Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

Hello.  My name is Jessica Eaves Mathews and I am a serial entrepreneur.
There.  I said it.
I am coming clean.  It is high time I admitted that not only do I love helping my law clients set up and run their own businesses, but I have a *fond* attachment to setting up my own businesses.  Attachment [...]

What is an NDA? An NDA is a Non-Disclosure Agreement, also known as a Confidentiality Agreement. It is a contract between individuals and/or companies who are considering doing business together and need to share information about each other’s businesses in order to work together. The NDA creates a protective shield of confidentiality [...]

“The common law doctrine of privity of contract means that a contract cannot (as a general rule), confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on any person except the parties to it.”
2004 edition of Chitty on Contracts
In my last post, I dealt with indemnification clauses.  This time, I want to deal with something simple [...]

It’s possible if you manufacture or sell products for children under 12 years old.  The phrase “National Bankruptcy Day” was coined by toy manufacturer Rick Woldenberg, President/CEO of Learning Resources, in reference to the new CPSIA legislation that passed on October 18, 2008.  The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is a direct response to [...]

This is always a difficult one.  Every year no mater what business I’m in, the holiday party is always drapped in a delima.  Do you invite their spouse/significant other? Do you have an open bar or cash bar? do you rent a private room or have it at your office?  We have done it all.  [...]

Hiring a lawyer can be intimidating, confusing and overwhelming. How do you know who is good and who will be a good fit for your business? Unfortunately, there aren’t really any central databases you can go to get reliable information about attorneys and their track records. But here are some ways to [...]

I’ve been appearing here and there on The Big Idea with Donny recently. Thought you might get a kick out of how the show comes together and the role of so-called experts (yours truly included) who are invited on the show.
Below are the emailed questions I received from the producers in advance of my most [...]

Many people believe that you must get a patent before you launch a product. I say…forget it. UNLESS you are actually inventing something. Which is extremely rare, given that in this day and age, almost everything has been “invented”. Ask yourself…Am I merely “re-inventing“?
I did not invent insoles. I came up with an original design. [...]

For those of you who run a business or are trying to get one off the ground, I bet you’ve had a run-in or two with a crisis of some kind.
It may have taken the shape of a loss of data, or a short-fall in needed cash. Perhaps it was a lawsuit or a personal [...]

In the last post I promised to talk about trademarking your brand name and logo.  Before delving into the subject I want to make the disclaimer that I am not a lawyer, I am merely an entrepreneur sharing experiences.Â
To start off you will need to visit the USPTO website to familiarize yourself with exactly what a [...]