• posted: Oct. 02, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• 2023.290,  Deposition,  FRCP 30,  time limits

[caption id="attachment_984" align="alignright" width="318" caption="Walking on red-hot irons? Easy. Try a 3-day depo."][/caption] It is easy to feel smug when we look back on our ancestors 1000 years ago. They had Read More

• posted: Sep. 20, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Business

Lawyers love Latin -- it makes the sordid sound sophisticated. After reading the below, ask yourself cui bono? Who benefits? Judge William Pauley recently knocked down an attorneys' fee request: ""Astonishingly, Kramer Levin Read More

• posted: Sep. 13, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• AF Holdings,  Hatfield copyright infringement,  Judge Hamilton,  negligence,  wireless routers

The copyright trolls had a bad day at the beginning of September, as Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the Northern District of California found that wireless router owners do not have Read More

• posted: Sep. 12, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Employment
• commissions writing Labor Code 2751

We've said it before, about the need to get things in writing, but now getting commission schedules in writing will be the law here in California starting next year: "By January Read More

• posted: Sep. 06, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive

A few years ago, we warned about scammers who were sending official-looking notices from the "Business Filings Division," asking for $239 for statement of information filings. It was all a scam Read More

• posted: Sep. 04, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• IP Address,  bittorrent

If you had any doubts, the New Scientist has published a report that says that most torrent downloaders have their internet protocol ("IP") addresses logged within three hours of the download. The article Read More

• posted: Jul. 26, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Employment
• Amador,  benefits,  Robles,  unemployment

[caption id="attachment_920" align="alignright" width="300" caption="2004 Greased Pig Contest, Photo by Ken Ratcliff, Wikipedia Commons"][/caption] Sometimes being an employer is like being in a greased pig contest: you just can’t get your Read More

• posted: Jul. 22, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Business
• financial information,  P2P

Just in case the business owner didn’t have anything to worry about, here is a new headache to avoid. EPN Inc., also known as Checknet, Inc. is a collection agency Read More

• posted: Jun. 19, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• functionality,  keywords,  Rosetta Stone,  search engines

New Legal Developments in Keyword Advertising Go ahead: after you google yourself, google your company name. We’ll wait. Hold on – did you see that? Above your company name is an Read More

• posted: Jun. 15, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Employment,  Business
• employees,  Labor Code,  tip pools,  tips

California has a long tradition of being employee-friendly: covenants not to compete by employees are unenforceable, and the minimum wage is usually higher in California than that nationally. The same is Read More

• posted: Jun. 10, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive

As the son of a stockbroker, I grew up listening to talk about large, well-established businesses. IBM. Gerber. Proctor & Gamble. All successful companies, in industries that will last a Read More

• posted: Jun. 05, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• generic,  Google

My fellow Business of Media instructor, Eric Sinrod of Duane Morris, has a good article today about a lawsuit an Arizona entrepreneur has brought against Google, claiming that the trademark "Google" Read More

• posted: May 25, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• Civil Code 986,  Judge Nguyen,  Resale Royalty Act,  unconstitutional

California's Art Resale Royalty Act has been declared unconstitutional  by now former Central District of California Judge Jacqueline Nguyen. Judge Nguyen issued her ruling on May 12, two days before she Read More

• posted: May 23, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• infringement insurance,  IP insurance

Thanks to Annette Freeman, one of the world's leading intellectual property authorities, I read an interesting article about insurance for intellectual property plaintiffs. Small companies worried about the cost of Read More

• posted: Apr. 26, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Articles,  Business Counseling,  Employment,  Business
• Brinker,  California Supreme Court,  Meal Break,  Rest Break

The state Supreme Court has finally clarified California employer obligations regarding employee meal periods and rest breaks. As we predicted after the oral arguments in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court Read More

• posted: Apr. 22, 2012
• Martindale Admin
• Archive
• China,  Dickens,  infringement,  IP

The Economist reports that China is getting more serious about protecting intellectual property: "[T]he changes are also the result of China’s legal system getting better. Two decades ago, many judges were political Read More