Jason Miller Esq. has been practicing law for years. Being a close friend of mine I thought he is the logical choice for this assignment. I approached Jason with my business idea and asked him a few questions about intellectual property (IP), company structure, and such. His professional point of view gave me some interesting pointers on intellectual property, and also about the business idea itself, and some areas of opportunity?
Jason what can you tell me about the company structure?
Each business entity has different tax implications. The best example I can give you would be an S-Corporation. This type of structure falls under different tax brackets. For instance, any income between $75,000 and $100,000 will have a tax rate structure of about 34% plus 13.750.
On a different note, for a small business owner a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) is the best option for a many reasons; the main reason, and also the simplest if that you can't get sued if you have limited liability.
What's your take on the business name?
Ideally you will have dba (doing business as) on the name. For instance, you can be "Friendly Corp. dba Home Novelties and Decor. Depending on the structure the name will have variations and you have to make sure not to use the wrong words when spelling out the acronym. For example if you say Limited Liability Company instead of Limited Liability Corporation it could change the whole meaning on a contract. This is a common mistake.
What is the best way to protect copyrighted material? And how can you make sure is not being used by someone else?
It is extremely difficult to monitor such action. For an online business the best thing to do is to come up with a unique logo that is so unusual no one will be able to impugn on it. For example, no one could trademark a domain name such as EBay1 or AmazonX.
What is your professional opinion about the business idea?
When you seek legal advise from a professional they will want to know what you want to do? Why do you think your business idea is unique and innovative? Thousands of online businesses fail and only the strongest survive by virtue of incorporating a catchy name (i.e. Amazon). Your business name is too long and wordy. Think about another business with a long name such as Bed Bath & Beyond and you will see your business name does not have the same tone. Ask yourself why. If you do not have a catchy name you will spend thousands of dollars on marketing just to have a degree of brand awareness.
I would like to thank Jason for this opportunity. He was kind enough to provide me with a link to his Linked In profile, as he is not allowed to use his law office on any pro bono work.
Jason Miller | LinkedIn
This blog represents a career goal and the beginning of a journey.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Industry Liabilities
Hello Teammates. Below are the articles and cases I chose to discuss today:
The first one is entitled "The Sophia Stewart wins the Matrix copyright infringement case"
I know the title is pretty self explanatory but I chose to comment on this one is because it is amazing to me that a multi-million dollar production such as the Matrix Saga would have copyright issues. The Plaintiff claims that the movie was based on her a manuscript called "The third Eye" which she copyrighted back in the early 80's (Bhatt, 2009). What I find so amazing about this case is that one would think studios such as Warner Bros would have a set of amazing entertainment law attorneys looking after important details like this. The court obviously concurred with the woman claim since there was a judgment in her favor but this comes to show you this type of litigation can last for years. Our reading show that the court decision will boil down (in many cases) to whether or not there are enough similarities between the original and alleged infringed material.
This video clip is called "Chris Knight's Copyright Infringement Case Resolved". According to this video clip a man by the name Chris Knight received a copyright infringement for posting a You Tube videoThe man produced a video for a school campaign and posted it on You Tube. He received a copyright infringement take down notice for posting a clip of his commercial from the VH1 show. This was after seeing his commercial on the VH1 web job 2.0. According to the video he responded to these claims with a counter notice and did some research as to what he needed to do on a situation like this. His video was restored and no further charges where filed by either party. The action by You Tube turned out to be a mistake since they thought that this man took a video a company produced and uploaded it to You Tube when it was the other way around (Anonymous, 2007). Now litigation for infringement can lead to all kinds of penalties and restitution and Chris Knight chose not to pursue and added he did not mind them using his material. I think in this case the fact the he did not press any charges was very lucky because if he can prove this is his own material he could be in for a hefty settlement.
The last article is a trademark infringement Red Bull sued a company that produced an energy drink call bull fighter. Red bull claimed that the similar packaging and similar logo was misleading customers into believing the product was manufactured by Red Bull and therefore it offers same benefits as a Red Bull product. The court ruled in favor of Red Bull concluding the other competitor intentionally took advantage of Red Bull image for profit (Ameinfo, 2010). In my opinion, this is a perfect example of how trademarks can protect your business from infringement. The company was able to win this case because it took the time protect its intellectual property and now it may be entitle to a huge amount of royalties depending on the court’s ruling.
The first one is entitled "The Sophia Stewart wins the Matrix copyright infringement case"
I know the title is pretty self explanatory but I chose to comment on this one is because it is amazing to me that a multi-million dollar production such as the Matrix Saga would have copyright issues. The Plaintiff claims that the movie was based on her a manuscript called "The third Eye" which she copyrighted back in the early 80's (Bhatt, 2009). What I find so amazing about this case is that one would think studios such as Warner Bros would have a set of amazing entertainment law attorneys looking after important details like this. The court obviously concurred with the woman claim since there was a judgment in her favor but this comes to show you this type of litigation can last for years. Our reading show that the court decision will boil down (in many cases) to whether or not there are enough similarities between the original and alleged infringed material.
Bhatt, A. (2009). Sophia Stuart wins the matrix copyright infringement case. Retrieved March 01,2011 from http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/sophia-stewart-wins-the-copyright-infringement-case_100273392.html
This video clip is called "Chris Knight's Copyright Infringement Case Resolved". According to this video clip a man by the name Chris Knight received a copyright infringement for posting a You Tube videoThe man produced a video for a school campaign and posted it on You Tube. He received a copyright infringement take down notice for posting a clip of his commercial from the VH1 show. This was after seeing his commercial on the VH1 web job 2.0. According to the video he responded to these claims with a counter notice and did some research as to what he needed to do on a situation like this. His video was restored and no further charges where filed by either party. The action by You Tube turned out to be a mistake since they thought that this man took a video a company produced and uploaded it to You Tube when it was the other way around (Anonymous, 2007). Now litigation for infringement can lead to all kinds of penalties and restitution and Chris Knight chose not to pursue and added he did not mind them using his material. I think in this case the fact the he did not press any charges was very lucky because if he can prove this is his own material he could be in for a hefty settlement.
Anonymous. (2007). Chris Knight’s copyright infringement case. Retrieved March 1, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5R9ZFDielc
The last article is a trademark infringement Red Bull sued a company that produced an energy drink call bull fighter. Red bull claimed that the similar packaging and similar logo was misleading customers into believing the product was manufactured by Red Bull and therefore it offers same benefits as a Red Bull product. The court ruled in favor of Red Bull concluding the other competitor intentionally took advantage of Red Bull image for profit (Ameinfo, 2010). In my opinion, this is a perfect example of how trademarks can protect your business from infringement. The company was able to win this case because it took the time protect its intellectual property and now it may be entitle to a huge amount of royalties depending on the court’s ruling.
Ameinfo. (2010). Ameinfo.com. Retrieved March 1, 2011, from http://www.livenation.com/h/about_us.html
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