 | Goodmans Presents: Crowdfundamentals: Legal Risks of Crowdfunding |
November-25-2013
| Lawyer | David Lederman, Neill May, David Zitzerman |
| Area | Corporate Finance and Securities, White Collar Risk Management and Investigations |
Details
November 25th, 2013
Schedule:
5:00 – 5:15 p.m: Arrival/Registration
5:15 – 6:15 p.m: Panel Discussion
6:15 – 7:30 p.m: Cocktails
From start-up companies with new products to movie producers, videogame developers and rock bands, more and more businesses are turning to crowdfunding. There are hundreds of successful platforms, including Indiegogo, Kickstarter and RocketHub, which allow "backers" to contribute funds to their favourite projects and/or pre-purchase innovative new products. The crowdfunding phenomenon has prompted securities regulators to consider permitting use of crowdfunding for equity investments, with equity crowdfunding pending legalization in the U.S. and at an advanced stage of consideration in Ontario.
Our panel will present an overview of crowdfunding and examine the legal issues and risks. The speakers will cover topics such as:
- The current crowdfunding landscape
- Who is using crowdfunding and how are they using it?
- What are the current crowdfunding models?
- What are some notable crowdfunding successes and failures?
- Equity crowdfunding in the U.S. and Canada
- Latest developments in the U.S.
- Proposals under consideration by the Ontario Securities Commission
- Disclosure requirements and protection of the public
- Liability issues
- Fraud and misrepresentation
- IP rights infringement
- Terms of use and disclaimers
- Tax liability
- Breach of contract
Moderator:
Donald Henderson, President & CEO, Interactive Ontario
Panellists:
David Lederman, Goodmans LLP
Neill May, Goodmans LLP
David Zitzerman, Goodmans LLP
