By / On / In Appsterdam
You’ll notice I always refer to App Makers and App Making. When Apple responded to Intellectual Venture in the guise of Lodsys, they referred to us as App Makers, and I liked the respect and legitimacy it engendered.
As for App Making, it goes back to what my journalism mentor, R.G. Gould, once said about the First Amendment: “You owe your living to it. You better damn well capitalize it.”
By / On / In Appsterdam
During panel discussions between App Makers and patent attorneys Michael McCoy (US) and Paul Reeskamp (NL), we discussed business structures to erect legal bulkheads to limit exposure to extortion or other threats. The construct we came up with is to have an Amsterdam- or offshore-based licensing company that owns the IP produced by the App Maker, and some number of operating companies that license and sell that IP in different markets.
The US accounts for approximately 25% of the app market and 100% of the extortion market. One advantage of living in Appsterdam is that you are generally out of reach of the US, unless you do business in the US. You can do business in the US while limiting your exposure by having your Dutch company deal with non-US marketing and sales, and a US company dealing exclusively with the US market.
One advantage of doing business in the US is the trivial formation of limited liability companies. That means you can have your US company spin off new US companies for each successful product. You can even have separate companies for every platform. The more you bifurcate your enterprise, the more you ensure that if one part falls under extortion, the rest is protected.
In its long-term role as the legal center for App Makers, the Appsterdam Legal Foundation is exploring ways to make setting up such a structure as painless as possible, even for people who are not citizens of the United States.
It is also possible to effectively eliminate exposure to the US by simply not servicing the US market at all, as some European companies have done. Even though the major platform providers are based in the US, non-US companies making non-US products for non-US markets are sufficiently jurisdictionally out of reach as to not be worth the bother.
Of course, if it’s all the same, you will probably find the US market too lucrative to ignore when the only risk is losing that market. Still, it may be a good idea for non-US companies to exclude the US market from early trials and launch. If and when the product becomes successful, it will be worth the effort to enter the US market.
Tune in tomorrow when we shall endeavor to create an App Maker’s Guide to Surviving Extortion.
By / On / In Appsterdam
Summer in the Netherlands rocks. Employee salaries include 13 months of pay, with the extra month cashing out at the same time as your vacation. Basically the Amsterdammers surrender the city to the tourists and go have adventures, coming back thinner, tanner, and more relaxed.
Just in time for festival season! September features a number of music, arts, technology, and general interest festivals all over the Netherlands—including the world’s greatest Pride. Appsterdam got into the action with our enormous App Dome at the Picnic festival.
The upshot is the entire country travels in August and parties in September. The Appsterdam work year starts in October, and what a year we have planned! Appsterdam 1: Summer of Appsterdam is drawing to a close. The coming weeks are going to be an amazing time as we gear up for the launch of Appsterdam 2: Appsterdam Overwinter.
We’re starting strong with the Appsterdam Legal Summit on October 3-4, as well you know. This is the chance for App Makers to talk to an international corps of friendly attorneys. We’ll solidify our understanding of the patent situation, devise strategies, and answer questions in person, and via a daily two-hour broadcast.
We’ll also be running our regularly scheduled events, which includes weekly Meeten en Drinken in Amsterdam, Delft, and Warsaw; our Weekly Wednesday Lunchtime Lecture series; and our twice-monthly Appsterdam Family Weekend get-togethers. We’ll also have our next Appsterdam Guru Session hands-on workshop, Android from Scratch, on October 15. We’ll have the next public app meeting, focusing on design, with Meet the Makers in Appsterdam Delft on October 26.
As always, there are plenty of other great events going on in the city, like the Node.js training session on October 4. I’ll be doing a speaking tour with the GOTO Conference, which lands in Appsterdam on October 13-14. Your next chance to start a company in a weekend comes with Startup Weekend Groningen November 4-6. If you’re working on Android in Appsterdam you don’t want to miss DroidconNL on November 22-23.
Finally, there are two events that are near and dear to my heart, not just because I’m speaking at both of them, but because together they form what I call the “Fishers of Men” stratagem. This is for the rare class of people who are ready to take the plunge, divest of their material possessions, and jump with both feet into a new career and a new life. These are the people who look at the dramatic moves I’ve made in my own career and say, “I want to be an App Maker, and I’m willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to make that happen. What do I do?”
Here’s what you do: sell, donate, or trash everything you own; buy a plane ticket to Amsterdam and a seat at the Big Nerd Ranch iOS Bootcamp on Oct 22-28, then be prepared to spend 7 intense days in your cocoon before emerging a beautifully trained butterfly, just in time to celebrate your metamorphosis at the Appsterdam 2 Launch Party Weekend featuring Museumnacht on November 4-6. You’ll meet people, find work, and start your new life.
On the less dramatic side of the pond, if you’re a European CS grad looking to be where the action is, a number of Dutch companies have teamed up to assemble an opportunity package that picks up half the tab for going in to the Big Nerd Ranch, and a job offer when you get out. If you’re in the select group eligible for this offer, it’s frankly hard to beat!
By / On / In Appsterdam
What would you ask a room full of patent attorneys?
Since announcing the Appsterdam Legal Defense Initiative, the response has been tremendous. From ideas to volunteers, from criticisms to donations, we’ve appreciated all of it. Now it’s time to make something of all this. To that end we’re getting App Makers together with a roomful of attorneys from around the world at the landmark Waag building on October 3-4. We’ll be discussing strategies, turning our vague notions into legal opinions, and answering questions.
We understand that if you’re not in the city you’re probably not going to fly out for this, especially since you’re already coming out here November 4-6 for the Appsterdam 2 Launch Party Weekend. Still, you’d like to get your questions answered, and you’d like them to be answered when you’re awake. Have no fear. We’ve considered the best way for everyone to get their questions answered, while preserving anonymity.
Just send us your questions. We’ll coalesce the things people want to know into one big anonymous blob. Then we’ll use that blob to produce content during the summit that will be available online at 10 a.m. California time, two hours per day, both days. We will make sure your questions are addressed.
At the Appsterdam Foundation, we ask ourselves, what do App Makers need? In the same way, your delegates at the legal summit are going to be asking themselves, what do App Makers need to defend themselves against patent extortion? If you have some thoughts on that, by all means, send them along.
You can use the signup form to get your question across. If you’ve already signed up, that’s OK. Or, you can email us. You can also tweet @optanthill or use the hashtag #anthill.
For ultimate win, come on over and join us in person.
By / On / In Appsterdam
We’ve been mum since announcing the Appsterdam Legal Defense Initiative, busy organizing things behind the scenes. We’re now ready to start signing people up and accepting donations, which you can help us with by visiting the official Operation Anthill web site. You can connect to Operation Anthill on Facebook and Twitter, hashtag #anthill.
We’re organizing a legal summit in Appsterdam somewhere between October 3-15. We’re thinking 2 days, with a day of presentations and a day of workshops. I’m letting you know now so you can start clearing your schedule. I’ll give you the exact dates as soon as possible, so you can book travel.
Whether you’re being extorted with patents now, or are afraid for the future, this will be your chance to get the legal advice you need to protect your business.
For press or other inquiries, email contact@appsterdamlegalfoundation.org.
