PLATZ JURIS, PLLC

10/08/2026

$600 million for permission to use patents (not to own them!).

This week, Netlist announced a deal with Micron resolving their patent litigation and granting a five-year, non-exclusive patent license. Micron will pay $600 million in quarterly license fees over that five-year period.

What interests me is not just the size of the deal, but that the parties negotiated more than an end to a dispute: they agreed on the terms of future use.

For founders and business owners: What Intellectual Property asset(s) does your business own that someone else might pay to use? …and have you protected it well enough to negotiate?

Consider your software, brand, or product designs. I would approach their protection and commercial potential together: identify your intellectual property asset, establish ownership, decide what access to grant, and negotiate the price, duration, and limits.

The lesson to draw from this $600M deal is not “go litigate.” It is “think about what you want your IP rights to accomplish for the business”.

That is where IP protection and business strategy belong in the same conversation.

PLATZ JURIS, PLLC. Protecting what you’ve built.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

09/30/2026

Your new marketing department costs $20 a month. Who owns what it creates?

A few prompts, a little tweaking, and suddenly you have campaign images, website copy, and packaging concepts. For a founder watching every dollar, that’s an impressive (and affordable!) afternoon. Then a competitor copies your favorite image. You reach for your copyright claim and discover that paying for the tool and choosing its output may not give you the protection you assumed. What now?

Here’s the U.S. Copyright Office’s position: prompts alone do not establish authorship. Human creativity still matters. Original writing, sufficiently creative edits, and the selection and arrangement of material can qualify for protection, even when AI is involved.

That protection covers the qualifying human contribution, without automatically extending to everything the AI generated. For a business investing in a distinctive identity, this matters. You could spend months building a campaign around content you have limited ability to stop others from copying under copyright law.

Before making that content central to your business, ask:
- What did a human actually create?
- Have we kept drafts and records of those creative contributions?
- What rights can we enforce if someone copies the result?

AI can make creation remarkably affordable. Understanding what you can protect should be part of the budget, too.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

PLATZ JURIS: Protecting what you’ve built.

09/18/2026

A customer choosing your competitor is one thing. A customer choosing your competitor because they think it’s you is another.

That confusion can cost more than a sale. Your reputation can also be affected by products, services, and experiences you do not control.

Your business name and logo help customers recognize you. Distinctive packaging or product appearance can do that, too—and may qualify for protection as trade dress. These are the features that help a customer connect what they are buying with the business they trust.

So why does it matter whether you address infringement?

Because allowing similar branding to become commonplace in your market can make your rights harder to enforce. The next competitor can point to those other businesses and argue that your name or visual identity is not particularly distinctive—and deserves less protection. That can give competitors more room to resemble you legally.

Successful enforcement helps preserve the distinction. And documenting the results matters: evidence that another business stopped using a confusing name or changed its branding can help demonstrate that you have maintained, rather than surrendered, that distinction. You are building a record that can support your position in future disputes.

For founders and family businesses, I would put this alongside the next discussion about marketing or expansion: What are we investing in making recognizable—and what are we doing to keep it recognizably ours?

That calls for judgment about which infringements matter, proportionate responses, and records of what those responses achieved—not a lawsuit over every resemblance.

The business reason is straightforward: the money and effort spent building your reputation should help customers choose your business, not mistake someone else’s for it.

PLATZ JURIS | Protecting what you’ve built. Let’s talk: [email protected]

09/15/2026

Your next contract deserves a cross-examination.

Not because you want a lawsuit, but because you don’t.

A transactional mindset asks: How do we structure this to work?

A litigator’s mindset adds: How could this unravel, and where would that leave you?

That means looking beyond what an agreement says to how it might be challenged. Where could ambiguity become leverage? What would you need to prove, and would you have the evidence? Does that impressive-sounding remedy offer meaningful protection?

The perspectives are complementary, not competing. A litigator’s mindset can sharpen contract drafting, strengthen negotiations, and reveal risks in business decisions before they become expensive disputes.

Hiring a litigator doesn’t mean you’re looking for a fight. It means you value advice that considers what happens when the handshake becomes a shakedown.

At PLATZ JURIS, we bring that perspective to contracts, business strategy, and protecting what you’ve built… not just to the courtroom.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

09/13/2026

Your Business Isn’t Boilerplate. Your Lawyer Shouldn’t Be Either.

A contract may start with a template. Your relationship with your attorney shouldn’t.

You’re not just buying a document, a filing, or a strongly worded letter. You’re choosing the judgment behind it.

And there’s a difference between an attorney who asks, “What do you need drafted?” and one who asks, “What are you trying to accomplish?”

You asked for a contract. A strategic attorney also asks whether the terms support how the deal will actually work.

You asked to protect a name. A strategic attorney also asks where the brand is headed, and what else needs protecting along the way.

You asked to sue. A strategic attorney also asks what a worthwhile outcome looks like after accounting for cost, disruption, and the relationships at stake.

Because “hereinafter” is not a business strategy.

Your attorney doesn’t need to run your company. But they should understand what you’re building, how you make money, what you cannot afford to lose, and where you want to go.

They should also be willing to tell you when the legal route you requested may not serve the business outcome you actually want.

That is the perspective behind PLATZ JURIS.

I bring more than 25 years of business leadership experience to my work as an attorney. That experience shapes how I approach legal counsel: not as an isolated transaction, but as part of a larger business decision.

PLATZ JURIS is a boutique law firm with a straightforward purpose: to be a strategic legal partner to founders, family businesses, and business owners—not simply another vendor on the accounts-payable report.

Price matters. Clear scope and sensible budgets matter. But an hourly rate tells you the price of someone’s time, not the value of their judgment.

When choosing counsel, don’t stop at “Can you handle this?”

Ask: “Do you understand why this matters to my business?”

PLATZ JURIS — Protecting what you’ve built.

Let’s talk about what you’re building… and what needs protecting: [email protected]

09/07/2026

08/23/2026

PERHAPS THE MOST FASCINATING THING ROLEX SELLS ISN’T A WATCH.
It is the 'opportunity' to buy one.

For decades, Rolex has represented achievement. The watch on the wrist quietly communicated: I’ve arrived.

But something interesting has happened to that proposition.

For many sought-after models, having the money is no longer enough. You may visit the authorised retailer. Express your interest. Establish a relationship. Wait. Check back. Perhaps buy something else. And, eventually, you may be offered the privilege of spending thousands of dollars on the product you wanted in the first place.

It is a rather extraordinary reversal of the traditional relationship between buyer and seller.

To be fair, Rolex says demand sometimes exceeds its production capacity and that its authorized retailers independently allocate watches. That may be entirely true.

But from a branding perspective, the effect is fascinating regardless of intent:
Scarcity changes the question from:

“Do I want this?”
to:
“Can I get this?”

And those are psychologically very different questions.

Once access itself becomes uncertain, obtaining the product becomes an achievement independent of the product. Scarcity creates urgency. Difficulty creates perceived value. Other people wanting something provides social proof that perhaps we should want it too.

We humans are sophisticated creatures.
Right up until somebody tells us we cannot have something.
Then things can become surprisingly medieval.

As a trial lawyer, I spend a great deal of time thinking about why people behave as they do, not merely what they say they believe.

And as an IP lawyer, I find this particularly interesting because the greatest value in a trademark is rarely the word or logo itself. It is the collection of ideas, emotions, expectations and associations that the public attaches to it.

Rolex has built an extraordinary one.
But there is also an interesting question for the consumer:
At what point are we buying the object... and at what point are we buying the satisfaction of having obtained something other people could not?

There is nothing wrong with wanting a Rolex.
But perhaps the most valuable luxury is knowing why you want one.

08/15/2026

Every brand has a story.

Sometimes, the business tells it. Sometimes, customers do. And sometimes, competitors tell it for you.

A company may have spent years (or generations!) building a name, reputation, customer loyalty, proprietary processes, creative content, product designs, domain names, trade secrets, software, data, know-how, and goodwill.

But building value and protecting it are not the same thing.

An IP audit helps answer simple (yet important!) questions: What does the business actually own? What is protected? Where are the gaps? And is the company recognizing the value of those assets?

For founder-led and family-led businesses, those questions matter in growth, succession planning, licensing, financing, acquisitions, and disputes.

Your brand already has a story.

The question is whether you are protecting it… and capturing the value of what you’ve built.

At PLATZ JURIS, we help businesses identify, protect, and strategically leverage their intellectual property.

Protecting what you’ve built™️.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

08/10/2026

Your Brand Was Built for Humans. What Happens When AI Does the Shopping?

For decades, companies have built brands to influence one person: The consumer. The name. The logo. The packaging. The advertising. The reputation.

But what happens when the entity standing between your product and the sale isn’t a person? It’s an AI agent.

Welcome to agentic commerce… and an intellectual property issue many businesses don’t yet realize is an IP issue.

Imagine telling AI: “Find me the best carry-on under $500—durable, lightweight, and good for international travel.” Instead of visiting websites, seeing ads, comparing products, and forming impressions about brands, the consumer delegates much of that work to AI. AI researches. AI compares. AI recommends. Eventually, AI may transact.

That’s not just a technology or marketing story. It’s an IP story.

What if AI confuses two similarly named brands? Describes one as the “budget version” of another? Recommends a counterfeit? Or fails to distinguish between companies that have spent years differentiating themselves?

And trademarks are only the beginning.

Copyright: What images, descriptions, manuals, and marketing materials are AI systems using to understand your products?

Trade dress: What happens to distinctive packaging when AI evaluates products through data rather than appearance?

Licensing: Do your agreements address how your trademarks, images, and product information can be used in AI-driven environments?

Counterfeiting: If consumers trust AI to find sellers, how do you protect the integrity of the information AI relies upon?

This is why IP strategy cannot end with: “We registered the trademark. Registration matters, but IP strategy is ultimately about identifying, protecting, controlling, and extracting value from the intangible assets that distinguish your business.

We spent the first era of the internet asking: Can customers find us on Google? The next question may be: Does AI understand who we are, and is what it understands accurate?

For founders and brand owners, that’s a reason to think about IP audits differently. What do you own? Who controls it? Who can use it? What contracts govern it?

And now: How will AI understand it?
In the age of agentic commerce, protecting your brand may no longer be only about influencing the consumer. It may also be about protecting your brand when a machine stands between you and that consumer.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

07/27/2026

Most founders know what they sell.

Far fewer know what they actually own.

One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is that a business’s most valuable assets are its inventory, equipment, or revenue. In reality, many of the assets that create the greatest long-term value are intangible—and they are often the least protected.

If you’re a founder or business owner, here are five legal questions worth asking before a problem arises:

1. Do you know what your intellectual property actually is?

Your brand, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, proprietary processes, software, designs, marketing materials, customer lists, AI-generated workflows, and know-how may all be valuable business assets. You can’t protect what you haven’t identified.

2. Who legally owns your creations?

Many businesses assume they own everything created by employees or contractors. That assumption is not always correct. Ownership should be established clearly through properly drafted agreements, and not left to chance.

3. Is your confidential information actually protected?

Having a “secret sauce” isn’t enough. If confidential information isn’t treated as confidential through appropriate policies, contracts, and business practices, trade secret protection can be lost.

4. Are your contracts protecting your business? … or merely documenting relationships?

Well-drafted agreements don’t just record a deal. They allocate risk, define ownership, establish expectations, and provide remedies if something goes wrong.

5. What would a buyer, investor, or competitor discover if they audited your business tomorrow?

A legal due diligence review often reveals gaps that founders never knew existed. Those gaps can reduce company value, delay financing or acquisitions, or create unnecessary litigation risk.

The best legal strategy is almost always proactive rather than reactive.

By the time a cease-and-desist letter arrives, a key employee leaves with confidential information, or a competitor launches a confusingly similar brand, many of the most cost-effective solutions are already behind you.

A periodic legal audit can identify hidden assets, uncover vulnerabilities, and help ensure that the business you’ve spent years building is properly protected before problems arise.

If you’re a founder, a family business owner, or the leader of a growing company, this is exactly the type of strategic review we conduct at PLATZ JURIS PLLC.

Protect what you’ve built.™

If you’d like to better understand your business’s legal assets, and where your greatest risks may lie, I’d be happy to schedule a confidential Legal Asset & Intellectual Property Audit.

Let’s talk: [email protected]

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