If salespeople connect with their business contacts on LinkedIn or another social media site, can they take that information with them when they leave the company? Maybe not, according to a federal court in California. Employees who wish to start their own businesses are often faced with difficult questions. Can I take my customer list […]
If you’ve put a lot of time and money into designing a distinctive website or online store, and a competitor comes along and copies your site’s look, what are your rights? Can you file a lawsuit? Yes, according to a federal court in a recent California case. The “look and feel” of a website is […]
Wage garnishment in Orange County is as difficult as it is in the rest of the country. More than 10 percent of employees between the ages of 35 and 44 had their wages garnished last year, according to a new study by payroll company ADP. That’s a staggering figure, and it creates a serious problem […]
Sales of vacation homes have been rising sharply lately. Across the country, the number of vacation homes sold last year was up 30% from the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors. Vacation homes now account for 13% of all home sales. The median price last year was $168,700. Interestingly, most vacation home […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-government entities that insure or repurchase a high percentage of mortgages in the U.S., will continue to back mortgages as large as $417,000 – and as large as $625,500 in some high-value areas. That’s the word from the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the […]
Start-up businesses are increasingly seeking funding on websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and promising small rewards to individual investors in return for micro-contributions. Examples of these businesses include the Veronica Mars movie, which raised millions of crowdfunding dollars by promising small contributors posters, DVDs and movie scripts, and a space telescope project that offered […]
If you are a commercial tenant, running a business and occupying under a commercial lease, can you be liable for injuries if a visitor or other passerby slips and falls outside your business? The answer depends on a number of factors. The most important, however, may be a Court’s assessment of legal responsibilities of landlord […]
A business cannot obtain a patent for taking some ordinary process in the real world and coming up with a computer program to make it easier, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. In ALICE CORPORATION PTY. LTD. v. CLS BANK INTERNATIONAL ET AL, decided in June of this year, a company called the Alice Corporation […]
Ever heard that you don’t actually have to register a trademark? Perhaps you believe you only have to “use” your trademark in business to have “a right to it.” That’s true to some extent – but beware! Trademarks are obviously an important aspect of branding and marketing an business. They are particularly important for start-ups. […]
What triggers a “technical termination” of a business for tax purposes according to the IRS? If more than 50% of the interests in a partnership or a multi-member LLC is transferred within a 12-month period, the entity technically ceases to exist under federal tax law. That’s true even if the business continues to operate as […]