All legal aspects of a business including incorporation, intellectual property and contracts
2
votes
2answers
95 views
How does “Limited Liability” of LLP work?
Owners of corporations (private or public) are liable only to stocks they own. Creditors can't claim company debt from personal assets of owners because there's stock to distinguish from personal ...
2
votes
2answers
137 views
An academic research paper enhanced my startup's potential. What do I owe the authors?
An academic paper published by a major university contains some methodologies that fit perfectly with my start up idea. I would like to incorporate the methodologies into my start up but I am ...
2
votes
3answers
204 views
How do I make sure that my company owns my software?
This seems like a silly question, but I want to make sure that my interests are protected. I own a software development company, LLC in Virginia, and I have a product that I developed and have ...
2
votes
2answers
150 views
Bringing in co-founder after launch
I have been bootstrapping for 1.5 years, coding part-time while keeping my full time job. I have also invested some 10k into my project.
Now, the workload seems to pile up over time, and I know I ...
2
votes
3answers
208 views
Is it legal to link on your web page to your startups's AngelList profile?
US-incorporated companies are prevented by the SEC from soliciting investments in exchange for private securities.
How legal is it to link to your startup's profile on AngelList, for instance?
2
votes
2answers
110 views
Is it considered legal forming a business through your parents?
I'm 15, and an enthusiast programmer, I've built loads of web based applications, some of which have even been called useful after demo'ing them to others, apps that have not been created (atleast ...
2
votes
4answers
103 views
How have you gone about creating your convertible note?
My startup company has put together a group of friends and family investors who will be investing in the form of a convertible note. I've done quite a bit of research on convertible notes, but am ...
2
votes
4answers
2k views
California law and sending “written notice” by email
I've decided to ask this question here, as there is no better StackExchange site to ask and it's also not that much off-topic for OnStartups.
I'm from Europe and I signed (by email) IT service ...
2
votes
2answers
395 views
Copyright or trademark infringement on web site name
I'm about to place a site I've built live and looking at registering a domain name.
Is there anything I need to worry about in picking a name?
If my domain name is a misspelling of another domain ...
2
votes
5answers
274 views
Can I start a company if I am working for an organization already?
My friend is currently working for US company and he is based out of USA. He would like to start a LLC or partnership. He has legal permanent residency ( green card) . Can he register a company name ...
2
votes
3answers
193 views
How can I find out if a US company has a patent in the UK?
I am trying to set up a leisure centre in the Uk with an idea that is from the US. They have a US patent and say that they have a UK patent pending.
1.How can I find out if they do have a patent ...
2
votes
2answers
136 views
As pertaining to a sole proprietorship or partnership, how much am I legal responsible from a business perspective?
For instance, if someone sues me because they do not like the product offered or if someone else sues me because of a contract violation. How much is the owners responsible for (in this case me) and ...
2
votes
4answers
271 views
Worth of an agreement by email
Whats a commision agreement sent by email from a client to a sole trader worth if things go pear shaped?
2
votes
5answers
147 views
Hiring an Interim CEO
Can a person be hired as Interim CEO on a fixed term contract for 3 to 6 months?
2
votes
3answers
222 views
Online Startup Location in Regards to Tax?
I understand you can incorporate in other states for legal/tax advantages. Suppose I wanted to stay in-state for now. Can I claim my business is in a nearby city for tax purposes, using a PO Box? The ...
2
votes
3answers
151 views
Securing contract with a freelancer
I wonder - is it possible to sign a contract with a freelancer for a regular contract job securely?
I mean how can I justify that all the work he has done will be given to my company and nobody else ...
2
votes
4answers
273 views
Legality of using sweepstakes to spawn viral twitter campaign
What if run a twitter campaign like so:
Tweet FooBarCompanyXYZ.com for chance to win $xxx.xx
Is this legal? Is there some sort of rules about sweepstakes, etc? I live in Arkansas. Do you have ...
2
votes
2answers
138 views
Source code Buyout clause in contract
I have a small contract that I have to makeup, but the biggest importance is to make sure the the source code buyout doesn't have a set price. What would be the best way of wording this? Ideally, we'd ...
2
votes
3answers
100 views
When using crowd-sourced logo design sites, what do I need to worry about regarding font licensing?
I am using a crowd-sourced site to design my logo (examples of such sites: 99 Designs and Crowdspring). The way these sites work is you put up a prize (say, $200) and then several different designers ...
2
votes
3answers
240 views
legal issues releasing my personal website
I've been trying to make my personal website for a long time, and now that is almost done, I've been investigating about some legal details that I must solve in order to release my website, based on ...
2
votes
2answers
111 views
How to avoid idea “contamination” when soliciting advice on a product
We've got a software product going into alpha release and want to invite some super users to test and give feedback. I wonder if there's any sort of steps we should be taking to prevent the issue of ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
Registering a code-signing certificate on an alias name of the company
Our company is registered in Delaware with an office in New York State. We have acquired several code-signing certificates for the past 5 years, and the name of the company we requested to be "on ...
2
votes
1answer
210 views
3 Co-founders, and a good idea
2 colleagues and myself won a contest, for a business idea (my idea). We jumped into things and immediately bought a domain, incorporated in a partnership, bought a computer, some business cards ...
2
votes
2answers
64 views
A source code license that contributors can agree on [closed]
This question is related to a previous one I've asked, but this aspect felt broad enough to deserve its own space.
I have a web site where others contribute code and I am in need of an open source ...
2
votes
1answer
541 views
What is the default liability without a contract or clause?
Was just curious about this. With Intellectual Property, if there is no contract and you are a contractor, all the work you create is owned by the creator by default.
How does liability work though? ...
2
votes
1answer
157 views
How do I protect myself contractually while providing software consulting services?
My partner and I are software developers. We have formed an LLC and are starting to take consulting gigs. We have spent most of our careers at larger companies and have never been involved with ...
2
votes
3answers
156 views
How much is it reasonable to a new startup to pay for legal services?
A better way to put the question: is it reasonable to just do everything yourself, and fix things up later if they aren't quite right?
Or is this likely to lead to disaster, even with the help of the ...
2
votes
1answer
226 views
Freelance or Small Startup in germany
I want to open a small company (potentially just Freelance) in germany and am unclear about some of the laws. What i need to know about are billing and tax laws, like how much am i required to pay in ...
2
votes
2answers
124 views
legal requirements to open a service on the web, that requires payment
i'm a newbie in the business world, and i'd like to submit a couple of questions to you.
First, i live in Italy.
Suppose i want to fire up a website, and part of its services are under payment. What ...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
Legality of a risk site
I plan on creating a site that allows the clients to (without signing up) "swap" a certain amount of BitCoins. In short though, it is just an online currency. Basically, the client would send in x ...
2
votes
5answers
539 views
What happens with ownership if leaving a company
I am a cofounder of an LLC, together with two other people and we all have equal ownership stakes at 33%. It looks like I will take a job with a more established company and will need
to end my ...
2
votes
2answers
138 views
Startup without company?
If I have access to a big hall/room in a building I own and I wanted to convert it into a personal gym. Then one day I say to a friend, you can use my gym if you give me $100 a year, and I will give ...
2
votes
1answer
364 views
Under GPL, can I legally put my own logo & copyright, considering that I have made significant changes?
I've been running a software startup for the last year - basically the business model is that I customize the software products released under GPL for my end customers. These customizations are quite ...
2
votes
2answers
376 views
Legal issues with contract labor?
Are there any legal pitfalls I should know about when creating a service where I pay users to provide a service to customers? The model I'm thinking about is like Amazon Turk for a certain vertical. ...
2
votes
1answer
202 views
Startup equity for co-founder
I've been working at a pre-launch startup for the past year (going to launch in the next several weeks). I'm supposed to sign my Stock Purchase Agreement soon, but wanted to run this by to see if I am ...
2
votes
2answers
152 views
Will my ex-partner have claim over my new business?
Background: My friend and I talked about building an application, saying this is the idea, let's see if we can develop something around it. After thinking about it for a few weeks it seemed not very ...
2
votes
3answers
205 views
Ownership of IP developed while employed
I'm a 3d software developer working for a manufacturing company on industrial visualization software programs. In the future, I wish to develop 2d/3d games, mapping applications during my free time.
...
2
votes
3answers
58 views
Legal issue in displaying information from Social Media sites on my website?
I am planning to have a website where I shall post links to user profiles from Facebook and LInkedIn categorized according to their geographies, interests, profession etc. Are there any legal issues ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Transfer product into LLC
In the last couple of month, i've built a cloud based application and it's now ready to launch. I also applied for LLC in California in last month, but waiting for the application to complete.
My ...
2
votes
2answers
261 views
Legal issues for a donations website?
I'm about 95% into what started as a personal project but has developed into a nice website with some interest. It's a distributed-donation platform for donating to charities.
Here's a quick ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
What if I decide that I want to change the state that I formed my LLC in to a different state?
For example, say I form my LLC in Delaware and then decide several months down the road or maybe even a couple years down the road that I want to change the state to Florida and form my LLC in Florida ...
2
votes
5answers
644 views
Signed an NDA but the company never returned their copy to me
I signed an NDA with a company, sent it back to them, but they haven't returned their signature (executed copy) back to me. This has been laying out their for 7 weeks. If I can't get them to send me ...
2
votes
2answers
187 views
Introducing the idea to friends I'd like to add to the startup - How to and at which conditions?
I'm in the process of trying to establish my first startup.
At the moment I'm working with a friend of mine on developing the idea, and we had already created a prototype for our product on a mobile ...
2
votes
2answers
305 views
How do I draft a letter of intent?
I have an idea I am working on that I believe will be useful. I have been told that verbally several times.
Rather than spend money on developing it to completion, I want my proposed ...
2
votes
2answers
92 views
If I am bringing money to a new idea (Not my money but an investors) and get an ownership stake is this legal?
I have been asked by a friend to help him talk to investors about a business idea he has and to help him get funded. I asked him what would I get out of the deal and he offered interest in the ...
2
votes
4answers
87 views
How to specify that you are not going to share information with third party in Terms of Service
I'm running a site where users generate their data and store it. I do not share it or plan to share it ever with 3rd party. How do you specify that the site is not going to share information with ...
2
votes
2answers
103 views
Which Country is Suitable for Legal Protection in Game Automation Software Development
After reading today's Gamasutra article about Jagex vs Impulse Software, and considering my own academic activities, I suddenly became very concerned with my legal protection.
As such I would like ...
2
votes
4answers
272 views
Domain name and trademark
I've recently registered a domain name, but was contacted by a big-name toy company recently, saying my domain name infringed on their trademark. The domain name does contain a toy's name (within the ...
2
votes
2answers
548 views
Is sleeping partner considered as investor?
My partner and i are from different countries
(1) My partner will fund the startup idea
(2) I will be the working partner and the idea will be executed in my home country
Please give your advice on ...
2
votes
4answers
388 views
Can I work with my co-worker on a new startup?
I currently work in California and have signed a non-compete, which prohibits me from soliciting any co-workers for work. However, my co-worker and I have known each other for a long time and have ...
