February 16, 2016
The Supreme Court yesterday issued its opinion in one of the most discussed cases on this year’s docket – Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. The actual facts of the Hobby Lobby case are somewhat convoluted and generalizing the holding beyond the facts presented will be problematic, but below are the major points of the opinion:
February 16, 2016
Recently, Tyler Perry won the right to trademark “What Would Jesus Do.” There are a couple of points I’d like to make about this story. First, some of the media coverage has suggested Tyler Perry can now stop Christians from wearing the popular WWJD bracelets.
September 14, 2015
One of the primary reasons to operate your business as a limited liability company is to limit your exposure to the company’s liabilities. A related issue that is often overlooked is understanding the extent to which a limited liability company can be liable for the liabilities of a bankrupt co-owner. For example, if Walter and […]
August 6, 2015
Intellectual property law is designed to support innovation. This is done by striking a balance between rewarding the creators of intellectual property and creating a large public domain from which future creators can draw. The extent of intellectual property protections provided to a creator depend upon the nature of the intellectual property created. In general, the […]
July 8, 2015
In his seminal book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey advises his readers to “Begin with the End in Mind.” This advice holds true when you are working on a business plan for a new company – you should always include an exit strategy addressing how the business will continue (or dissolve) […]
June 25, 2015
The previous blog post outlined some of the legal protections afforded to trade secrets. However, in order for information to qualify as a trade secret under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (which Georgia and 46 other states have adopted), the information must be “subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances in order to […]
June 18, 2015
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that the FBI is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly hacking the Houston Astros’ player personnel database. This story illustrates some of the ways in which trade secrets are protected under the law. A trade secret is any information which (i) derives economic value from not […]
June 11, 2015
What is a trademark? A trademark is any name, symbol or device used in commerce to identify and distinguish goods or services. A trademark can be a word, a slogan, an image or even a design or a sound. Examples include the word “McDonald’s”, the slogan “What’s in Your Wallet”, the Nike swoosh, the design […]
June 5, 2015
When my wife and I were expecting our first son, we came up with a list of potential names, debated the pros and cons of each name and then decided on one we both liked. Similarly, entrepreneurs think long and hard in order to choose a perfect name for their start-ups. There is a crucial […]
May 20, 2015
Hypepotamus (a great source for news about the Atlanta tech scene) posted a good article yesterday about five Georgia tax credits. These credits are under-utilized due to the fact that many tax professionals are unaware of their existence. In particular, the Job Tax Credit and the Retraining Tax Credit can be an unexpected boon for […]
