Information Technology, Software Licensing and Intellectual Property Services:

For software developers or businesses planning to license or purchase software, hire consultants, or buy or sell computer hardware, Mr. Wiemerslage's substantial experience in these areas will help companies succeed in their goals of creating contracts to protect their interests, while finding the reasonable compromises that should get the deal closed in a timely fashion.  He is very proficient with the I. T. purchasing and licensing process, from drafting requests for proposals ("RFP") to drafting and negotiating the final contracts and advising on their implementation. Inventors with a patent need to license or sell their rights to their invention to make money; software developers may need to license their work; and corporations need to negotiate when purchasing software and other licenses.  Mr. Wiemerslage can also assist with copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. Mr. Wiemerslage can provide great assistance in all these areas in drafting and negotiating licenses or sales agreements and intellectual property rights.

Experience in Information Technology and Software Licensing:

Mr. Wiemerslage has more than 30 years experience in drafting and negotiating agreements, including very substantial legal experience in the Information Technology field, having negotiated multimillion dollar contracts with companies such as SAP, Dell, IBM, HP, Microsoft, etc. on behalf of his former employer, Marathon Oil Company, a Fortune 100 company for whom he was employed 13 years before leaving and setting up his own law practice in Colorado. These responsibilities included being the attorney on: purchase of 12,000 PCs through web-based reverse auction with subsequent negotiations, greater than $50 million mainframe and distributed server outsourcing contract, and $1/2 billion SAP implementation project.  He has drafted and negotiated contracts related to: software licensing, software development and marketing, hardware purchases and leasing, requests for proposals, professional consulting contracts, strategic alliances, outsourcing, telecommunications, internet contracts and non-disclosure agreements.  He has made numerous presentations to the public and to corporate management and employees. See below.

Intellectual Property

Mr. Wiemerslage provides legal services in the intellectual property areas of copyrights and trademarks and trade secrets. 

Copyrights.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by federal law to the authors of "original works of authorship", including source code of software and derivatives of the source code. This is especially important to software developers who write code for their customers, and for customers if they are intending to get ownership of the software code, often an overlooked issue by the customer in software development contracts. If you own the copyright, you have certain exclusive economic rights to the copyrighted work. Mr. Wiemerslage can advise on how to maximize your protection under federal law, including recovery of attorney fees and damages when someone infringes upon your copyrighted material.

Trademarks.

Trademarks are used to permit consumers to identify the source of goods and services. The purpose of trademark law is to help consumers to be able to rely on the trademarks by prohibiting competitors from using marks in a way that confuses consumers about the source of a product or service. Trademarks become valuable assets of your business and its advertising and branding since if you register your trademark with the United States government, you can generally exclude others from using the same trademark, with certain exceptions.  Mr. Wiemerslage can advise you on obtaining trademarks for your business.

Trade Secrets.

Trade secrets are sometimes defined as "Any formula, pattern, device or compilation of of information which is used in one's business, and which gives him or her an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it." These trade secrets may be manufacturing processes, customer lists, business method.  Trade secret protection may be available regardless whether you have other intellectual property protection, such as copyright or patents. When negotiating a contract with a vendor, supplier or customer, or getting investors or buying or selling your business, you need to take steps to protect your trade secrets or you may lose legal protection of them, thereby losing a valuable business asset.  The Wiemerslage Law Offices can advise on trade secrets and prepare confidentiality agreements.

Patents.

A utility patent gives its owner a monopoly in an invention for a time period. Mr. Wiemerslage is not a patent attorney but can recommend patent attorneys.
 

Contract Negotiations:

What makes Mr. Wiemerslage standout in this area of law is his experience in assisting sales personnel with direct customer contract negotiations, as well as extensive negotiating experience in software license and service agreements. This allows him to be of great assistance to your I.T. team as well as its sales and business development team, as he knows good initial contract offers to make to the vendor or customer, as well as fallback contract terms, and can draft terms that appear attractive to the other side but yet have minimal adverse impact on his client, creating a win-win situation. Preparing for contract negotiations begins with a clear understanding of his client’s wants as well as his client’s needs, so that he knows what terms to push for versus what terms can be compromised. He also works to see the real needs of the other side that lie behind its initial contract demands, and bring both sides together. Having a very good understanding of the computer hardware and software technologies assists him in drafting or reviewing requests for proposals and contracts.  Mr. Wiemerslage actually enjoys reading statements of work, and revising them with his client to make sure the terms are clear and his client will get what he or she is wanting.

Part of Your I.T. Team:

By being part of your technology team from the start of large projects, Mr. Wiemerslage can write the documents that reduce the time to get RFP’s written or responded to and contracts negotiated. Inexperienced I.T. attorneys can cause delays that cost clients potential sales or result in poor contractual terms that increase costs or create disputes with the other side after the contract is signed, hurting the reputation and future sales of the client. Mr. Wiemerslage's goals in contract drafting and negotiating are to protect his client, work to close the sale if reasonable terms can be agreed to, and produce contracts that both sides can live with after they are signed and will want to continue to do business together for years to come.

I.T. Presentations:

Mr. Wiemerslage has given numerous presentations on drafting and negotiating license agreements at seminars sponsored by the Ohio and Colorado bar associations for attorneys. See the About Us page for the list.

Colorado Bar Association:

Mr. Wiemerslage has been a member of the Business Law Section and a member and elected Council Member at Large to the Technology Law & Policy Section of the Colorado Bar Association for the last several years.

City of Fort Collins Telecommunications Board:

Mr. Wiemerslage was appointed to the City of Fort Collins Telecommunications Board, with the term effective January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2010.

No Litigation Delays:

Since Mr. Wiemerslage's legal practice emphasizes Information Technology, and the law firm does not take litigation cases, a client need not be concerned that the client's legal work will be delayed due to court discovery or preparing for trial.  Clients needing contracts to be drafted and negotiated can lose the opportunity to close the deal if the legal work is delayed.

Summary

Mr. Wiemerslage can assist with information technology and intellectual property issues, including drafting and negotiating software licenses and sales agreements, and protecting your copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.