May Newsletter

May 2024 Newsletter

Announcements:

First, please join me in the fight against cancer by supporting the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Visionaries of the Year drive with a donation to our team by June 8. Our team “Anne’s Fans,” has a goal to raise $100,000, which will go directly to LLS to support its longstanding goal: a world without blood cancers.

Welcome to the new San Francisco County Farm Bureau. I am happy to serve as a charter director as we build out the newest member to the California Farm Bureau. Our upcoming series of AgTech panels is scheduled for 3 pm on Wednesday June 26 at the Elks Lodge, 450 Post St, San Francisco. Please join us.

Topical podcasts: This past month our podcast has covered several legal issues of interest including the case of Elon Musk v. Sam Altman, the trial of Sam Bankman Fried, the case of the erroneous chatbot, trade secret basics, OSHA for startups and many others. You can see there here or on Apple podcasts here or watch the video

Events:

We hosted several events this spring around biotech, most of which are recorded on our resource site https://cancerstartup.com/. Our April 23 webinar on real estate and environmental issues in M&A can be viewed on YouTube

We will be at the 2024 Commercial UAV Expo event will be held September 3-5 LIVE in Las Vegas – www.expouav.com. Hope to see you there.

Legal Updates:

The biggest recent news is that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a rule banning non-competition agreements for workers, subject to some exceptions. The rules will not be effective until September (if at all) and several law suits have already been filed seeking to invalidate the rules so this is still an open issue. Companies with employees in California have long been subject to similar rules. More here and FTC Issues Final Rule Banning Noncompete Agreements

You have probably heard that a court in Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional. National Small Business United v. Yellen. While the case proceeds through the legal process, reporting companies (other than the plaintiffs) should continue to prepare for and timely file their beneficial ownership reports. We are keeping a close eye on these cases. See this article for example

FinCEN has issued a proposed rule that would require certain investment advisers to apply anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). More here And in tax news, a potential overhaul to the 355 spinoff rules could be on the horizon.

The Astralabs (NewChip) accelerator bankruptcy has highlighted the value of stock warrants that every accelerator takes in exchange for startup services. More at the video and podcast

Closer to home, a case has been filed in San Francisco against a self driving car company seeking damages for injuries resulting from an accident. It will be interesting to see how legal standards applicable to machines evolves. Video and podcast

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