As your Silicon Valley startup grows, it’s hard to know whom to trust. You’ve likely gone from a close-knit group of founders invested in the confidentiality of your trade secrets to hiring at-will employees who are less concerned with secrecy. Both federal and state laws reflect the value placed on…
The future is here, and it’s blockchain technology. Originally developed as a means of trading cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, blockchain technology is a digital system that allows digital information to be shared without being copied or altered. It does this by acting as a transaction ledger for digital dealings, registering…
California stock corporations are owned by their shareholders who then elect directors. Directors, in turn, elect officers who handle a corporation’s day-to-day management. Accordingly, shareholders hold influential positions in a corporation through their voting power. California requires corporations issuing more than one class of shares to designate the classes and/or…
You’ve probably heard your grandfather complain that he did not patent the “mobile phone” he invented in 1942. If he had, he’d be a billionaire! Ideas come and go, but those who take the leap and protect those ideas often reap the benefits. “Intellectual property” (“IP”) is defined as a…
Business law frequently consists of contractual relationships. Contracts between business owners, shareholders, employees, clients, and vendors are the very bones on which many businesses are formed. A single breach of contract litigation case in California, like a single broken bone, can cripple your entire business. For this reason, California…
Avoiding the Most Common Business Lawsuits Defending against any lawsuit has the potential to sink a Silicon Valley start-up. You must defend against even frivolous litigation especially so in today’s fast-paced and ever-expanding startup industry. There is no way to bulletproof a business from all litigation, but there are ways…
He may have looked the part, spoken well in the interview, and had the right experience. In fact, he seemed like a great fit for your company. It’s only after a few months that you realize why he was available in the first place. Employees who clearly engage in wrongful…
Perhaps more so than any other kind of business structure, a partnership is heavily reliant upon the personal relationships among the partners. If those relationships are good, the partnership has a much better chance to function smoothly. If not, the personal nature of partnerships generally means that rocky personal relationships…
Intellectual property is a valuable asset for a business. When a company licenses its IP out to other businesses, it can gain a competitive advantage and also reap the benefits of a lucrative, passive revenue stream. When dealing with IP, most business owners immediately think of patents. Patents cover inventions…
An easement is a legal tool that gives someone else the right to use part of your land. Generally speaking, an easement does not give a party full ownership of that part of the property and instead, will include restrictions on how the party can use the land. Additionally, the…