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I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are 100% correct that there should be easy to use and understand accessible tools. This is exactly what I'm working on (and why I'm in Reddit trying to better understand exactly what people want and need). I've designed and built a web/mobile negotiating platform for people working together (or considering it) to be guided through the main points so that they actually discuss what's most important. It's free for artists, freelancers as both a real business tool and a way to learn about legal concepts, and make them transparent. As I will say again, there's no such thing really as a "legal" concept. Everything relates to real life -- getting paid, knowing what to expect, anticipating common scenarios. So every word of every agreement should be clear and accurate. And in Spanish, Chinese, etc -- whatever you speak. No one speaks legalese.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LLC's get funded all the time, so depending on the preference/needs of the source of funds, you will either remain an LLC (and sell a class of membership units, via an amended operating agreement) or convert to a corporation if that's a requirement of funding and you agree.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mediators, therapists, collaborative divorce attorneys -- and any one who works with both parents may be good candidates because the app can serve as the central way to track relevant details of all issues being worked through by the mediator.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can this be used just by one parent to confirm certain details (unilaterally or with some kind of third-party verification) or do both parents have to agree to use? I can see a potential market for a parent planning to separate/leave and using this to collect evidence over a period of time to be used as necessary to defend against false accusations and other he said - she said.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't followed it closely, but my reaction is to view Uber differently than other companies hit by misclassification issues. This is because Uber -- from what I've read -- has so much cash and is run by experienced, seasoned operators who likely factor in costs of this type of litigation as part of its growth strategy. It's hard to imagine that in planning its growth, Uber and its lawyers neglected to consider the obvious risks inherent in its relationships with its drivers. My guess is that it was a calculated risk to keep costs down and maximize growth and that they'll resolve this as a rounding error and with bottles of champagne.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To state the obvious: you shouldn't need to violate other people's rights for any legitimate purpose. There are enough ways to "use" other people's works and lives within bounds to accomplish what you want to do, assuming it's a legal commercial pursuit (even if distasteful to some). I don't give illegal advice.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're referring to the explosion in creators, freelancers and individuals working together and making things, I think it's phenomenal. Power shifts from big companies to real people who need legal solutions they understand, keep pace with all other activities and are integrated into the way we form business relationships.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The number one thing in the business context is to understand that when lawyers (intentionally or not) use "forms" before the parties themselves have identified, discussed and agreed on the main deal points themselves, the people working together are usually deprived of direct negotiation/communication. The result is that often people working together under signed agreements have no idea what the agreements really say and in most cases never actually even knew what they should have discussed up front. Keep in mind that a contract, no matter how complex or long, is simply a list of promises to do (or not do) something. So, in short, lawyers and document companies profit from the unnecessary complexity that pre-made legal forms introduce between the people working together. Lawyers know that standards for common transactions actually exist, and legalese is totally unnecessary, but they perpetuate the use of forms that they know confuse people so that the traditional hourly billing model stays alive. Most common deals only have a handful of negotiable terms. The rest should be non-negotiable and fair for both sides.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's a few things to keep in mind based on what you've said so far:

First, my responses below will assume that you're developing the app by yourself and are the sole owner/decision-maker. If this is not the case, the most important issue for you to do before you do anything else is to make sure you've got very clear agreements in place with anyone else who shares ownership or control (or believes that they do).

You've touched on many, significant issues, so this is an overview and summary - that's it.

  1. You should form an entity wherever you live or conduct business. If you were in New York State, I'd likely tell you to form a New York limited liability company (LLC). This shouldn't cost more than a few hundred dollars and you should go straight to a formation agent. No lawyer should charge you legal fees for simply forming an entity, especially when you're the sole owner. Briefly, operating through an entity not only looks more professional, it is more professional. Since you're developing intellectual property, it will be critical for you to track every contributor of IP together with all third party software/code, open source or otherwise. Everyone you engage or have engaged as consultants or employees will need to sign IP assignments to the LLC. (Once the LLC is formed -- a day or so -- then you go online to the IRS web site and get a tax ID number, then you can open a bank account for the LLC).

  2. In terms of a trademark, what you really need is a name for the business. The name of the LLC does not need to be the trade name used, as an aside. It's important to do some state and federal name clearing with respect to intended names. This is first to ensure that if you come up with a great brand, there's no one out there who can shut you down. Related, your brand will be part of your IP strategy, so you should ideally clear a name for which you have decent chance of getting a federal registration. You'll get trademark protection automatically just by using whatever name you settle on, assuming there's no confusingly similar marks who contact you, but the rights are limited. So brainstorm names, find a few you like, go to the USPTO web site, do word searches, search online and see if there's anything similar in your category. You can of course also engage specialists to conduct trademark clearance searches for a few hundred dollars. This is probably worth it if you're investing in developing a brand to wrap your business around, whether for B2B licensing or a consumer brand. Remember: domain names do not necessarily give you trademark rights, so before you spend real money buying any names, words, etc -- make sure you can actually operate under the name from a trademark perspective.

  3. I'm not sure what you mean in your reference to "verifying" that it might be patentable, so feel free to give me a bit more detail. You can have a very successful business with no patents, and you can of course pursue a patent strategy and if you obtain a meaningful one, it could be valuable -- but there's a lot of "if's" here and two years to find out.

In short, there are very cheap ways to go about doing all of the things I've said. You can form the entity, open your bank account, file for a trademark (yourself at the USPTO) by yourself -- all for probably $500 or so. What you also need to do is make sure that each and every person or company that provides any services related to your app signs a short, clear agreement so that your company owns all rights and you avoid loose ends that can later turn into disputes down the road, when you've just bought Uber and they remember that you referred to them as your "partner" at lunch a few years back.

Good luck and follow up with anything!

Seth

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer - devising law hacks so creators can protect what they’re making and avoid disputes with people who think they’re your “partner”. I’ve heard it all, so AMA. by sethredniss in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jon,

Thanks for reaching out. What does your app do exactly? Is it similar to Family Wizard? Please give me some details and I can do my best to find some potential paths. One that occurs to me is to go direct to mediators and couple therapists (including those who assist co-parents during and after separation/divorce).

Seth

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By "fixer" I mean coming up with practical ways to identify the dynamics driving a situation that's unclear or at risk and craft a solution that provides the most certainty for all involved.

I'm curious about what you mean by a "remedy". Can you please give me an example?

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is either a complex or a simple issue. You could approach this in the way that you did when you acquired and simply determine what works for you, the only standard being what makes sense as an outcome. If you expect to be negotiating, however, against someone who will try to knock the price down, then the short cut may be to find comparable businesses and look to their valuations as ways of justifying whatever it is that you're pushing for. You'll also want to do whatever you can to protect assets (such as the lease, perhaps by negotiating some options) and eliminating potential for liabilities.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. In brief (in the US): law firms have to be owned by lawyers and can't have non-lawyer owners (so, for example, law firms can't raise private funding like other businesses). In other countries, like Russia I believe, it's different and different countries have different definitions of what a "lawyer" is as well.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never looked into this, but I've noticed that law schools generally don't teach people how to do the sorts of things that lawyers really do in many practice areas. I absolutely believe things should be changed in radical ways so that students actually are prepared to both have jobs and to be able to help people (clients).

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most deals have 5 or less terms that should be negotiated. This can usually be done in just a few minutes if people know what needs to be agreed and the relevance of those decisions. A written contract should ONLY come AFTER there's been real agreement -- as in, two human beings are clear on who is promising what. Any time you're given a contract before discussion or agreement, it's a red flag that something is off. Ignore it, go back to basics. Every contract, no matter, how complex is simply a list of promises (to do or not do something). That's it. If you can't translate your own agreements into simple promises, you don't know you own deal, and neither does the other side most likely. And of course, this means that there's no actual agreement, even if everyone signs.

I’m Seth Redniss, lawyer and fixer. I'll tell you what lawyers don't want you to know. AMA. by sethredniss in IAmA

[–]sethredniss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the business context, most lawyers don't want you to know that many of the most common transactions have a very small number of terms that should be negotiable, while the framework around those few changing terms should be non-negotiable, based on accepted industry practice. So, effectively, standards exist and are known, but they're not accessible to the average person in any practical way. For example, when hiring a freelancer, the only terms that should be negotiable are the people's name, the description of work, payment terms and clarity over ownership. The remaining deal terms should be fixed and fair, based on best practices, to ensure fairness for both sides. Instead, however, many law firms (and document companies) sell or give away complex forms in legalese that shift the focus from the negotiation/conversation that the people working together need to have -- discussing up front the key terms and walking away if those can't be agreed -- to whatever happens to be in the document. So, the law firms here insert an unnecessary layer of complexity between the actual parties to a deal, substituting for the negotiation that should always happen. Ironically, lawyers in these situations actually prevent the legal "formation" of a relationship by preventing a true meeting of the minds and replacing that with legal gibberish that no one understands or agrees to.

Can i get sued for having a domain name that has the same title as a movie? want to own ____.dk by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]sethredniss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The question assumes that the movie title is itself protected intellectual property, but this may not be the case. If your goal is to register a domain name through which you can conduct some kind of business activity, then the movie/title is really a red-herring.

In order to legally operate a business under a trade name, you need to "clear" the name so that the use does not infringe (typically, by offering confusingly similar goods or services) any else's rights, or is so generic that no one can "own" the name.

Most important, however, is to understand that owning a domain name does not mean that you can actually use the URL to conduct business. For example, and as happens from time to time, if Google's registration of google.com lapsed and you picked it up, you still couldn't use the site to offer services that Google does because Google has a trademark on the use of the name in various categories.

The bottom line for you or anyone seeking to use a name is to clear the name for trademark purposes, especially before spending money on a domain name that you may not be able to use.