Don’t File Your LLC or S-Corp Without Reading This
Ok, so you’ve decided to start a business, either by yourself, with a couple of friends, or maybe even with a couple of colleagues from your last “corporate gig”. You sit down at your first impromptu “business meeting” over a case of cold coke (insert other favorite beverage here) and you start your checklist:
1. Million Dollar Idea: Check
2. Office Space (or an extra room/basement in your house): Check
3. Business Plan: Check
4. Business Name: …
… a blank stare stretches across everyone’s face and thus your business has hit its first of many roadblocks on the road to becoming “The Next Fortune 100 Company.”
So, you do what every other start-up business does, you start listing words that describe what you do, try to combine them to create something new, brainstorm them and email back and forth over several days, nag every person you come into contact with to get their opinion, and FINALLY someone comes up with a name that everyone loves (or more likely at least everyone can live with it) and “The Business” is born.
Now here’s where there is a hidden step that no one probably told you about. Let me explain.
For the purpose of this illustration, let’s suppose that you pick the name “XYZBiz.” While you’re positive that millions of dollars of venture capital, private jets and an office on the 152nd floor of the coolest building downtown are just inches away, there are a couple of things that you may not be aware of … Important things like — Is there another business called XYZBiz anywhere on earth? Before you file your corporate paperwork, start printing up brochures, buy XYZBiz.com and build your website, this is a serious question that has to be answered.
“Why does it matter” you may ask. Well, there is a large body of law in the United States, as well as in almost every other nation in the world that prevents competitors from using the same name.
So, if there is another XYZBiz operating anywhere in the good old U.S. of A. (we’ll leave the rest of the world out of this for now) and if you were to start offering your products and services in the same geographical area (which is a real problem to figure out now that the internet has erased many geographical boundaries), then the other XYZ Biz “impostors” (who are undoubtedly not nearly as good as you) could have a Trademark Infringement Claim against you.
If they were to pursue this infringement, it could be very costly. Because remember, if you are served with a lawsuit, you are REQUIRED to respond to it no matter how ridiculous it may sound. And, as you might have guessed, at this point you will need to hire a lawyer to handle this situation, and I can tell you that this call is much more expensive than the one I’m about to tell you about.
The truth is that this is a very common issue that sometimes goes unnoticed, but often ends up in a costly visit to the courtroom. So, you have two choices, you can wing it or you can opt for the safer route: do a little homework for yourself and then call an attorney who specializes in trademarks.
Now, I know that the mere mention of the word “attorney” conjures up many feelings in all of us, but I can assure you there are some very helpful attorneys out there… I can think of at least one right now! And the trademark process is really not that expensive. Certainly it’s not nearly as expensive as defending yourself against a multi-million dollar corporation or even worse a “sinking ship” company that is just looking for a way to scrape some money out of anyone they can.
Trust me… or you can learn the hard way for yourself.
Copyright 2007 The TM Lawyers.
For info on trademarks visit http://www.thetmlawyers.com. JW Dicks & Nick Nanton founders of The TM Lawyers are experienced lawyers who’ve worked years in intellectual property & licensing fields. The TM Lawyers is a division of Dicks & Nanton P.A. a law firm specializing in building businesses.
Patent Laws Part One
A patent basically gives the legal right to one person to exclude others from using, making, offering to sell, importing the patented invention, or using the invention.
There are three kinds of patents, there is patent called a utility patent, another one called a plant patent , and a third called a design patent. A utility patent is granted 20 years for something new, useful, and non obvious products and processes. Plant patents are granted for 20 years and are literally for actual plants that are discovered and are asexually reproducing and distinct. Design patents run for 14 years and are granted for new original and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture.
For utility patents federal provides that:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless
(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States, or
(c) he has abandoned the invention, or
(d) the invention was first patented or caused to be patented, or was the subject of an inventor’s certificate, by the applicant or his legal representatives or assigns in a foreign country prior to the date of the application for patent in this country on an application for patent or inventor’s certificate filed more than twelve months before the filing of the application in the United States, or
(e) the invention was described in (1) an application for patent, published under section 122(b), by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent or (2) a patent granted on an application for patent by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent, except that an international application filed under the treaty defined in section 351(a) shall have the effects for the purposes of this subsection of an application filed in the United States only if the international application designated the United States and was published under Article 21(2) of such treaty in the English
language; (1) or
(f) he did not himself invent the subject matter ought to be patented, or
(g)(1) during the course of an interference conducted undersection 135 or section 291, another inventor involved thereinestablishes, to the extent permitted in section 104, that before such person’s invention thereof the invention was made by such other inventor and not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed, or (2) before such person’s invention thereof, the invention was made in this country by another inventor who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention under thissubsection, there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.
Patents differ from copyright in that only one person has the right to the novel product or process. Under copyright law two different persons may have come with the same idea at the same time and have
Arnold Hernandez is an attorney representing clients in primariily in civil matters, especially overtime claims, n San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, and Orange County and throughout Southern California, check for part II and other parts of patents law at http://www.arnoldhernandez.com
Louisiana Estate Planning Under Napoleonic Code Is A Bit “Different”
Louisiana law provides that without a will, separate property is inherited in a unique inheritance order unlike that in most other states. That order is somewhat complicated, and its unusual provisions often come as an unwelcome, devastating surprise to the surviving family.
If one is married but has no will, ones line of inheritance in Louisiana is the same as that of a single person. That is: Actual usage (usufruct) of funds and property are given to the parents of the deceased; the deceased’s siblings are granted naked ownership. If the deceased’s parents die first, then the siblings inherit full ownership with usage rights.
Where’s the wife or husband in all this? Out in the cold, without a will specifying his or her inheritance. Children are somewhat better protected in the event of no will – but a spouse inherits nothing at all beyond community property … and “community property” is not defined in ways most people assume it is; many valuable assets may be “separate property,” instead, and that spells danger for the surviving spouse.
By legal definition, separate property is that which is acquired prior to a marriage; acquired by inheritance or donation to one spouse individually; or acquired by one spouse with separate funds or with separate and community funds where the community funds are very small in comparison to the separate funds.
How does that legalese translate to a real-life situation? Well …
Say two young married men start buying business property together. Their wives have no part in these acquisitions and each wife signs off as an “intervener” (that is, they declare and agree that the property is being purchased by their husbands with separate funds, and is not part of the marital property). Now, say that both men are killed in a tragic accident and, being young, healthy and robust, they’ve never thought to prepare wills.
This “separate property” is not part of community property – even though it was purchased after the marriage – and neither wife will inherit. If neither man has children, the inheritors will be the parents or the siblings of the deceased. If the men do have children, the children will inherit naked ownership, but not usage rights. In either event, the wives – the mothers of those children – do not inherit either naked or usufruct rights, absent a will stating anything to the contrary.
For another example, suppose you inherit a camp or farmland in Louisiana, and even though you were married twice, you never had children of your own. Your second wife had children with her first husband, but while you raised them and loved them as your own, you never did legally adopt those children. If you die before executing a will, the camp and farmland are separate property (because you inherited them individually, not as community property).
Your wife cannot inherit your separate property unless you leave it to her in a will and, in this instance, the children you’ve loved and raised as you own can’t inherit, either, since they never were legally adopted. Absent a will stating otherwise, your parents, if living, inherit the separate property; if your parents are deceased, your siblings inherit.
Clearly, the peculiarities of Louisiana law necessitate anyone with property to leave take the time to file a properly drafted will with trust provisions to ascertain that his/her family is cared and provided for according to his/her wishes. As it relates to separate property in Louisiana, there is no protection for a spouse or significant other without a will – but a correctly drafted one will insure their protection in the event of your death.
Louisiana estate planning with a correctly drafted will insures your family’s protection. With over 30 years of experience, the attorneys at Melcher’s Law Firm use their knowledge and the client’s circumstances to determine the type of trust or will to recommend. http://www.melcherslawfirm.com/
Identity Theft Prevention – Ways To Prevent Identity Theft
There are ways to prevent identity theft before it happens. In most case people wait until it is to late before they try to protect themselves. Thieves are finding more clever ways to get a hold of your identity. Once they get it, they will have themselves a good time pretending to be you. Imagine this, you bought a new car and didn’t even know it until you got a late payment notice in the mail.
The time is now to prevent identity theft. Here is the way you do it.
There is no need to have five different ID or credit cards with you. If you feel the need to have that many, keep the one you feel is most important.
Instead of taking your driver license with you, take your ID card, unless your are driving. Most driver license, if not all, has a persons Social Security Number and address on it, easy target. State ID cards have a totally different number other than your Social Security Number.
Tear up or shred old bills.Believe it or not there are some people who will go through your trash to get your information. If you leave important papers lying around the house, your child just might take it with them to school and loose it.
Get rid of credit cards your not using anymore, children love to play with your old cards for some reason. May be they have seen how you use them and want to do the same. It makes them feel all grown up and could make you feel like a little child who has been taken advantage of.
You just got a new debit card, and you need a pin number. Make sure it is a number you can and will remember. Writing down your pin number on a piece of paper is not safe at all. It is easy picking if someone steals your purse or wallet and find your new card along with your new pin number and off to Wal-Mart they go and guess who gets the bill.
When going out to eat, never give your debit card or credit card to whoever is serving you. While you are sitting at the table, they could be getting your card number and your three digit number off of your card.
There are a lot of other ways to prevent identity theft. I have only shown you a few ways to prevent it from happening to you. Be careful when it comes down to you Identity. Who’s identity is it anyway?
Richard Hairston has shown you a few Ways To Prevent Identity Theft from happening to you, but it is your responsibility to take action against it ever happening to you. To find out more ways to prevent identity theft visit http://www.usfreeads.com/910836-cls.html