V, Innovation Week Austin, TeamNFP, BOSS-Talks Tech., the Business Success Center, and Austin Inventors and Entrepreneur Association.