You’ve met the best collaborator. You seem to share the same goals and values and sometimes the same brain. What can go wrong? EVERYTHING! There is a time and a place for informality. The start of a collaboration is not one of them. Whether you will do business with an individual or a company, you should think through some of the issues that could arise. In this presentation, we will explore ways to handle issues such as contributions, rights to technology brought into or developed during the project, compensation, terminations, expectations, liabilities, warranties, confidentiality, and non-competes.

MAURA K. MORAN is a partner at Cambridge Technology Law LLC (CTL), where she advises on Intellectual Property (IP), technology transfer, licensing, and strategic alliances. She also conducts patent prosecution for technologies ranging from software implemented systems and robotics to sporting goods. Maura is a graduate of the University of Dayton (B.S. Mathematics) and Boston University School of Law, has completed graduate coursework in Electrical Engineering at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, and is registered to practice law in Massachusetts and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Through CTL, she is an affiliate of Proper Orange, a Cambridge, MA, based organization that delivers Company Building as a Service (CBaaS).

Maura is an active member of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization. She was the 2016 – 2017 IEEE-USA Vice President for Government Relations, where she advocated to the U.S. Government on issues of interest to IEEE’s U.S. members. Currently Maura chairs the IEEE Technical Activities Board’s AdHoc Committee for Improving IEEE’s Contracts Approval Process and is a candidate for IEEE-USA’s 2019 President-Elect.