Promise Legal Staff

Alex is a tech nerd trapped in an attorney’s body. Get in touch at txhq.org/blogcard

AI Law

AI Vendor Agreement Clauses: What In-House Counsel Must Negotiate Before Signing

AI vendor contracts shift risk in ways standard SaaS templates don't cover. Five clauses in-house counsel must negotiate: training data, output IP, hallucination liability, model deprecation, and indemnification gaps.

Intellectual Property & Branding

Sync Licensing for Independent Musicians: How to License Your Music for Film, TV, Ads, and Games

Sync licensing is the #1 revenue question independent musicians ask. This guide breaks down what a sync license grants, sync vs master use licenses, fees and splits, standard contract terms, negotiating the one-pager, and the three mistakes that kill indie deals.

Health Tech

When Your Health App Becomes a Medical Device: FDA SaMD Regulation for AI Health Tech

When does your AI health app become an FDA-regulated medical device? This guide covers SaMD classification triggers, the CDS four-criteria exemption test, 510(k) vs De Novo vs PMA pathways, and the FDA's Predetermined Change Control Plan for adaptive AI models.

Visual Artists

When AI Trains on Your Art: Copyright, Style Imitation, and Legal Options for Visual Artists

Visual artists whose work feeds AI image models like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney have legal rights. Here is what copyright law, active litigation, the Copyright Office, and technical tools like Glaze and Nightshade mean for your art today.

Founders

The GPL Trap: How Open-Source Licenses Can Force Your Startup to Open-Source Its Proprietary Code

GPL and AGPL-licensed dependencies can force your startup to publish proprietary source code. Here is how copyleft licenses work and what to do about them.

Game Studios

AI-Generated Game Assets After the 2025 Copyright Office Report: Copyright, Platform Policies, and IP Ownership for Studios

Studios using generative AI for game assets face new legal questions after the 2025 Copyright Office report: copyright registration, Steam/Apple/Google disclosure, and what IP actually survives.

Game Studios

When Players Build: UGC Legal Compliance for Game Studios

Game studios hosting user-generated content face overlapping obligations under Section 230, DMCA safe harbor, COPPA 2025 amendments, and the EU DSA. Here is the compliance framework.

Founders

The Howey Test for Founders: When Your Token Is a Security

Most founders launching tokens don't have a clear framework for whether they're issuing a security. The Howey test has four prongs, and the SEC has applied each of them to token issuers in ways that would surprise most founders who think 'utility' is the safe word.

Game Studios

Game Engine Licensing After Unity's Runtime Fee: What Your Studio's Legal Exposure Actually Is

Unity's 2023 runtime fee revealed how engine makers can change the rules mid-project. Here's what Unity, Unreal, and Godot terms actually say — and how to evaluate your studio's engine dependency risk.

Law Firms

AI Tools in Legal Practice: Model Rule 1.1 Competence and Confidentiality Obligations

Adopting AI in your practice? Rule 1.1 competence, Rule 1.6 confidentiality, and Rule 5.3 supervision all apply to AI tools — and 2026 sanctions cases show courts are enforcing them. Here's what solo and small-firm attorneys need to know, including Texas-specific guidance.

In-House Counsel

M&A Due Diligence for AI Products: A Technical and Legal Checklist for Acquirers

AI targets require a different diligence playbook than standard tech M&A. Here are the six risk buckets, red flags that should reprice or kill a deal, and how to structure AI-specific reps and warranties.

Founders

Founder IP Assignment: Why You Can't Raise Without It and How to Get It Done

Investors find missing IP assignments at Series A more often than any other diligence issue. Here's what needs to be in place — and what your options are if formation was sloppy.

In-House Counsel

IP Ownership of AI-Generated Work Product: What In-House Counsel Should Establish Now

Your employees are using AI tools to create deliverables, contracts, and analysis — but AI-generated work product may not be copyrightable. Here's what in-house counsel should establish now to protect the company's IP position.

In-House Counsel

Building an AI Use Policy: What General Counsel Needs to Cover in 2026

Only 37% of organizations have a formal AI governance policy despite 69% suspecting unauthorized employee AI use. Here's the seven components every AI use policy needs, plus how to fold in TRAIGA and EU AI Act obligations.

Writers

AI-Assisted Writing and Copyright: What Authors Need to Know Before Submitting or Publishing

AI writing tools are everywhere, but the copyright questions they raise aren't settled. Here's what the Copyright Office's 2025 AI guidance means for authors who use ChatGPT, Claude, or Sudowrite — and what to disclose before submitting or signing.

Founders

Texas Non-Competes: What Employers Can Enforce After Recent Case Law

Texas non-competes are not unenforceable — but they are far more complicated than a form clause. This guide breaks down what the Texas Covenants Not to Compete Act actually requires, what recent case law says about reasonable restrictions, and how to draft agreements that hold up.

Founders

Starting a Business in Texas: Entity Types, Franchise Tax, and Structural Decisions

Texas-based founders who aren't on a VC fundraising path can save time and money by forming here. This guide covers entity types, the franchise tax's $2.65M threshold, operating agreement requirements, and annual compliance obligations.

Founders

Amazon Seller Agreement Red Flags: What You're Actually Agreeing To

Amazon's Business Solutions Agreement has real teeth: 90-day payment holds, perpetual IP licenses, de facto price parity enforcement, and immediate suspension with no appeal outside Amazon. Here's what's buried in the terms you already agreed to.

Founders

FTC Endorsement Rules for Product Sellers: Reviews, Affiliates, and Influencer Campaigns

Most DTC brands know they need disclosures. Fewer know that review gating is a federal violation, that #ad in a bio isn't enough, and that the FTC has levied multi-million-dollar penalties against fashion and beauty brands for exactly these mistakes.

Hardware Founders

FCC Certification and CE Marking for Connected Devices: The Hardware Startup Compliance Roadmap

Most hardware founders don't discover FCC and CE certification requirements until a purchase order is blocked at customs or a retailer won't stock the product. Here's what connected device makers need to know about the certification process, timeline, cost, and how to plan it from day one.

Founders

The State Privacy Law Patchwork in 2026: Which Laws Apply to Your App and What They Require

Twenty states now have active privacy laws. This guide maps which ones apply to your app based on your user base, explains the California/Texas/other enforcement tiers, and covers the five elements every privacy notice must include.

Health Tech

Mental Health App Data Privacy: What Therapy and Wellness Apps Must Do Beyond HIPAA

Most wellness and therapy app founders assume HIPAA is the only privacy framework they need to worry about. It isn't. Mental health data sits under a stricter federal layer, state confidentiality statutes, and FTC enforcement actions that apply even when you're not a covered entity.

Founders

Employee vs. Independent Contractor in 2026: The Tests Every Startup Must Pass Before Classification

The DOL's 2024 rule reinstated a multi-factor economic reality test that puts most startup contractor arrangements under real scrutiny. Here's what the tests actually require and where the misclassification risk is highest.

Founders

At-Will Employment in Texas: The Doctrine, the Exceptions, and the Termination Mistakes That Create Exposure

Texas founders rely on at-will more than the law justifies. This guide covers the five state-law exceptions, federal overlays like the NLRA and FMLA, what employment agreements do to at-will status, and the documentation that limits termination exposure.

Founders

Non-Compete Agreements After the FTC Rule Litigation: What Texas Startups Can Enforce

The FTC’s sweeping non-compete ban is on hold after a Texas federal court enjoined it. While the legal battle continues, Texas has its own enforceable framework—and most startup non-competes still fail it. Here’s what the law actually requires.