Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with business and law

How to not get screwed over in a business partnership.

giggleknickers — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:35:57 -0800

How does the tech person in a business partnership avoid getting screwed over by the business person? We are four people talking about starting up a small software development business. Three of us are software engineering students who know crap-all about business, and the fourth is an experienced businessman who is more or less going to take care of all the non-technical stuff. He will be our Steve Jobs to us three Steve Wozniaks.

I'm a little paranoid because I've read a lot about the history of various technological developments, and it seems that engineers and developers have a habit of getting screwed over by the businessperson they partner with. The businessperson uses their tricksy business skills to swipe the intellectual property and get all the money and credit while the developer is left wondering what on earth happened.

Am I overly paranoid from the history I've read or is this likely? How can I avoid it? We'll be working on a project that has been a long time dream of mine, so I feel very overprotective about it.

I'm trying to educate myself about this situation, but it feels like I need a degree in business, and another in accounting and another in law in order to understand everything I need to know to answer this question. It seems like a paradox, because if I knew enough to answer this question, I would know enough that we wouldn't need someone taking care of the business end of things in the first place.

Do I need a business license?

jefeweiss — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:31:10 -0800

Last year I got most of my income for working from home in the state of Virginia. I did work for a company that is not owned by me and was located in another town in Virginia. I got a 1099 as an individual from the company for the work that I did. This work was all conducted by phone and email, no one came to my home. I recently got a letter in the mail from the City of Winchester, VA saying that I did not register as a business in the city and that I needed to pay back licensing fees. I know you're not my lawyer, but do I have to do this?

Hang out the shingle or get more experience first?

Happydaz — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:10:50 -0800

I just graduated from law school on Sunday. I want to open my own law firm and practice criminal law after I pass the Oregon bar. But how can I get up to speed fast enough that I don't give my new clients poor legal services? I've been reading several books on starting your own practice. (Foonberg's 4th edition, How to Start your own Solo Practice and Succeed by Gerald Singer, and Solo by Choice.) But these books all focus on the business side of starting a law practice. Getting clients, running an office, whether you have the right personality to solo, etc. What I want to know is can I realistically become competent enough in criminal law that my clients aren't getting screwed while I learn the ropes?

I would really like to hear from anyone who has started their own law firm in any area of law. Did you start right out of law school or did you work for someone else first? What would you change if you could do it again?

somename vs some-name?

Ctrl_Alt_ep — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:41:34 -0800

Businessnamefilter: How similar is too similar? I have a name that I would like to register for a small business. All was fine until I did an official name search and found a similar name registered, here in Ontario, Canada. It is the same as mine with an added dash in between a prefix and a word. While it is not physically the same, it would be pronounced the same.

I am unable to get in contact with the registrant, and ServiceOntario has been unhelpful. This person/company has no web presence, nor is in the phone book. I wouldn't be posting if I could easily choose another name.

I have read the relevant legislation through, and the only useful things it states is that if I try to register a name already in use I can be sued for damages and that I can't use certain characters at the start of a name.

I understand that very few of you are lawyers, but I'm very interested in hearing about any similar issues that anyone has had or heard about - regardless of legal jurisdiction.

Which website (or lawyer) to visit if I want to do some business investigation on a person or company?

willy_dilly — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:22:38 -0800

Which website (or lawyer) to visit if I want to do some business investigation on a person or company? For personal reasons, I need to find information such as what companies are registered under a certain person's name, or who is registered under a company, what percentage of shares does each person own, etc. Note that the companies I want to investigate are private companies.

Are there any websites that will have those information? If not, will a lawyer or accountant be able to find that information for me?

99 problems but a name aint one

jourman2 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:38:30 -0800

Can I use a song lyric/title as my business name? Or is it copyright protected? For example, if I wanted to name my consulting firm '99 problems' or something equally as cheesy, would I need to request Jay-Z's permission first?

I've seen this which indicates that I don't need to - but just double checking to see if anyone knows otherwise.

If I work out of my apartment, will I be my only client?

pantheON — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:54:21 -0800

Can I run a criminal law practice out of my apartment? I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I'm currently articling (for my American friends, that's a mandatory one-year apprenticeship I have to complete to get called to the bar) at a mid-sized insurance defense firm. I've concluded that I want to get out of this area of the law and I'm interested in pursuing a career in criminal defence. I've been told that I'll likely have to take legal aid cases almost exclusively until I gain some more experience and can establish a full practice. My question is a narrow one: What are the practicalities of working out of my apartment until I can build a practice that can support office space. My apartment is in the business district of the city and about a 10 minute walk from the courthouses. Could I, for example, work out of my apartment, store my files there, and meet clients in public places?

Is it illegal for a business to close earlier than the closing time posted on their door?

thatgirl — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:31:13 -0800

Is it illegal for a business to close earlier than the closing time posted on their door? When I was a waitress in California (12 years ago), I remember one of my managers saying that it was illegal to lock the doors even slightly before the closing time posted on the doors. If we were closing at 10:00 p.m. and a customer wanted to come in at 9:59, we had to let them in and serve them.

In all of my years living in California, I can't recall a single instance when I found a business (such as stores, restaurants, banks, etc.) closed or closing before their posted closing time.

I live in upstate New York now, and this happens to me ALL THE TIME.

- Dunkin' Donuts: Found closed, dark, and deserted a half-hour before closing time.
- Dunkin' Donuts another time: Found the store closed an hour early, forcing me to get back in my car and go through the drive-through (which was not scheduled to close for another 2 hours), only to be told that they had no donuts left at all. I asked why and the girl told me that her manager had her throw them away an hour ago. (?!) All she could sell me was coffee.
- Pizza Hut: Tried to come in 45 minutes before closing, told they were closing the dining room early and we could only order to go.
- Price Chopper (tonight): Normally 24-hours, they were closing at 10:00 p.m. for New Year's Eve. We went in at 9:40 and were told somewhat rudely upon entry that they were closing in 10 minutes. As we were leaving 5 minutes later (9:45), they were no longer allowing customers in, stopping them at the door and telling them the store was closed.

These are just a few instances. There have been other stores, and other restaurants ("real" restaurants, not just drive-throughs and crappy pizza). In all cases, they have the business hours posted on (or near) the door. (Nothing where there were no hours posted, or where they said "Closing: Late" or anything like that.)

This has become a huge pet-peeve for me. (My husband has heard more than a few rants on the topic!)

Bad customer service aside, is it legal for businesses to close before their posted closing time? Are they any regulations regarding this sort of thing? Is there anyone I can complain to and get them in trouble with?

Virtual Office - Yea or Nay?

Kimpossible — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:49:43 -0800

Do you use a virtual office? I would like to start my own law firm one day, and I've heard of virtual offices where you rent conference room and/or office space on an as-needed basis. And you use the address of the virtual office on your business cards. If you've tried this virtual office thing, what are the advantages and disadvantages? Which questions should I ask to the virtual office company before signing on?

How do I become a business tycoon?

doppleradar — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:28:06 -0800

How do I become a business tycoon? What's the route that maximizes career opportunity on a general level? JD, MBA, MS, or working your way up the ladder with no graduate degree?

I'm a soon-to-be psychology BA, with an average GPA (3.58/4.0) from a well-respected state school with a couple of years of part-time research experience.

Legal requirements for an adult dating site?

treepour — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:11:55 -0800

I'm considering starting an adult internet dating service in the US. What legal implications do I need to consider? (Some mildly NSFW details follow). I'm considering creating a site for local gay/bi men BDSM enthusiasts to post/browse/search profiles, send private messages, etc. I know sites like this already exist but I'm hoping to create a small, low-overhead site that's both locally focused and low or no cost to end users.

I would, however, like for members to be able to post possibly NSFW pictures of themselves. On the one hand, I know that US recordkeeping requirements have become quite stringent. On the other, there are still a lot of personals and related sites -- not to mention craigslist -- that don't require one to submit two government-issued picture id's in order to post NSFW pictures of oneself.

Are sites in this latter category operating in a legal gray area? Or are there exceptions to the recordkeeping requirements for social networking, dating, or craigslist-like sites? Short of talking to a lawyer, are there any good resources for obtaining this sort of information in general?

What software is used in the phone sex business ?

lc037 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:41:28 -0800

I have one question which has three related parts: Q1. What companies are out there which provide the technology to operate a phone sex business where I can concentrate on marketing and they take care of all the backend processing allowing the individual phone sex operators to dial in from their own home and talk with their clients who are charged per minute ? I do not want to personally keep or maintain the software myself. I want to outsource this. So the sex operators would "clock in" at will and recieve calls at any phone they like. This software should also use some sort of accounting to keep track of time spent for each operator. Q2. Also, how are the phone sex operators paid ? by cashiers checks mailed out to them by Fedex ? This may not be practical especially if there are many operators. Q3. Finally since this business does not involve any pornographic images are there any laws I need to abide by like having to keep records and making sure everyone is over 18 years of age ?

In terms of business/legal preparations, how do I best go into the forthcoming sale of some software I've written.

davidvan — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:15:17 -0800

In terms of contracts and legal/business preparations, how should I proceed with the forthcoming sale of software that I've written to a client (this is my first time selling my own software/services as an independent contractor). A piece of web-based software I wrote is going to be used at a local university next semester. I'm going to be supporting users and fixing bugs as needed.

I want to make sure I retain all ownership of the work (I will just allow them to use it for the semester) and want to minimize any chances of legal/complicated business issues coming up. In addition to all this, I don't know whether it is best (from a business/legal) standpoint to host the work on the school's servers or my server.

Any feedback/pointers would be most welcome.

Subcontract. Manage. Mediate.

greggish — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 11:11:27 -0800

So, Organization A has hired Organization B to implement a program. Organization A has reason to believe that Organization B is not implementing that program effectively/ethically, but the implementation is already in progress. So, let's say Organization A was compelled to turn to Third Party (C) to participate in the process of implementing the program -- as an observer, mediator, what have you. Actually, 'what have you' is the first part of the question -- what would such a Third Party C be called? C would oversee, mediate, and potentially arbitrate issues that arise between working staff and management. Is there corporatese/legalese for this sort of thing?

The second part of the question is: help me find effective models thereof.

Using the trademarked name of a business no longer in business

fourstar — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 16:31:19 -0800

Another MeFi trademark question: A small restaurant chain (let’s say ABCFood) opened in Colorado in 1996 and closed all its locations in Q4 2004. All of ABCFood’s state business registrations are in "Delinquent" and/or "Administratively Dissolved" status, and the proprietor has moved on to other endeavors. The USPTO still has a "live" listing for ABCFood’s trademark, though, as mentioned, the mark is no longer maintained. What obstacles would stop someone from hypothetically opening a similar chain with the name ABCFood in another state?

Cash the check or no?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 07:47:11 -0800

I'm a freelance web developer who was recently fired by a client, had the amount of my invoice debated, and decided, for a couple of reasons, to write it off as a loss and tell them not to pay me anything. Today I got a check in the mail; do I cash it? Here's the background: the client was a person who has a line of products she makes herself, and wanted to set up an online store to sell them. The design part of that was already taken care of, and I was contracted solely to build the site. I surveyed the requirements and recommended an e-commerce solution, and she decided to go with it. As I was getting ready to put the site together, I was asked if I could set it up on a different platform instead, as she had found an all-in-one service she liked the look of, which would provide hosting, content-management with a cart, etc. I expressed hesitation, thinking it wasn't nearly as flexible as what I'd recommended, but in the end agreed to it, figuring I could work around any limitations in the system. That was my mistake.

Fast forward a little ways; I've mentioned while working on the site that there are a couple things that can't be done exactly as originally planned, but when she first sees the site she's extremely upset that it's not exactly what she'd expected (the particular hangup was a lack of one bit of functionality in the store system which, after consideration, I told her could probably be worked around given a few extra days). I was thanked for my time and told that someone else would be contracted to finish the project, and asked to submit an invoice for my time on the project.

About a week after invoicing, I received an email not from the client, but from someone identifying as her business partner. This person stated that, due to my "misrepresenting my abilities" and "providing bad advice", they would not pay the full amount of the invoice, and offered an amount equal to roughly two-thirds. I wrote back and pointed out that I had originally recommended a different system and had indicated that the particular problem they had with the final choice could probably be worked around. I also indicated that I would ask for no payment. There were really two reasons for this:

1. They weren't happy, and my background is in customer service. So I decided that the best way to make them happy again, or at least somewhat happier, was to relieve them of having to pay me for something they didn't feel was what they'd asked for.
2. With words like "misrepresentation" flying around, there's always a chance it'll end up in court. I took this job because it was a friend of a friend, and did it on a handshake rather than my usual contract which specifies how disputes like this will be handled. Dumb, I know, but I figured that if by some chance it did turn into legal action, my refusing payment would hopefully be evidence of good faith and an attempt to minimize any perceived losses/damages on their part caused by whatever they tried to accuse me of.

I did, however, ask that someone I had contracted to do some Flash for the site be paid in full for his work, as it was completed to spec. I also sent along copies of all the HTML templates and stylesheets I'd created and images I'd sliced up, along with a note explaining where I'd inserted templates into the store system and pointing out that the files I'd sent them could easily be used to implement the workaround I had suggested (which I'd described to the client before being terminated from the project). The "business partner" responded and said that this was more than acceptable, and that the Flash guy would be paid.

Today I got a letter, not from the business partner, but from the client, expressing that she did not feel I had misrepresented anything or acted in bad faith, and that while she appreciated my not asking for payment she felt I was entitled to some compensation. Enclosed was a check for roughly one-third of what the total invoice would have been.

So now I'm in a quandary. The letter is pretty unequivocal, stating that she doesn't feel I misrepresented anything or that I acted in bad faith, so I should be covered legally. Given that, should I cash the check? Or would it be best to speak with an attorney first?

This thread DOES comment on pending litigation

fourstar — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 14:47:15 -0800

When did the practice of refusing to comment on a given issue due to pending litigation become an acceptable response? Is this a fairly recent development -- a result of living in a sue-happy nation? Is it just the vogue rhetoric of avoiding even a minimal amount of accountability? Or is it something else? For the lawyers out there, what are the ramifications of commenting? ... especially with cases like those involving the government?

PayPal me my taxes.

Orkboi — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:14:14 -0800

I am running a free Web-based service for friends and acquaintances. Lately, the volume on this service has been growing greatly. The next step is to move the service to a professional host. I am thinking of putting a paypal donation button on the site to help pay for it. Are there any legal or tax issues I need to worry about? Do I need a business license? What if I want to start selling Cafe Press items or running Google ads? I am located in the USA.

Shorting Spitzer's Victims

kenko — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:33:08 -0800

Would it be legal for a member of the NYAG's office to start shorting a company Spitzer's about to sue shortly before he makes his first press release about it, given that my impression from this article is that his doing so tends to lead to drops in stock prices?

Creating an LLC

Katemonkey — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:15:32 -0800

I've been a freelance web designer operating as a sole trader for six months. Now I've gotten a contract that can only hire people as limited companies. I've been told to use an umbrella company, but after reading up on them online, I'm just at a loss. I can understand what they do, but why don't companies want sole traders? And does anyone have any recommendations on umbrellas to use? (Save, of course, the Umbrella Corporation)

Income tax question for an LLC

limitedpie — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 11:51:58 -0800

If one has a business that is registered as an LLC (with no partners-- just the one person) and if: the business location (office) is in one state, the owner lives in another state and most of the business (or clients) are in a third state in which state is state income tax due-- where the office is, the owner's residence or where the clients are?

Taxation and Reporting for eCommerce

lilboo — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:31:41 -0800

Ecommerce filter: Here at work we are attempting to understand/define the default business rules for taxation calculations within an ecommerce app. Specifically we are all tied up in knots over the application of rates, reporting issues, etc. Is there an industry standard for handling this aspect of a transaction? Who defines the standards, and how can I find out more about it?

Starting a very small business.

shotsy — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 17:56:01 -0800

I am thinking of starting a very small business, but I have a few questions for those of you who have done so before I really make up my mind wheter to go forward or not. [More Inside] I'd like to start selling original t-shirts over the web, essentially. My goal is not to get rich, just to get a little extra change and also to get some t-shirts I'd want to wear. Hobby meets Cash. I've looked over some of the previous threads on setting up small business, but none seemed to quite address my questions.

A bit about my plan: Start with small runs, maybe 50 prints each of two designs, see how they sell, then react accordingly.

1) I've looked into the process and there are a lot of custom printers out there, and if anybody has experience in that area, I'd appreciate a reccomendation.

2) Taxes: I don't see myself making all that much money on this venture, but I don't want to play games with Johnny Law, so I am wondering how difficult figuring this stuff out will be. Do I need to officiate myself as a company or anything?

3) Advertising: I'd love to hear the good and bad stories of internet advertising. How does it usually work? I'd obviously target sites that cater to people with similar aesthetic ideals, but I'd love to get a rough (or very rough) estimate for how much I should expect to budget for that sort of thing (though I understand it will vary wildly by site).

4) Any other tips on things I haven't thought of would be appreciated.

I realize I've thrown a lot out there, so please just answer parts if you can. Many thanks.

Can someone be held liable for infringing on a patented business model if they aren't in business?

Danelope — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:47:29 -0800

Can someone be held liable for infringing upon a patented business model if they aren't in business? A number of business model patents have been handed out in recent years by the USPTO, hindering competition and market performance, with companies suing others to protect their supposed intellectual property. What happens to that model when money-making is removed from the equation?

Say a fictitious online retailer named, oh, "Yamazon" received a patent for an "innovative" method by which their customers may buy root vegetables online. If an individual or organization were to implement a similar feature via an online service through which they stand to make no money whatsoever, could Yamazon successfully sue them for patent infringement? If no financial harm to Yamazon could be demonstrated, would they maintain the legal right to pursue an injunction and/or damages against the non-profit?

Put another way, if I'm an Open Source Software developer and I include a feature that a Commercial Software Company had previously patented, am I opening myself to legal proceedings, even if I have made no profit at all?

Scouring the USPTO FAQs and Googling haven't led me to a concrete answer. Hopefully, there are others wiser in the ways of lawyering than I. [Less Outside]