Jason Shinn of the Michigan Employment Law Advisor had a great post entitled "Is your company making this mistake when it comes to employees and intellectual property?" The post centers on a lawsuit filed by an employee of Marvel Entertainment who claimed he created the Ghost Rider character back in the 1970s. With the recent success

In this video I discuss a red flag I’ve seen come up in franchise agreement negotiation. Sometimes a franchisor will tell a prospective franchisee that they can’t (or won’t) change the franchise agreement. That’s just fine but my problem comes when they say, "Don’t worry though, we won’t hold you to that provision." That is

Maryland franchise lawyer Jeff Fabian has an excellent blog post on the issues to consider when the franchise agreement terminates on the Franchise Help blog.

In my experience many franchisees are under the misconception that they can simply change the name of their business and then begin serving the same customers the next day under

I am pleased to announce that I now have a Rush on Business You Tube Channel where I’ll post short videos on various aspects of business and franchise law. I have a few videos posted so far and I’ll add content weekly.

New videos include:

Should You Include Your Spouse When Forming a Small Business LLC?

Do you know the difference between sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies? Do you know whether to set up an S corporation or is a C corporation better for you? Are limited liability companies really all that and a bag of chips?

Be sure to join me for an information-packed webinar through MyEntre.Net on

A new organization called Above the Line America is hosting a Business Growth Summit in Ankeny, Iowa on January 31, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Summit is located at the FFA Enrichment Center, 1055 SW Prairie Trail Parkway in Ankeny.

The day should be a great one. Business owners and professionals will get an opportunity to

Iowa entrepreneurs have an opportunity to connect with potential investors at the i2Iowa Investors and Innovators Forum on April 12, 2012 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Business owners and entrepreneurs can pitch their businesses to investors from four tracks which include:

  1. Life and Bio Sciences
  2. Information Technology
  3. Advanced Manufacturing
  4. General Business

Companies can apply online through

I saw an interesting post from franchise attorney Michael Webster on the BlueMauMau site on Negotiating Your Franchisee Rights. Some of his helpful nuggets:

  1. Review the FDD to see if they are using franchise brokers – you may be able to knock something off the franchise fee by asking for the broker’s rebate.
  2. Budget for professional advice. Hire