Category: Corporate

Most businesses are familiar with basic US business contracts and with the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”). Unless your business involves a significant component of international transactions, you may not be familiar with the Convention/Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”). CISG law and CISG forms govern international sales of commercial goods, but not services, […]

The internet has forever changed the way health and medical services are provided. The last 10 years have seen a rapid expansion in telemedicine and telehealth services. In response many states have developed statutes to define and regulate telemedicine. For example, Vermont developed a statute (8 V.S.A. § 4100k ) requiring health insurance companies to cover […]

In practice, a trade secret can be pretty much anything. The federal Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S. Code § 1839(3), defines a “trade secret” as: … all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, […]

A recent California case reminds businesses and website owners that browsewrap and clickwrap agreements must be conspicuous for courts to enforce them. See Long v. Provide Commerce, Inc., 245 Cal.App.4th 855 (2nd Dist. 2016). It may be time to review your agreements to ensure they still comply with existing law. What are Clickwrap and Browsewrap […]

As many know, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regulates unfair and deceptive business practices including such practices on the internet. One of the more vexing recent issues has been business use of “consumer” reviews, “likes,” rating systems and similar types of product and service endorsements on websites and on social media. In September 2017, the […]

Businesses that engage in deceptive and unfair internet practices are subject to injunctions and large monetary damage awards under the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”). Just as importantly, the owners and principals of businesses can be held personally liable. In the case discussed below, FTC v. Ross, the website owner was fined $163 million […]

Business Contracts 101: The Basics When you are running your business, almost everything you do is contractual, even if you do not see yourself as making and accepting contracts. If you email over a purchase order to one of your suppliers, that is a contract. In business, contracts can be quite simple. They can also […]

In general, a breach of contract is any failure to perform what you agreed to do. Examples would be: Failure to deliver the goods promise Failure to deliver the goods in a timely fashion Failure to pay, etc. Contractual obligations are set forth in the contract between the parties. If the contract is in writing, […]

Intellectual property (IP) rights are valuable assets and startup companies need sophisticated legal and business strategies for monetizing these IP assets. The basic IP inventory for startup companies contains: Trade Secrets Trademarks Internet Domain Names Copyrights and Patents The obvious way in which new startup companies monetize their IP is to incorporate the IP into […]

Many startup companies do not realize that their intellectual property (IP) rights are often their most valuable asset. Few startups have portfolios of real property or vast quantities of retail inventory and other physical assets. What startups usually have are ideas, and ideas are valuable if they are properly protected. The Basic Intellectual Property Inventory […]