Small Business Law Articles & Blog Posts
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Ask A Lawyer
Providing answers to real questions. Real life stories and real life answers; That’s what we look for when providing legal advice. Hypothetical situations are just that… hypothetical. We want to...
Stalker Survival and Owning a Business
How the Anonymous LLC allows for Business Owners to protect themselves from being a victim of harassment. There are many arguments that point to transparency in business ownership as a...
Darth Vader and the Copyright Issues
Photograph by Mike, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license. Most Star Wars fans have now seen the Darth Vader video titled “Vader Episode 1: Shards of the Past” on YouTube,...
The DuPont Factors and Trademarks
We discussed in a previous post what an Office Action is when it comes to your trademark application. Now, let’s take a little deeper look at the different types of...
Trademark Coexistence Agreements
A rejection received for many trademarks filed with the USPTO is likelihood of confusion, meaning the applied-for mark is confusingly similar to a registered mark. Overcoming a likelihood of rejection...
Contract Tip: What is a Counterpart Clause?
Boilerplate contract terms are often overlooked, and in some cases, this can be dangerous. A counterpart clause is one such often overlooked contract term. While I would hesitate to classify...
Available Now! The Business Entity Decision Maker
LLCs, Anonymous LLCs, C Corps, S Corp, Sole Proprietor…. Could you use a little guidance? What IS the best structure for my business? There are many choices when it comes...
What is a “Poor Man’s Copyright?”
A lot of us have heard of a “poor man’s copyright” where you simply mail yourself something you want to have copyrighted. You then do not open the envelope and...
What is Intellectual Property (IP)?
Intellectual property (IP) is a term that includes property that essentially comes from the mind, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, and, to a lesser extent, trade secrets. It is vital to...
Copyright Infringement – Musical Compositions – Musicians Need to Know
The list of acts is impressive: Robin Thicke, Pharrell, Madonna, Lana Del Rey, Vanilla Ice, Ray Parker, Jr., The Verve, Sam Smith, and the list goes on. These are acts...
Contract Tip: What is an Assignment Clause?
Let’s say that you are planning your wedding reception and you contracted with a particular ice sculptor because of his demonstrated ability to sculpt intricate, life-size ice replicas of the...
Trademark Office Action
USPTO calls it an Office Action, but let’s call it what it really is; It’s a rejection letter. For lack of a better metaphor, they have swiped left on your...