HLG supports its clients in bringing forward, developing, and securing their innovative and valuable ideas. Our professionals apply their knowledge of the full range of academic, commercial and international contexts to structure appropriate contractual, investment, employment, collaborative and testing arrangements for (1) protecting the ideas from unfair appropriation and perhaps ruinous disclosure and (2) assuring fair and predictable allocation of their future value among collaborators and investors. Such protection may be in the form of non-disclosure agreements and other arrangements to protect trade secrets and other confidential information. In some contexts, copyright protection for expressions of ideas may be adequate; in some jurisdictions (for example, Europe), data protection may be available; in the context of publicly-facing web searches, anti-scraping terms of use may be effective. Provisional patent applications may be made in the United States as a place-holder for protecting ideas for new machines, compositions, articles of manufacturers or processes until investment in patent applications is warranted or feasible. Allocation of proprietary interests is crucial in government contracts (including the Small Business Innovation Research or SBIR program) as well as in private investment, ventures or sponsored research. Our professionals help innovators and their investors understand and implement these various arrangements.

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