Software and Startups

The Software & Startups Group at Perkins Thompson guides software firms and startups worldwide. Our attorneys include software startup founders as well as veteran lawyers who have represented both investors and entrepreneurs. From venture-backed SaaS firms to solo founders, from Maine to Silicon Valley, we can help.

SERVICES PROVIDED

We represent software firms of all sizes, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, custom software development shops, DevOps consultants, I.T. services firms, Open-Source Software publishers, app developers, and solo founders – as well as employees and freelancers for all of the above. We can:

• Guide your Open-Source Software strategy.
• Write and negotiate your B2B and B2C customer-facing agreements (SaaS agreements, custom software agreements, API agreements, Terms of Use, EULAs).
• Advise you on Privacy/Data Protection/GDPR compliance.
• Develop your Reseller Program or Affiliate Sales program and negotiate with distributors and suppliers upstream and downstream from you.
• Handle your employee & freelancer hiring and termination matters.
• Guide you through your debt and equity fundraising, from a seed round to your Series D.
• Handle mergers and acquisitions.
• Prepare your employee stock option plan (ESOP) or other equity incentive offerings.

For early-stage startups, whether your product is tech, aquaculture, food/beverage, or anything else, we build the legal platform for your growth. At this stage, we can:

• Form your company (in Delaware or in your home state).
• Write and negotiate your customer agreements and Terms of Use.
• Guide your hiring of employees and independent contractors (freelancers).
• Advise you on trademark strategy and register your trademarks.
• Counsel you on intellectual property strategy and draft your licensing agreements.
• Help you secure funding from angel investors, friends and family, and venture capital firms.

For tech companies outside the United States, we can:

• Serve as your U.S.-based attorney for your deals with customers in all 50 U.S. states.
• Form your U.S. subsidiary and handle visa and immigration matters for your U.S. employees.
• Ensure your compliance with U.S. tax, advertising, intellectual property, and business laws.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Most recently, Perkins Thompson attorneys have:

• Restructured the Intellectual Property strategy and legal documents for a distributed multinational software firm, revising its Open-Source Software documentation, its managed service plans, and its commercial SaaS products.
• Guided a DevOps firm through more than thirty B2B negotiations.
• Helped a Turkish startup re-incorporate in the United States.
• Advocated for a Swiss software developer in negotiations with American Fortune 500 customers.
• Advised multiple seed-stage companies in multistate private securities offerings.
• Represented dozens of companies in Maine and nationwide in mergers and acquisitions.

MEETING YOUR LEGAL BUDGET

We work within your budget and offer flat fees where possible.  For trademark work, we offer these flat fees:

For responses to U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Actions and other trademark work, we charge hourly.

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