Iowa intellectual property lawyer Brett Trout has a terrific post on IowaBiz illustrating why it is dangerous to steal online contracts. Brett says,
I have seen companies steal terms of use agreements and privacy policies from websites that have nothing to do with their line of business. Not even taking the time to read the
Small Business Owners – Beware! If you own or manage a small business you live in a world of substantial legal risks and increasing complexity. It is easy to find examples of practices that once have been common but now could give rise to employment lawsuits. One such example I often hear is "I’ll
Want some great business advice? Looking for something interesting? Try out these posts:
Matt Gardner has an interesting post on his Wealth and Estate Planning blog about the "pot of gold" Iowa landowners are sitting on because of the renewable energy craze and why they should review their estate plan. (Sounds like Iowa farmers have something in common
Employee Handbooks, FMLA
Continue Reading Copy Another Company’s Employee Handbook at Your Peril
I am excited to announce that the Sullivan & Ward law firm will publish its Iowa Law Blog beginning in mid to late August. The firm’s law blog will cover general legal issues inlcuding the following areas of law:
Michael Moore has an informative post on Developing a Record Retention Policy on his Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog. Michael raises a particularly insightful issue:
Anticipate the arguments that may be made and inferences that could be drawn from the destruction of certain documents and weigh it against the expense of retaining and producing the
Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with one of my buddies. He is an executive with a Fortune 500 company out-of-state and he was expressing his frustration with lawyers – actually his own lawyers. He just got off the phone with one of his outside counsel when I called. After talking with him for less than 30 seconds I
Charlie Longbrief had just turned off his computer to end his day when the phone rang. It was John Grains. John owns the local grain elevator in Hometown, Iowa and Charlie has been his business lawyer for several years.
"Charlie, I’ve got a problem," he said.
"Tell me about it," Charlie said.
"Well, I need to fire Nancy
In today’s business environment, organizations need to respond to an increasing number of document requests, from regulatory compliance issues to internal investigations to full-scale litigation. Much of this information is available electronically. Despite the prevalence of such document requests most organizations remain reactive rather than proactive when it comes to dealing with the issue of
Iowa intellectual property lawyer Brett Trout offers a trademark law primer today on IowaBiz.com. Brett points out that companies seeking to protect their trademarks should consider federal registration of those marks for valuable trademark protection. He says,
Once you start using your trademark in commerce, you obtain what are known as "common law" trademark
