“SPACE 2.0” GETS ORGANIZED AS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW FIRM SIGNS ON AS FOUNDING SPONSOR WITH EIGHTH CONTINENT PROJECT

GOLDEN, CO — The Eighth Continent Project, the world’s most comprehensive program to integrate space technology and resources into the global economy, today announced that one of the nation’s most experienced intellectual property law firms, Townsend and Townsend and Crew, has become a founding sponsor.

“Professional, creative and legal services firms like Townsend are poised as critical players in the emerging space commerce industry,” said Burke Fort, Eighth Continent Project director. “As the paradigms shift from the billion-dollar government programs of ‘Space 1.0,’ entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are now leading the charge toward a market-driven business community that we’re calling ‘Space 2.0.’ These new companies will require the legal support and intellectual property protection of specialists like Townsend.”

The San Franscisco-based law firm will provide both funding sponsorship and legal services to the Eighth Continent Project.

“Townsend is proud to join Eighth Continent in supporting the next frontier in space industry best business practices,” said Attorney Gene Branch from Townsend’s Denver office. “This ground floor opportunity is an important step in organizing a marketplace that is already a hotbed of technological and intellectual innovation.”

Other initial founding partners and sponsors include: DigitalGlobe, the Keiretsu Forum, Broadreach Engineering, MicroSat, the Colorado Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.
About Eighth Continent
Based in Golden, Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines’ Eighth Continent Project (www.8cproject.com) is the world’s most comprehensive effort to integrate space technology and resources into the global economy. Eighth Continent provides the infrastructure and resources to solve a wide range of challenges from global warming to renewable energy development. Located in Colorado, home of the most concentrated entrepreneurial, investor and aerospace talent in the world, Eighth Continent brings space down to earth with the industry’s first trade association, incubator, venture fund and research hub, all working together to develop the next generation of space business ventures.

About Townsend and Townsend and Crew
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP teams with businesses, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists and investors to protect their innovative products and ideas. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Washington, DC and Tokyo, Townsend has more than 200 attorneys and patent professionals, many with advanced technical degrees and extensive scientific and business experience.

CONTACT:
Burke Fort, burke.fort@8cproject.com, 303-384-2096
John Metzger, john@metzger.com, 303-786-7000 x2202
Jon Pushkin, jon@pushkinpr.com, 303-733-3441


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