Legally Sound | Smart Business

Nasir and Matt close out the week by discussing how restaurants across the US are offering discounts to customers when the bring a gun with them.  They then answer the question, "If I put a project up on Kickstarter and receive funds, do I owe taxes on it?"

The guys talk about the big payout LinkedIn made to its employees for backed pay. They also answer, "I wanted to incorporate as an S Corp but I heard there are restrictions. What rules do I have to follow?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business in the news and also add our legal twist – almost like a lemon in a piece of fish or a drink of some sort. And then, we’ll also answer some of your legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: I want to know how you’re preparing your fish. NASIR: You put, you know, a little bit of twist of lemon at the end, you know? MATT: I guess. Usually, you’ll see that people will slice a lemon in, if you do some sort of grilling especially on a plank, they’ll put a slice on top and then that’s how it’s served. I don’t know. You can do a twist but… NASIR: Of course, yo

Nasir and Matt get into the story that may rethink your decision for terminating someone for having a headache (migraine). They also answer the question, "I want to hire an employee from a competitor but I think he may have signed a non-compete. What can I legally do to steal him?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: This is Matt Staub. NASIR: Welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business in the news and also answer some of your business legal questions that you have graciously sent in to our podcast at ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com, including a question from someone we know that is in San Diego that… oh, wait. MATT: That’s not today, though. Well, if they’re listening, they know we’ll address their question later in the week. NASIR: Oh, that’s true. Yeah, they sent in a question – not by email, though – which I guess they can do. They can stop us and write a note and fold it and then hand it to us. That’s one way to do

Nasir and Matt get into the story about a woman being accused of trademark infringement after changing her middle name to "Skywalker." They also answer the question, "What is the agent for service of process and who can I use for my business?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: Coming from a far, far away galaxy and this is our podcast where we cover business legal news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: You’re really amped up for this episode. Remember you mentioned on a previous episode – I can’t remember which one you were – if you were Star Wars or Star Trek. NASIR: Star Wars, for sure. MATT: Star Wars, for sure? NASIR: Well, honestly, I just never watched Star Trek so I can’t even really judge but yeah. MATT: Yeah. Well, you’re going to like the story that we have today and maybe you’re going to do this, too.

The guys talk about UrbanSitter, the company that matches up parents with prospective babysitters in the area. They then answer the question, "Can I get in trouble for having my employees give our competitors negative reviews on review sites?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is co-host, Matt Staub. NASIR: Hey, can’t do that! MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Okay, it’ll be off but welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business legal news – actually, business news and then we add our legal twist to it – and then also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. And, oh, I did some research on dot-pizza. MATT: And? NASIR: So, apparently, they’ve been taking applications in 2014 but I can – or whoever handles these domain names – hasn’t yet released any dot-pizzas yet to the public so I think we can put our application in but we still have to wait. But it

Nasir and Matt discuss how the Supreme Court will address the upcoming technology based cases on the docket. They also answer, "What is the difference between a Trademark and Service Mark? Which do I need for my advertising golf cart business?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to our business legal 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 our email address. MATT: Which is…? NASIR: Oh, ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: I’m glad I’m not a guest anymore, or else I would have not known that. NASIR: Yes, you’ve been upgraded once again to co-host but, at any time, that is subject to change. MATT: Great. We’ll see what happens. I think, last week, I was fine on Monday. And then, for some reason, I got downgraded Wednesday and Friday. I don’t know what happened. NASIR: We

Nasir and Matt talk about the New Jersey Highway complaining about infringement of its logo by a pizza shop in Florida.* They then answer, "How long do I have to wait until I can terminate an employee who was on maternity leave?" * Apparently toNew Jerseyans, the logo is alluring.

The guys discuss Fixed, the company that fights parking tickets in San Francisco. They also answer "In our industry a few competitors have very very vague patents. For example one has patented "exit intent" technology that pops up something when a user is about to leave a website. This feature essentially can be replicated in a few lines of code. Do patents like this hold up in court? Especially when there's lots of prior art? Should these patents prevent us from innovating or should we ignore them? Should we consider patenting our own vague features?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: Matthew Staub joining us today. Welcome to our business podcast that we cover business legal news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: I guess, if someone’s listening to this for the first time, they will not realize that I have been on

Nasir and Matt kick things off by discussing the Airbnb squatter who refuses to leave the condo he rented. They then answer the question, "Can my website be sued for publishing public records?" Update: apparently the Airbnb squatter may haveraised some $40,000 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter for a video game that never materialized, leaving scores of angry donors in their wake. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to the business podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can submit to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com and, if it’s a really short question, as Matt pointed out last week, you can send to your Twitter account @askbizlaw. MATT: I think the question we have for this episode is definitely short enough. It wasn’t sent through Twitter but it would work so we might just write it in Twitter just so it’s in there but

The guys end the week by discussing the harsh employment standards surrounding reality shows. They then answer the question, "My friend has a file with over 10,000 pieces of debt that he received from a collection agency that went under. What legal steps do I have to take to just be able to sit in my house and call these people up and have them send me money?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: Welcome to our Friday episode of Legally Sound Smart Business – once again, I’m telling you the name so you don’t forget – where we cover business in the news and answer some of the business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in at ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @askbizlaw and, also, you can now participate in our weekly AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit on various sub-Reddits. Just search for “Legally Sound Smart Business”. You should be able to find us and participate

Nasir and Matt talk about the recent Yahoo sexual harassment claim involving two women and answer, "Why is it that manufacturers refrain from mentioning one another in their advertisements (eg. "Tide cleans better than these other brands - bunch of white bottles with no labels")? This is observed with, well, basically every niche of the commercial market, with two exceptions I've regularly noticed, Pepsi vs. Coke and cars." Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And this is 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 also follow our Twitter account where you can also ask questions @askbizlaw. I want to say “askbizlaw.com” but it’s just “askbizlaw.” MATT: I don’t think we have that one. NASIR: Twitter. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: We probably have the dot-pizza one. MATT: Ar

Nasir and Matt talk about Airbus's strategy to patent everything, including bicycle seats. They also answer, "Hi guys. I'm thinking of creating a university professor rating website just like RateMyProfessors.com but for my country (Lebanon). Can I do that? It's not gonna be an exact replica. Some things will be different. Do I need to take permission from RMP to do this? What about the universities? Now, I'm thinking about ways to keep it clean and moderated, but how legal is it for me to create a sort of medium to judge professors? Thanks." Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome! This is Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And 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 can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com but also we have a Twitter account now but I don’t know what it is. Actually, I do. You would think it’s, like, @legallysoundsmartbusi

Nasir and Matt delve into the recently filed lawsuit by a sleeping fan against ESPN.  The then answer the question, "Is it illegal for an employer to not pay an employee for training for a job? This is an hourly wage job, not contract. The location of the job is in California." Transcript: NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub on a dead sprint right now. NASIR: Slow down, slow down. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallsoundsmartbusiness.com and also don’t forget to include your location because that gives us an idea of which law applies because every state has its own law. MATT: That’s true. It does make a big difference. NASIR: And sometimes city. MATT: We only know a couple of states. Hopefully only people are sending in the states that we know. NASIR: Yes, Alaska and Cuba. Wait, Cuba’s not a state. MATT: All right. NASIR:

The guys talk about Yelp's complaints that Google is altering search results. They also answer, "In the Belford example and those working in "boiler rooms" they are convicted of using unfair selling tactics but what does that mean? Do salesmen not use unfair sales tactics when they psychoanalyze the client and use that to their advantage?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: This is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to Episode 68 where we cover business legal news and answer some of your business legal questions that you can send in as a listener to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. This is our jogging episode of the week. MATT: Yeah, slowly picking up. 68 seems like a lot. I wouldn’t have guessed that. Probably I would guess, like, 38 maybe. NASIR: I was going to guess, like, 67 or 69. MATT: Good guess. NASIR: About 68. MATT: Ah, if you got 69, Price is Right rules, I still would have won. You’ve got to guess under. All right, what do we h

Nasir and Matt discuss one website's struggle with regulating user generated content, an issue they've discussed with Yelp in the past.  They then answer the question, "I work for a firm doing a temporary assignment on a client's work site. The firm calls me an "exempt hourly contractor employee" and deducts tax contributions per my request, but says I am an independent contractor. Does that make sense? I work at a fixed hourly rate."

Nasir and Matt finish up social media week by talking about Tinder suspending its co-founder for a potential sexual harassment lawsuit.  They then answer the question, "The general provisions at the end of contracts; how necessary are they and are there any that are musts to include?"

The guys talk about the Irish Pub that conducted a hiring search through the use of Snapchat. They then answer, "I am setting up a team for my startup company. Who are the essential people we need to have?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions and put in our legal twist to those business news topics that I just referenced beforehand. MATT: It started out so strong. NASIR: But, ah, welcome to our podcast anyway, nonetheless. MATT: It seemed promising. Hopefully, the episode doesn’t go like that, too. I guess we’ll have to see. NASIR: Well, I’m excited because this is Social Media Week, apparently. MATT: Yeah. Yeah, not by plan, just by coincidence. NASIR: Speak for yourself. MATT: As teased in the last episode, today, we’re going to be talking about SnapChat and this is pretty intriguing – an Iris

Nasir and Matt kick off social media week by discussingthe waitress who got fired for going on a Facebook rant after poor tipping. They also answer, "Our company has really taken off but we now need some tech work done. Should we just buy some software or bring in someone in-house?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and also put in our legal twist and also answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: Are you just going to not talk about the fact that, apparently, some of the guys – actually, I guess, the whole US men’s soccer team listened to the podcast on Monday hearing that you said that you thought they were going to lose. I guess that deflated them for the match on Tuesday. You’re basically to blame. The whole country is blaming you right now. NASIR: Wel

Nasir and Matt celebrate America's birthday by discussing the newest decision in the hotdog in the eye at a baseball game case and the legal side of the 4th of July. They then answer, "I gave my employees the option to take the 4th of July off. Everyone except one employee decided to take the day off. I was planning on not going to the office but now do I have to show up for this one person? All my employees are hourly." Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business! This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is a very patriotic Matt Staub. NASIR: Oh, nice. Our patriotic episode of our business legal podcast where we cover business news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallsoundsmartbusiness.com and dot-USA, but not really. Don’t send it there. MATT: Dot-USA? That’s… NASIR: No, it’s dot-US. MATT: Oh, dot-US, okay. NASIR: I don’t think they have a dot-US. MATT: Yeah, which you actually will see. I’ve actually seen those. T

The guys welcome franchise owner Michael Davis to discuss his Cartridge World franchise and his experience as a franchise owner. They also answer the question, "How worried should I be about the arbitration clause in my employee agreement and does this force me to only arbitration?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. This is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And this is Matt Staub. NASIR: And thank you for joining us. This is 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 submit to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Here we go! Mid-week, I wonder is US won their game yesterday. I predict not, unfortunately. MATT: Wow. What a terrible way to start off the episode. NASIR: I know, it’s a downer. Well, hopefully, I’m just proven wrong. MATT: Yeah, I hope so. Our audience is going to stop listening too, unless we have a lot of audience listeners in Belgium. NASIR: Yeah, they’ll be depress