Legally Sound | Smart Business

Nasir and Matt close out the week by talking about the Starbucks' promotion that resulted in untendedbuy one get one free offers. The guys then answer, "Can I have one of my employees also be a contractor for special events?" Here is the image of the coupon and the tweet exchange with Starbucks from@daveraleigh. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. My name is Nasir Pasha and I have switched up the intro. I messed up already but that's okay. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions, and my name is Nasir Pasha– oh, no – and you can send in your emails because, if you’re listening, you can send an email to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: There we go. That was actually a perfect intro, and I assume it’s a perfect intro because Chris did his magic and just cut everything up perfectly. MATT: It is definitely in the top 121, that’s for

The guys discuss the recent data breach at the US Postal Service that led to confidential employee information being compromised. They also answer the question, "What do I need to do to my guest room to make it a writeoff for my business?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in via email to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. You can also mail us your questions, but we’re not going to read that so don’t do that. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And so, we are on our mid-week episode here covering, once again, a data breach except a little bit different though, I think. It’s important, right? MATT: Yeah, and a little backstory to this one. Did we talk about the Home Depot data breach? NASIR: Yeah. MATT: I think we might have offhanded mentioned it. We talked about Target; I’d know for sure. NASIR: Yeah, I don’t know if we feat

Nasir and Matt start the week by discussing Ohio State University suing a t-shirt company for trademark infringement and unfair competition after t-shirts were sold with school names, logos, and slogans. They then answer, "Many years ago we bought up a bunch of trademarks for potential names for new product lines. Someone approached us to buy one we didn't use. Is it possible to sell the trademark?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. And my name is Nasir Pasha, and I am the host of Legally Sound Smart Business. And, joined with me as a co-host for the second time, I believe… MATT: I guess that’s me – Matt Staub. I thought I was going to be a featured player this week, but that’s all right; co-host is fine. NASIR: No, you are now a co-host. It’s the second episode that you’ve been a co-host. MATT: Well, this is exciting

The guys end the week by discussing a recent lawsuit in New York involving restaurants being sued by the music industry for playing music. They answer the question, "One of our former employees filed a frivulous lawsuit against us. Our attorney is reluctant tocountersue for malicious prosecution soshould I just forget about it?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And that’s it. Thank you for joining us, everyone. Don’t forget to leave some positive reviews on our iTunes and thank you. That’s all I have. MATT: That’s all you have for today? NASIR: Yeah, we’ll give everyone a break today; a lot of legal issues this week that they’ve had to deal with. MATT: That’s good because you sprung this story on me the last minute so I don’t have the background information that you do.

The guys talk about the email Nasir received about AmmoToGo.com informing customers of a security breach. They then answer the question, "Every quarter we have to take care of some corporate stuff and many of my employees are required to work on the weekend. Some of the employees have voiced complaints but can I legally do this?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha and I’m your host for today. MATT: My name’s Matt Staub. I’m also a host for the show, I suppose, today. NASIR: For your wonderful, quick 10, 15-minute episode. Actually, the topic that we’re covering today is pretty interesting because I think this is our first, like, we’re making up our own news story I guess because I received an email from a vendor. What was it? It was ammotogo.com. MATT: You got the email but, actually, I’ll ask

Nasir and Matt talk about the COO who left Lyft for Uber and is now being accused of breaching confidentiality agreements and soliciting employees. They then answer, "What is some good advice to avoid copyright infringement issues?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business legal news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to our email address which is the following… Go ahead, Matt. What is it? I guarantee you; Matt doesn’t know what it is. MATT: No, I’ve got it – ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. NASIR: Okay. You’ve got it. Well, my name’s Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub, and I don’t think I actually even have access to that email now that I think about it. You’re the one that looks at all the who-knows-what emails we’re getting other than you. NASIR: Oh, yeah. I try to keep that to myself for my guilty pleasure reading before I go to bed. MATT: Extreme screening process that you do for everyth

The guys end the week by talking about Chevrolet awarding the World Series MVP a possibly defective truck. Nasir and Matt also answer a pizza related question about Yelp! Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And this is our Friday episode – always a very exciting topic – somehow we get to talk about sports. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Which is my least favorite topic. And then, after all that baseball. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: And, apparently, there’s a World Series going on which – I don’t know – will that be over by now? No, it is over, right? San Francisco won? MATT: Well, the story we’re talking about is about the guy who won the MVP for the World Series so I would wager to say it’s probably over. NASIR: Okay. So, that’s done. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Who won? San Francisco,

The guys talk about the nationwide ban of Google Glass in movie theaters. The later answer the question, "Some of my employees travel to our different offices during the week. Normally this wouldn't be a big issue but some of our offices are in different states. What should I be concerned with?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: You know, I’m wondering if we should slow down our pace, like, as far as how we talk because, you know, if you listen to NPR, they talk very slowly and are very methodical on everything that they say that it makes you want to fall asleep. MATT: Ah. Well, for me, in my opinion, I like fast talking better. I talk a little bit in general, but I listen to a good amount of podcasts. I speed it up sometimes – maybe give it a 1.5 speed or maybe

Nasir and Matt start the week by discussing Lindsay Lohanstealing an app from a previous business venture. They then answer, "Should I take any Ebola precautions with my employees?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And, here we are, bringing you another episode of Legally Sound Smart Business #100 – 100th episode. MATT: I think we’re a little bit past that. NASIR: Oh. 100? MATT: Uh, what is this? NASIR: 100-something episode. MATT: 113. NASIR: Oh, 113. I got excited for a second. I thought we were at 100. MATT: Yeah. Well, I guess we can count backwards. Maybe if we subtract 13 episodes from now. We’ll just go in reverse and get back down to zero. NASIR: That would be so confusing. MATT: Yeah. Ah. Well, speaking of confusing, we’re going to talk about t

The guys end the week by talking about short-term leases for Halloween costume shops. They then answer the question, "We are planning a Halloween costume contest but I was concerned about liability. Is there anything I should prohibit or any rules I should put into place?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast – our very scary podcast – where we cover scary business news and also answer some of your scary business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com/scary. MATT: The Halloween Episode. It’s Halloween today. NASIR: Oh, it’s Halloween? MATT: I’m dressed up. You’re dressed up. NASIR: You’re still sporting the 5 o’clock shadow which is cool. MATT: Well, you made a big deal of the beard last week when we recorded and, after we got done, I instantly went and shaved because I hated it. Like, immediately afterwards, because I was like, well, I think you said it at every episode. NASIR: Well, very good. Well, we get to talk about s

Nasir and Matt talk about Facebook's lawsuit against DLA Piper and other law firms accused of furthering a fraudulent lawsuit. The guys also answer, "Can I ban e-cigarettes in the workplace?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And don’t forget, you can also send in your questions to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness and dotcom is also necessary. MATT: And, sometimes, I put the reflection in different parts of my name. So, I went up towards the end of it for some reason today. NASIR: I didn’t even notice. MATT: Stay tuned for what’s going to happen on Friday. Who knows? NASIR: All right. So, we get to talk about some other law firms here and some other attorneys. MATT: Yeah, you love this type of story because you love every time that bad things happen to lawyers. NASIR: That is definitely partly true, I think, but – I don’t know – I

Nasir and Matt discuss the legal fallout froma company scamming consumers with work from home opportunities. They then answer, "We sent some of our employees to a conference and one of them lost their laptop. Are we responsible for buying them a new one?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist and also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. By the way, last week, I don’t know if you knew, I forgot to say “dotcom” and so I’m sure, like, all these people sent these emails to “ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness” and it didn’t go anywhere so I apologize. MATT: Well, that’s the most likely result of what happened – people just couldn’t figure it out. I know, when I don’t hear dotcom after something, it sends me in a tailspin. NASIR: I agree, and don’t forget to add “wwwdot” too to that email address. I always forget to say that. MATT: Is that…? NASIR

Nasir and Matt close out the week by discussing the validity of the noncompete agreements Jimmy John's has employees sign. They then answer the question, "I own a bunch of restaurants and we are considering expansion. Is there anything from a legal standpoint that I should be considering that's different from what I have now?" Vote: Is Jimmy John's Overrated? [yop_poll id="1"] Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business legal news and add our legal twist and also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Welcome to the program! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Matt Staub’s still sporting the beard even though I’m looking at him right now and his video is frozen so I can’t tell if he just shaved it between the lag. MATT: I intentionally froze it. This is Episode 109 and we had Episode 107 this week. So, a week of two shows with prime numbers as

The guys discuss thetrademark dispute between a CrossFit gym and Nike over the Jordan Jumpman logo. They then answer, "Can I prevent my employees from showing tattoos during work?" What do you think, did this CrossFit gym infringe on Nike? Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: My name is Matt Staub. NASIR: Oh, I messed you up, right? This is our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Very fun episode today. I’m really looking forward to something that I’m very much into which is CrossFit. Actually, I’m not at all. Never done it in my life but I feel like I should say that. MATT: Yeah, I’ve never done it, never plan on doing it. I have friends that are all about it and I’ve seen people do it. It just seems like it’s asking to be injured. It’s not natural. They’re just, like, jerking around tons of weight awkwardly and –

Nasir and Matt talk about the possibility of a law being changed to make franchisors liable for unfair labor practices. They also answer, "I am the sole managing member of a Delaware based LLC. Recently, I was engaged by a company to do consulting work. They requested that I fill out a Federal Form W-9. According to the instructions in the form, my single member LLC is considered a "disregarded entity" and the W-9 instructions instructed that I should use my social security number as the Taxpayer ID number instead of my FEIN. Does this mean that the payments will be considered direct to me and not through my business? Am I losing any of the "limited liability" benefits of the LLC this way?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Welcome to the program and my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Matt Staub

Nasir and Matt end the week by discussing the accountant who got fired from his job after a dispute he had with Comcast. They then answer the question, "We just brought on our first set of employees. How should we structure their pay to make them happy now and not have it backfire long-term?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. We welcome your questions and we will give you the answers and this is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: Now that we’ve got that intro out of the way, let’s start our episode. MATT: The hardest part of every episode is the intro, I think. NASIR: For who? For you or for me? MATT: For me, it’s easy because all I do is say my name but that’s… NASIR: Ah. Then we’ll try it again with you one of these times. I know last time we tried it, you messed up horribly. MATT: I don’t kno

Anita Ron, President of BriteWorks, joins the show to talk about how her companyhas been affected by being a certified women-owned business and the the increase in minimum wage. She also provides her input on the question, "I allow my employees to BYOD for their jobs. What should be my biggest concerns, or should I scrap the idea altogether?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business in the news and also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And my name is Matt Staub, and that sounded like you were just reading a script right there almost. That was so fast and it was like a disclaimer at the end of commercials and things like that. NASIR: Well, I wanted to rush through it because we have a guest today so I had to get through it fast. MATT: Yeah, we didn’t have a guest for a few weeks. Getting back into the second week in a row, w

The guys kick off the week by discussingthe new requirement for California businesses to provide identity theft solution services after data breaches. They then answer the question, "We developed some IP for clients and could not decide on who owns the IP. As a result, we decided to jointly own it. Should I be worried about the client if they go under or get sued?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I'm Matt Staub. NASIR: Matthew Staub is joining us once again today to our Legally Sound Smart Business podcast. Very fun. MATT: Happy to be back. 104th straight of episode for me being the guest. So, until you have somebody better, I guess it'll just be me. NASIR: I'm just waiting to see if we can get some positive response from our listeners. Still waiting for that to make sure you beco

The guys end the week talking about why the valet mode in Corvettes may be illegal in some states. I want to make a short web series that is similar to a popular TV show. How much should I be worried about copyright infringement?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And my name is Matt Staub and we do answer some of our questions as well. I heard what you're going with that intro. NASIR: Nice! So, this is our Friday episode where anything can happen, including covering business legal topics in the news and answering business legal questions, including that as well and many other things. MATT: It sounds eerily similar to every other episode we’ve but that's all right. NASIR: No, no, it's Friday, so add a little spice to it. MATT: Yeah, we’ve got a pretty cool story and I didn't know – you

Nasir and Matt welcome Mark Faggiano of TaxJar to discuss how business owners cancomply with the various sales tax rules. They also answer, "I'm looking to incorporate in the next few months. How much should the tax consequences play a factor in my decision making?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast. This is Nasir Pasha where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions, and we also have Matt here too, for once. MATT: Yeah. You can just take over the entire show if you want. NASIR: Yeah. MATT: You’d have thought, after a hundred episodes, we would have gotten a good intro by now but I guess that’s not the case. We have a great episode today. We haven’t had a guest on in a while – at least it seems like it's been a while. But we have Mark Faggiano with TaxJar, the founder and CEO of TaxJar. Did I get your name right, Mark? MARK: You did. Nice work. Good to be here guys. MATT: Oh, yeah, thanks for being here. NASIR: Yeah, thank you so much