After filing for an IPO in Februrary, 2011, streaming music company Pandora went public on June 15, 2011 with little fanfare.  In contrast to LinkedIn which went public last month with a soaring valuation, Pandora’s valuation has been largely as expected.  Off the heels of LinkedIn, this could be seen as disappointing. Here is a…

In recent years, the secondary market for stocks – a platform through which investors can buy and trade shares of private companies – has grown exponentially in size and use.  This year,    transactions on the online platforms of SharesPost and SecondMarket alone have totaled over $ 4.6 billion, and are projected to exceed $ 6.9…

Law firms need to take a lesson from their business-clients by utilizing technology to become more efficient and cut costs to clients. During the economic downturn, the quest for efficiency has been a primary focus for many companies struggling to adjust to the new business climate.  Many companies are finding that Web 2.0 technologies are…

On June 20, 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, first introduced in 2008.  The program will greatly increase the number of gTLDs allowed for use on the internet, which is currently limited to 22 (such as .com, .org, and .net). It allows new…

On March 14, 2011, Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar introduced a bill titled the Startup Visa Act of 2011, which is an updated version of a 2010 bill.  If passed, the act would provide temporary work visas to various kinds of foreign workers if certain financial benchmarks are met. 1.       For foreign entrepreneurs: (a) a…

It’s not easy being a technology startup. There are many challenges, including racing towards product and business development milestones, recruitment and management of employees, funding goals and restraints, fierce competition from big and small competitors, changing legal and regulatory landscapes – just to name a few. One of the costliest mistakes a startup can make…

The Supreme Court recently held in City of Ontario v. Quon that in certain circumstances an employer has the right to read text messages sent from and delivered to a pager issued by the employer to one of its employees. While reading employee text messages may generally violate the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against “unreasonable searches and seizures,”…

On May 28th, the House passed H.R. 4213, the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.” The Act addresses an array of issues, but has particular signficance for certain partnership and LLC “carried interests” for investment fund managers. If it goes through, the Act would prevent investment fund managers of venture capital, private equity, hedge…

In the recently decided case of Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2004 district court’s decision to certify a class that could potentially consist of 1.5 million women employed by Wal-Mart since 1997. Through this gender discrimination class action, the employees seek back pay, declaratory relief, and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs allege that…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued Regulatory Notice 10-22 on April 20, 2010. The notice, which came in light of recent abuses in Regulation D offerings, was intended to be a reminder to broker-dealers of their obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of the issuer and the securities they recommend in offerings made under…