It’s the most fundamental concept of doing business—you provide another person or entity with something of value, and you get something back. The most successful businesses have strong underlying contracts under which they operate. Even the most well-negotiated contracts don’t guarantee that you will never deal with a party that doesn’t perform as agreed. Depending...
Blog
Incorporating a business means that you and other business partners, owners, or members have created a corporate entity that is separate from your assets and finances. Internal and external stakeholders may bring lawsuits against the business; any judgments resulting from those lawsuits will be held against the company and not your own assets. This corporate veil that divides you...
Entity selection is a topic which we will continue to spend considerable time and energy discussing in the present and foreseeable future. The simple reason for this is because proper entity selection has great significance for business owners. If you select an entity which isn’t right for you and your situation, this decision can have...
Without a thorough agreement for your business partnership, even a seemingly minor issue can mushroom into a major problem for the company. A partnership agreement is designed to clearly lay out the organization of the partnership and address any foreseeable contingencies that might threaten the company’s stability. While a partnership agreement is not required in...
In a perfect world, you would be able to use your federally registered trademarks without the fear of someone undercutting your brand. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. With ownership of a registered trademark comes great responsibility. You may occasionally have to take action in order to enforce your trademark rights, which may involve one...
Having trademarks for your company is crucial for building brand awareness, goodwill, and customer loyalty. A trademark, to briefly describe, is a word, phrase, symbol, logo, or other device that identifies the source of a product or service. On your way to and from work, you probably drive past dozens of trademarks (McDonald’s Golden Arches,...
Whenever many people hear the terms “workplace discrimination” or “workplace harassment,” they think of employees receiving poor treatment at their places of employment. While that general description is on the right track, poor treatment at work must be due to a specific characteristic of an employee for it to rise to the level or discrimination...
Everyone loves to play April Fool’s pranks this time of year, but it’s important that business owners realize that trademark registration is no joke! For various reasons, some business owners choose not to go through the process of formally registering their trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). This is true even...