THE RIGHT CHOICE

California App Developer Lawyer

California Mobile App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson, The Right Choice in Business

When you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears, and years of your life into building up your business and you’ve decided you need a downloadable mobile app to take your business to the next level, finding the right California App Developer Lawyer to protect it is the best way to ensure all your efforts are not in vain.

Whether you need contracts drafted, copyright or trademark protection, representation in litigation, corporate formation, restructuring or dissolution, or simply down to earth business advice, you deserve the finest in legal service.

If you’re in the process of having a downloadable mobile app developed, you’re going to need a Privacy Policy as well as Terms and Conditions for your app.  We can draft both of those for you as well as other documents such as non disclosure agreements.

California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson offers business owners with more than 40 years of representing business and corporate clients and is ready today to assist you today in your endeavors to grow and prosper without legal worries.

When you work with California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson, you’re working with an attorney who has been named a Top Lawyer in the prestigious Palm Springs Life Magazine year after year, and who’s been named a “Superb” Lawyer, their highest rating, by Avvo, which rates attorneys all across the U.S. Sebastian Gibson is one of those rare attorneys with experience not only representing small and medium sized businesses in California, but a lawyer who has also represented multi-national corporations internationally as well while working in London.

Choosing A California Mobile App Developer Attorney

At some point in an app developer’s life, they begin to have legal questions about how they can protect the apps they’re developing or their rights as they work with others.  We can answer these questions and not only protect your mobile app but also to avoid unnecessary problems that can arise so you can focus your attention on your app and not on legal disputes that can affect your creative free spirit.

As an app developer, you want to know your work is safe and your rights are protected.  Without the right legal agreements, it may be unclear who will be responsible if your app is stolen or infringed.  We can help avoid such issues by drafting and negotiating the right terms of your agreements with other developers and entities in the world of app development

The app developing world is full of unscrupulous parties.  By copyrighting and trademarking your apps, we can also importantly protect your art from those who would steal your ideas and works, copy them and play them off as their own.  We’ll demand others to cease and desist such efforts and pursue litigation against those who would infringe your copyrighted and trademarked apps.

California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson has been recognized by Palm Springs Life Magazine as One of the Top Lawyers of 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011.  He’s been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend.”  If you want a top lawyer on your side, call Sebastian Gibson.  Call us today at (760) 776-1810.

Internationally Trained And Experienced Creative Mobile App Development Lawyer, Sebastian Gibson

California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson has been chosen one of the Top Lawyers for the past 10 years by Palm Springs Life Magazine for good reason.  The author of thousands of articles on the internet, Sebastian Gibson has also written for the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal newspapers and is the author of a book published in 2012 which received rave reviews.

With law degrees in both the U.S. and the U.K., California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson has over 40 years of experience in California and in England.  He’s been frequently asked to be interviewed on radio and TV for his expertise.

Choosing the right lawyer for your app development can make all the difference. California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson has been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend.” He’s known for his wit and humor, and a determination to make sure his clients receive the compensation they deserve.  He has also been named as a “Superb” Lawyer by Avvo, which rates attorneys throughout the U.S.

How We Can Help With Your Legal Matters As An App Developer

Now is when you need a California App Developer Lawyer most when your business is taking off.  When you hire a freelance developer to write source code for your app, without a work for hire agreement in place, they own the copyright to that code.  Even if you pay the freelancer for their work, they own the copyright. The same problem exists when you hire a graphic designer, animator or any other expert to assist you in the development of your mobile app, in the U.S. or outside the U.S..

As an app developer, you’re thus going to need not only work-for-hire agreements, but also copyright assignment agreements to ensure you retain complete and full ownership of all rights in the app you’re developing.  Work for hire agreements, while for the most part are useful, they are always subject to attack by those who sign them and also by tax authorities determined to find an employment relationship for which you can be taxed.

With a copyright assignment, issues related to work-for-hire agreements can be avoided and with the proper legal advice, tax issues may be avoided as well.

You’re going to need to create a business entity as well for your app development work and in the choice of what entity to form, we can provide you with options and the advantages of each.  It’s not enough however, simply to form a business entity. Certain formalities must be followed in order to avoid a litigant from piercing the corporate veil and holding you personally responsible for damages they may convince a judge or jury they’ve incurred.

Should you fail to hold regular meetings of the directors and shareholders, co-mingle personal and corporate funds, commit fraud or perform illegal acts, you may find yourself personally responsible for the corporate debts and liabilities.

Additionally, you may wish to form a separate company from the original entity that holds your intellectual property and all your copyrighted and trademarked app assets.  The second company can lease the intellectual property from your original company and then seek outside investors.  In the event you lose control of your outside investment company, you’ll still hold the intellectual property rights in your apps.

If on the other hand, you’re a downloadable mobile app developer and you’ve been promised shares of stock or a percentage of someone else’s company developing the app, you will want to ensure you have an ironclad agreement that spells out the terms of what you’ve been promised and which has a schedule for when your shares will vest and unlock.

Not only are you going to want to protect your creative works as a mobile app developer with copyrights and trademarks, you should also protect your work as trade secrets.  You have trade secrets in you app design, the app source code, your marketing and business plan for the app, the source code and pricing.  However, to be protected, it cannot be made part of the public’s general knowledge, and you must take steps to keep it secret.  That doesn’t mean just not telling your mother, it means using firewalls, entering into non-disclosure agreements with your employees and independent contractors, and taking every other possible reasonable step to keep your trade secrets related to your app from becoming known by others not working under a non-disclosure agreement including investors.

You’re going to want to copyright every possible element of your app that can be protected, from your design to your art work, your animation, source code, and advertising materials, any dialogue or story used in the app, and anything else related to your app that constitutes a copyrightable work, and you’ll want to trademark the app name and possibly your trade name if it is also the name of your mobile app.  Without copyright registrations, you won’t be able to seek damages in a court of law.  And others using your service mark or product name prior to your trademark registration can obtain common law rights by virtue of their prior usage.

If you’re worried about divulging your entire app’s source code in the copyright registration deposit requirement, you can deposit just some of the source code for you app as an app developer.

In the event you use the works of others in your mobile app, such as music, without the right to use it commercially, you may be responsible for damages for every download of your app with the infringing music.  Be wary of music you can buy on the internet for your app that has a limited license, such as for use on a website or for educational materials but nothing more.

There is also a mistaken belief that you can use samples of other people’s music in your app without infringing their copyright. The doctrine of fair use, which is something else entirely, only includes usage in very limited circumstances, and those circumstances do not include commercial usage.  Statutory copyright damages range from $750 to $150,000 peer copyrighted work, and attorney’s fees and costs can be awarded as well to the plaintiff.

California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson

Before you think about preparing your copyright or trademark application on your own, there is a reason why there are volumes and volumes of law on these subjects.  They’re complicated for the average lawyer and there are examiners who will reject your application for numerous reasons if your application isn’t prepared properly and in the case of a trademark application, if you haven’t had a trademark search performed by experts to learn what else is already trademarked that is too similar to yours.

Don’t assume no one will learn what you did when you are asking millions of people to download you app.  Consult with an attorney but don’t simply talk in hypothetical terms with that attorney.  If we don’t know what you’ve used from other sources and people in the creation of your app, we’re not going to know how to protect you or prevent you from having to defend yourself in litigation for damages down the road.

You’re also going to need to be concerned with privacy issues surrounding your app, more than ever today, especially if your app targets children.  The Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act  allows the FTC to fine you as an app developer if you don’t ensure your app obtains parental consent before collecting personal information.

A new law being proposed in congress known as the Apps Act, bill H.R. 1913, will also require mobile app developers to let users know what an app’s privacy policies are, in particular as to what information is being shared and the length of time the information is kept by an app developer.

In states such as California, actions are already being taken by state attorney generals to protect the public from misuse of collected information.

Having a lawyer create a mind-numbing explanation of how their privacy rights will be violated and their information utilized in a statement they can’t understand and which they must agree to before downloading your app is no longer going to shield you from fines and litigation.

Likewise, using the same non-disclosure agreement you find on the internet with every person you come into contact with in the course of developing your mobile app, without tailoring it to their involvement isn’t going to be satisfactory when they punch holes in it in litigation with you.  If the party you approach won’t sign your non-disclosure agreement, find another party to approach.

A proper NDA must name the parties, describe the confidential information in general terms without disclosing particulars, list any exceptions and underscore general descriptions of what’s protected, provide for how long the information must be kept secret, state the obligations of the party signing the non-disclosure agreement and consequences in the event they violate their obligations.  The NDA should also state the governing law such as the law of the state of California, and contain other common requirements the party bound to secrecy must uphold.

Keep in mind, simply having an NDA is no guarantee your confidential information won’t be passed on to family members who pass it on to others and on and on.  Consequently your non-disclosure agreement should provide you with the means to seek damages against not only the person or entities who utilize your confidential information, but also anyone who has signed an NDA and failed to keep your information secret.

Developers of mobile apps geared for casual gaming or for the professional gambler are also going to want to take advantage of our gaming law expertise.  Gaming varies widely from state to state and with the federal government watching every step being taken in this area, an app developer needs to ensure they are on secure ground before going to the expense of developing a gaming app that may be illegal for anyone to use.

The Right Choice in Business Attorneys, California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson

If you’re still operating under a partnership agreement hastily formed at an early stage that failed to address such issues as who will own the app and the design elements you’ve created if the partnership is dissolved, what happens when partners leave, how profits will be split, what expenses will be paid, what rights spouses have, who makes decisions, how and in what circumstances partners can be removed and what rights they’ll have upon removal, etc., you need to think about incorporating your app development enterprise more than ever.

Finally, offering to sell stock in your company is not something you can do without proper legal advice to steer you clear of SEC violations and keep you within the framework of what the SEC allows.  You’ll also want to be wary of slicing off too many pieces of the pie or you may find you don’t have enough of the pie left for yourself.

Many mobile app developers today look to crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter for your seed money.  The SEC is developing rules for offering an interest in your company to those who donate money to your app development and you’ll want an explanation of what they allow once those rules are formulated.  In the meantime, it’s wise to have an attorney from our firm who’s knowledgeable in the area of crowdfunding and who understands the risks involved and litigation that can be filed when individuals seeking funding either over-promise or under-deliver.

Once you’ve begun to offer and advertise your mobile app to the general public, you may think your need for legal advice and assistance is over, but unfortunately it is just beginning.  It is much more common to have your ideas stolen or utilized in other apps once your mobile app is available to be downloaded by the general public than when it is still in development.

You may face litigation from consumers including class action litigation, FTC inquiries and local state actions if you violate their laws and regulations.  You may face copyright, trademark and patent infringement suits as well.  But if you’ve had proper legal counsel from a lawyer that specializes in representing mobile app creative developers as ours does, the possibility of such legal problems can be significantly reduced.

As you develop more mobile apps and grow as a company, we can assist you with your growing pains and help you provide for your future and for future generations.  If you’re looking for a California App Developer Lawyer for your business, consider Sebastian Gibson.

If you choose to utilize someone else’s app development company to develop your mobile app, we can help you find a reputable mobile software development company, ensure you retain ownership of your product and control distribution.

California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson

When It Matters Most, Call California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson For The Development Of Your Mobile App

If you need assistance with app-related legal matters as an app developer, call the number at the top of this page and talk directly with Sebastian Gibson.

With offices in Palm Desert and Newport Beach and years of experience in London, California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson can assist you with your app-related legal matters throughout California and the United States and internationally as well.

When it matters most and you need an app lawyer experienced in California and internationally, call California App Developer Lawyer Sebastian Gibson at (760) 776-1810 to discuss to discuss how we can assist you with your legal matters related to the development of mobile apps.

Skip to content