William F. Swiggart

Member

William F. Swiggart is a Boston based attorney who incorporates and grows start-ups, and facilitates transactions such as debt and equity investments, IP licenses, and mergers & acquisitions. He registers and defends trademarks and copyrights, and also helps resolve business conflicts. Mr. Swiggart is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. 1977) and the University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D. 1982), where he was a member of the Connecticut Law Review. He has served as General Counsel to Bitstream Inc., and to ON Technology Corporation. Mr. Swiggart has thrice been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer, most recently in 2009.

Mr. Swiggart is a frequent lecturer on topics of licensing, technology, & start-up issues to groups such as the New England Corporate Counsel's Association, the Mass. Bar Association, and the MIT Enterprise Forum. He helped found, and served as first President of the Princeton Entrepreneurs’ Network, Inc., a 501(c)(3) qualified organization that promotes entrepreneurship via national and regional events. He is a founding member of the AIGC, and edits its journal, The Independent Counsel. In his spare time, Mr. Swiggart manages Beacon Angels, LLC, an angel group that invests in early stage companies.

Recent Publications and Presentations

• Author & Presenter, Structuring & Negotiating Technology Licensing Agreements (West Publishing & Reedlogic, October 4, 2008).
• "Angel Groupings Emerge for Series A Financings," Mass High Tech (November 15, 2004).
• "Massachusetts' New Business Corporation Act - New Chapter 156D Compared with Old Chapter 156B," The Independent Counsel (Spring 2004).
• Licensing of Copyrights, Trademarks and Domain Names in E-Commerce, a chapter in Internet Law for the Business Lawyer (American Bar Association, 2001).
• See also our Real Estate LawTrove (© 2002-2004).
• See also our Trademark & Domain Name LawTrove (© 1999-2004).
• Moderator, "The Bayh-Dole Act & the State of University Technology Transfer in 2003," a Panel Presentation at the 4th Annual Conference, Princeton Entrepreneurs' Network, Campus of Princeton University (May 29, 2003).
• Moderator, "Further Development of the Internet-Based, E-Commerce, Business Process Utility for Insurance Claims," a Panel Presentation at the Insurance Technology Symposium, Strategic Research Institute, Scottsdale, AZ (February 3, 2003).
• Faculty, "Selling a Business in Massachusetts - Structuring the Deal," a Lecture at the Sterling Education Seminars, Sheraton Boston Hotel (November 21, 2003).
• Speaker, "Web Linking Agreements: Quasi-Licenses in Interactive Media and E-Commerce," at the Internet and and E-Commerce Conference, Center for International Legal Studies, Kitzbuehel, Austria (January 13, 2003).
• "Technology Transfer from University to Start-Up," a presentation before the Financial Executives Networking Group (May 1, 2003).
• Moderator, "Preparing Your Company to be Acquired or for an Initial Public Offering," a Panel Presentation with Kevin Rhodes, CFO of Edgewater Technologies, and Louis P. LeGuyader, PhD, Princeton University, at the High Tech Group, Massachusetts Society of CPAs, Newton Marriott Hotel (October 7, 2003).
• "Enemy By E-Mail," Business Law Today (American Bar Association, May/June 2002).
• Moderator of Educational Institutions and Non-Profits Involved with Entrepreneurial Ventures a panel of the Third Annual Conference of the Princeton Entrepreneurs Network held in Princeton, New Jersey on Thursday, May 30, 2002.
• "Web Linking Agreements: Quasi-Licenses in Interactive Media," The Cyberspace Lawyer (March 2001).
• Mr. Swiggart currently serves on the Board of Directors, and is past President, of the Princeton Entrepreneurs' Network, Inc., a c.501(c)(3) qualified organization dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship.
• Mr. Swiggart served as Chairman of the Second Annual National Conference of the Princeton Entrepreneurs Network -- Back to Fundamentals -- How to Survive and Thrive in a Difficult Capital Market held in Princeton, New Jersey on Thursday, May 31, 2001. Mr. Swiggart also served as a panelist on the panel entitled: Alternative Exit Strategies: Technology Leveraged Buyout Funds, Roll-Ups, Mergers & Acquisitions, Redemptions and Others
• Mr. Swiggart currently serves on the Board of Directors, and is past President, of the Princeton Entrepreneurs' Network, Inc., a c.501(c)(3) qualified organization dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship.
• Privacy and the Internet, a panel presentation to the Princeton-Boston InterNetwork in Boston, MA, with Devin Hosea, President of Predictive Networks, Inc., of Cambridge, MA and Harvey Silverglate, Senior Partner of Silverglate & Good, Boston, MA (June 28, 2000).
• Web-Linking Agreements and Terms of Service, a presentation to the High Technology Practice Group of the Mass. Bar Association on December 13, 2000.
• Starting a Company, a panel presentation to the InterNetwork National Conference in Princeton, NJ, with Howard Cox, General Partner of Greylock Ventures; Wade Myers, CEO of Interrelate, Inc.; and Kenneth Slade, Partner of Hale and Dorr LLP (May 25, 2000).
• "The Web Linking Agreement & E-Commerce," Independent Counsel (Spring 1999).
• "A Program to Protect Your Company's Confidential Information," Independent Counsel (Winter 1998).
• "Plan Early and Often for Eventual Sale or Acquisition," Mass High Tech (November 2-8, 1998).
• Prepare Your Company to be Acquired, An Address before the Entrepreneur's Financing Roundtable of the MIT Enterprise Forum (May 1997).
• "The Internet and E-Commerce: a New Arena for Legal Conflict," Independent Counsel (Winter 1996).
• "Employment: A Company Policy on Internet Sex, Independent Counsel," (Spring/Summer 1995).
• Legal Developments on the Internet, A Keynote Address before the Annual Meeting of the Association of Computing Machinery (June 1995).
• "Software Contracts: When is a Hard Bargain Duress?," Independent Counsel (Winter 1994).
• "Qualified vs. Non-Qualified Stock Options," Independent Counsel (Spring/Summer 1994).
• "Real Estate: Reduce Your Maintenance Charges," Independent Counsel (Winter 1994).
• "Exercise of Stock Options," Independent Counsel, (Fall 1994).
• "Personnel: Massachusetts' 'Tin Parachute' Law Voided ," Independent Counsel (Winter 1994).