Technology Enterprises

Strategic Alliances

We assist with all sorts of strategic alliances, including joint ventures, insourcing, outsourcing, development agreements, technology transfers, mergers and acquisitions. Our extensive background allows us to offer business and negotiation strategies that are designed to produce enduring relationships.

Financing

We also advise on the merits of private placements from family and friends to venture capitalists and on the corporate law that governs these relationships. Our advice will include shareholder agreements, stock option plans, tax advice to the company and the principal shareholders. We can assist you with your initial public offering. We have extensive experience dealing with all Canadian stock exchanges, the New York and NASDAQ stock.

Intellectual Property Protection

We can assist your company with strategic planning for all stages of technology. Without intellectual property protection, the technology may have short lived value. We will work with you to develop your protection strategies; we will participate with you in determining what protections give the best return for the money and effort invested.

Intellectual Capital Management

With you, we will focus on all your intellectual capital that may influence the value of your technology, including relations with your employees, customers, service or product providers, and distributors. We not only help clients protect, commercialize and manage their intellectual property assets throughout the world, but also we assist them to develop practical intellectual capital management policies tailored to their specific business needs.

Intellectual Property/Capital Audits

Our intellectual property or capital audits will reduce risks from your technology being owned by someone else or be limited otherwise from full exploitation by you. Investors and other strategic partners will be more receptive to establishing relationships with you when they become aware that you have undergone the discipline of one of our audits.

Privacy Policies and Issues

We are experienced in a broad range of privacy issues, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Canada's private sector privacy legislation, which regulates the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. We advise clients on the scope, application and implementation of the Act, conduct audits of current privacy practices and work with them to develop compliance programs, including corporate privacy policies.

e-Commerce

We also have extensive experience on matters related to business on the Internet and e-Commerce. Areas of expertise include:

application server provider agreements
domain name protection, management and infringement
on-line stores and other on-line distribution
on-line licensing – webwraps, clickwrap
ISP liability
entire range of website use and development agreements
security, encryption, and digital signatures, certification authorities and related agreements and policies

Communications

Macleod Dixon advises clients regarding the requirements of the Telecommunications Act; proceedings before the CRTC; interconnection of carriers; facilities leases; complex service and network outsourcing arrangements; product development; rights-of-way access and technical and marketing joint ventures.

Continuing Education

Members of the Technology Enterprise practice group actively participate in local, regional and international professional and user groups. Presentations recently made by members of the group have covered topics such as valuing technology; software licensing issues; electronic commerce; digital signatures; private key recovery systems; certification authorities; and warranties in the digital age. We wrote the leading text on technology transfer and licensing and we regularly attend conferences either as speakers or participants to maintain our leading edge in this area.

We are committed to communicating with our clients in the plainest language possible. We believe that it is necessary for us to work as a member of our clients’ team so that together we can build innovative solutions with lasting value in this very rapidly changing and technical field.