Articles
Contractor License Woes in California: A Cautionary Tale
A recent opinion of the California Court of Appeal has reiterated the draconian impact and application of the strict contractor licensing laws, likely resulting in a contractor being forced to disgorge in excess of $750,000 paid to it by an owner. In the case of...
Savoring Small Town Life in a Big Firm
I first realized that my life in the law had changed completely when I was strolling down the street from my new office in Lafayette to get a cup of coffee. It was a beautiful day and as I took in the scene, it dawned on me, “I’m a small town lawyer.” Until I joined...
Fighting ADA Lawsuits
Disabled veteran files dozens of ADA lawsuits; Vallejo businesses fight 'vexatious litigation' By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen / Times-Herald 07/23/11 Vallejo business owner Joseph Kish calls it blackmail. Others have called it extortion. The state of California officially...
Use It Right or Lose It — Proper Trademark Usage Is Important to Every Business
Nowadays, almost every business has a trademark or service mark. With any luck your mark is memorable to the public and helps in the sale of your products and/or services. You probably spent a good deal of time and money creating and registering your mark. Now you are...
Guidelines for Use and Protection of Trademarks
A trademark is a word, name, or symbol, or a combination of these, (or in very rare cases a color, sound, or other device) adopted and used by a company to identify its products (e.g., sneakers or software) and to distinguish them from the products of others. A...
Guidelines for Protecting Patentable Inventions
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or another country’s analogous authority. The term of a new patent in the United States is 20 years from the date on which the application for...
Copyright Ruling Limits Use of Freelance Material
Do Your Contracts Give You the Right to Use Material as Intended? It is easy for a small local or regional business to overlook a court ruling, especially when the ruling involves Fortune 500 companies. One such ruling from the United States Supreme Court during the...