Legally Sound | Smart Business

Nasir and Matt discuss the allegations of American Apparel intimidating and silencing employees from complaining about the company and talk about guidelines for employers in making social media policies. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: The Staub and Pasha Brothers are here. Why is that so funny? MATT: You’ve never mentioned that ever. That’s kind of funny. NASIR: I don’t know. I was just trying to think, like, what are we? The duo? The Staub-Pasha duo? MATT: The duo, yeah, I guess. NASIR: Yeah, I guess that makes more sense. MATT: Not to get too far off track but you know what I’ve always found was really weird, and you might not have ever even seen this, the commercial for State Farm – I think it’s State Farm – one of the insurance companies. NASIR: Yeah. MATT: Do you know who Chris Paul is? He’s a basketball player? No? Okay. NASIR: I hav

Nasir and Matt end the week by discussing the importance of securing the necessary licenses for your business and how operating without a license can ruin yourbusiness. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist like a little lemon at the end of a story. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: I’m all business today. Last Friday, I went on a rant that lasted probably twenty minutes. MATT: That’s true. NASIR: And the feedback has been that that was too long. So, I was like, “Okay. Now we have to get more serious. This is all about business and the law, and we can’t make one joke,” because people don’t have a sense of humor, apparently. So, this is now serious. MATT: This will be like a semi-rant for me because of the topic we talked about or we’re talking about today. NASIR: Perfect. MATT: We’re going to deal with licenses, but not the licensing we’ve talked about in the past. This is the actual lice

Nasir and Matt discuss the bankruptcy auction of Radio Shack and why the intangible assets are being sold separately from the tangible assets. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business law podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt— NASIR: The co-host of the show and… MATT: And I’m— NASIR: We have another co-host as well. MATT: Gosh. NASIR: And you are… MATT: Matt Staub. NASIR: Oh, Matt Staub, that’s right. MATT: You’re in like a pitch black environment so I can’t see when you’re speaking. Recording in darkness. NASIR: I’m sorry. MATT: You’d think we would have gotten it down by now, but I guess not, never will. NASIR: Someday, we’ll be jiving together, working with each other well. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Someday. MATT: So, I feel like I just talked about this on the podcast so forgive me, listeners, if I did. But the spot that I usually go to to fill up my gas is right across the street from a RadioShack

The guys kick off the week by getting into what constitutes false advertising and what is mere puffery. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business news and add our legal twist and my name is Nasir Pasha. Welcome to the program! MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Very good. That was a perfect intro. But, once again, I messed up by mentioning it. MATT: Even though I don’t think you’ll ever have a perfect intro, I’m still going to say this is the best podcast ever. NASIR: I would say so. I would have no disagreement with that. MATT: What if I said it was the fastest-growing podcast ever? NASIR: It’s a fast-growing podcast – a very fast. MATT: Well, it depends. I mean, if I took a look, 07:32:12 a.m. through 07:32:13 a.m. and looked at the growth, if we got, like, three people, I might consider it the fastest-growing podcast. NASIR: Possibly – probably not, but yeah. MATT: So, if you can’t tell, our topic for today is going to be what I call “puffery

The guys finish off the week by discussing the sweepstakes being conducted by Domino's and how a franchisee can deviate from the franchise model. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business law podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions. Oh, wait. We don’t do that anymore. MATT: You’ve got a nice Friday prank. NASIR: No, but we do add our legal twist to some of those business law stories that we do cover. But you can send us in some of your topic ideas that can be in the form of a question at ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: Yeah. So, on Monday, we had all that construction that you were recording, and they’ve still been working four days straight, banging away on whatever they’re doing. NASIR: Even after the cease and desist. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Wait. Wait a minute. Who’s talking? Who is that? MATT: Oh, yeah. I’m Matt Staub. Did you say your name? NASIR: Who am I? Oh, yeah. My name’s Nasir Pasha. MATT: Ah. NASIR: Goofy

Nasir and Matt discuss the recent conflict between the California Labor Code and Industrial Welfare Commission concerning a second meal period for healthcare employees working in excess of 12 hours. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business law podcast. My name is Nasir Pasha. This is where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist, and it’s just me today, right? MATT: I’m also here. I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Oh. Oh, okay. Well, Matt Staub joining us once again. Thank you for joining us. MATT: Your intros remind me of – I’m going to have to explain this to you first. So, for baseball, typically, you have a line-up where you have your batting order and it stays fairly constant throughout the year. I mean, you have maybe your speed guys up front, your first one or two batters, and then your power hitters at three, four, five, and then maybe six and then, like, seven, eight, nine is your worst hitters. But, if you’re in a slump, if the team’s in a slump, sometimes the manage

Nasir and Matt start the week by explaining how a business can protect its social media accounts and what to do when an employee leaves who has access to social media accounts. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business law podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist for your listening benefit. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And we have some construction next-door. I don’t know, we should do something about that, Matt. It’s getting in the way of our podcast. MATT: Yeah, I know. I recommended the cease and desist letter but I guess they haven’t responded to it yet. NASIR: Yeah, when is that going to get there? Well, at least we should mail it out today. See how that goes. MATT: Mail out, yeah. It seems like it’d be kind of counterproductive mailing it out. It’s right next-door so you would have to go somewhere to mail it and then they would deliver it right next to the spot where you’re located. NASIR: I would pass by their door o

Nasir and Matt close out the week by diving into the topic of trademarks to go over unintended negatives and overlooked positives related to trademark filings. Also, the Katy Perry dancing sharks! Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And that’s the show. MATT: Happy Wednesday! NASIR: Wait. This is Friday episode. MATT: Oh, yeah. Sorry, I screwed that up. NASIR: It’s okay. MATT: I guess I’m just confused as some of these trademarks we’re going to talk about are leading to confusion. NASIR: What’s the likelihood that you’re confused? MATT: Very likely. Yeah, there you go. There’s a couple of recent stories dealing with trademarks that are, I think, some areas we haven’t talked about in the past so I was just going to kind of discuss them and the first being this beer dispute. So, there’s Lagunitas in Sierra Nevada, both in Northern California, and

The guys talk about the costly mistake made by one business owner and discuss the legalresponsibilities of handling major errors. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist for the benefit of you, the listener. My name is Nasir Pasha. Thank you for joining us. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And Matthew Staub is here again, joining us for the 153rd time, I believe. MATT: Correct. NASIR: I think that’s a new record, right? I mean, I think last week you were at 152. So, I think you just broke the record, man. 153 in a row. Congratulations. MATT: I’m pretty proud of that. NASIR: I wouldn’t get too confident there, you know. You don’t know what’s going to happen next week. MATT: Yeah, it’s true. Well, it’s bad because we’ve had the other three people that have been here the whole time. And so, they haven’t really said anything, or they haven’t said anything, but it still counts because they’re here. NASIR: Yeah.

Nasir and Matt list off the biggest mistakes they see start-ups make and offer their advice on how to avoid these issues. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and also add our legal twist to those news stories. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And we’re here today, we are talking about messing all the bad mistakes that you business owners make all the time. MATT: Yeah, it’s coincidental because I know you messed up Valentine’s Day which was two days ago so we’re talking about more business-related mess-ups. NASIR: Yeah, not personal mess-ups. MATT: This is a nice fit for you though, I think, but we’re not going to get into personal stories on this podcast. NASIR: Thank you. MATT: There’s a lot of ways that businesses can mess up and I guess we’re going to focus more on start-ups specifically and, you know, obviously, there’s ways you can screw things up at all stages in your business, but there’s crucial things at

The guys end the week by talking about businessesdenying job applicants unless they are tobacco free. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist for you, the listeners, to enjoy at your home, at your work, or while you’re working out, or really any time that you want to play this podcast. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub, and I hope no one’s listening to this while working out. You need something upbeat! NASIR: We can add some workout music to the background. We’ll just have Matt add that on cue right here. I assume he actually has some of that. That’d be funny if he just left that in there and just be blank, but either way. MATT: I guess the beginning and the end both have that guitar or whatever that is. I’m no musician. NASIR: That’s okay. MATT: And I guess I’m also not going to know a lot about what we’re talking about today because I don’t smoke either which is what the subject of this Friday’s podcas

Nasir and Matt discuss working as a freelancer and what both employees and employers must know to make sure it is done correctly. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist for you, the listener. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Welcome. Welcome to our podcast. MATT: Business in the news. Business news. NASIR: Yeah. MATT: News about businesses. NASIR: Legally Sound Smart Business. MATT: Well, you know, I know you hate… NASIR: I hate a lot of things. What do I hate? MATT: I could have stopped there and we could have filled the rest of the episode with things you hate. It’s weird. For sure a nice guy, you do hate so many things. I don’t really understand it. NASIR: Yeah, it really should just be, “I know you hate,” and that’s it, just period. MATT: Anything. We have to talk a little bit about Uber in this episode, but we’re not going to really focus on it. NASIR: I think that’s, like, six week

The guys kick off the week by explaining the issues with employers requiring their employees to pay fortheir own uniforms. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist to these stories for your benefit and your benefit only – for no one else. Welcome to the program and my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: I just wanted to make sure that we’re paying very specific attention to you, the listener, right now. I’m talking about you – the one that’s listening right now with their headphones – yeah, you, this is for you. MATT: So, this is what? Monday — well, Monday, sometime Monday, assuming you listen to it on the day it comes out. It’s nice to have someone focus on you on a Monday. So, I think our listeners are very appreciative of this nice gesture that we’re doing for them and I think it’s going to be a good week. If you just listen to this, the Farmers Insurance Open has ended, assuming there hasn’t been anothe

The guys end the week by talking about the patently unfair contracts that contestants for American Idol must sign. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our business law podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist to it. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: All right. Well, thank you for joining us once again on this Friday episode where we’re covering your favorite show pretty much of all time or is it just top five? MATT: Of mine? Bottom five, maybe. I don’t know. NASIR: So, American Idol is coming back this season, right? It seems to be coming up soon, if it hasn’t started already. MATT: I can’t say I even know if it’s still around or who the people are. All the original people are off of it now, aren’t they? I think that happened a long time ago. NASIR: There is Ryan Seacrest and I think that’s all I know. I think that’s the only person I know that’s still there. MATT: The original one was Simon something. NASIR: Cowell. MATT: Simon Cowell and… N

Nasir and Matt discuss the legalities of surge pricing and how one company is flipping the script on surge pay. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our business legal podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist to the show. Mmy name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: All right. Welcome. So, again, for the second time, I feel like I just should repeat myself after Groundhog Day a couple of days ago. We’re talking about surge pricing today. Unfortunately, we’re not focusing on Uber but I think we’ll have to talk about them, right? We get to talk about them, right? MATT: Yeah. I mean, they’re kind of the ones that put it in the spotlight – at least recently they have. We’ll talk about surge pricing and I think everyone knows pretty much what that is but, for those that don’t, we’ll use the Uber example really quick even though I know you don’t want to. They have a certain rate for when you want to take a car or want to take a ride somewhere. But, if the

Nasir and Mattenter Groundhog's Day by discussing the importance of trade secrets and how to best protect your intellectual property. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: What are we doing today? A podcast again? Another episode? MATT: Yeah, we can something different if you want. NASIR: No, that’s fine. That’s cool. Podcast is cool. MATT: A lot of people think today should be a national holiday but it hasn’t really gained too much traction. NASIR: Because of Groundhog Day? Is that February 2nd? MATT: Is it Groundhog’s Day? Oh, maybe it is. Oh, no, I was thinking the day after the Superbowl. NASIR: I was thinking, yeah, February 2nd is Groundhog Day, I believe. MATT: Is it? NASIR: I recall. MATT: Oh. NASIR: Oh, yeah, you’re saying because of the Superbowl. MATT: Well, this is the day after. So, this is the day that everyone thinks should be a national holiday. I never really underst

Nasir and Matt end the week by diving into the topic of drones and where the law stands with their usage. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: I keep starting our intro with an accent but maybe I’m just hearing it. MATT: What type of accent? I can’t tell anything. [REWIND] NASIR: Business in the news and add our legal twist. I don’t know what kind of accent – some Midwestern/Californian accent. MATT: I mean, where you’re from, and it’s similar to me, we’re both from the Midwest but we’re not southern enough to get the southern accent. NASIR: No, we’re not. MATT: I wasn’t close enough to Chicago to get that. You were a little bit closer to the East Coast than I was, but you don’t get any of that. So, we’re in a spot where it’s pretty – well, I shouldn’t say “normal.” NASIR: Normal. Yeah, we’re pretty normal. I’m sure we use some words, like you probably

The guys talk about the different methods to value a startup, particularly when the business is pre-revenue. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and add our little legal twist to it like a little lemon at the end of a… what do you add lemons to? Fish and…? MATT: Uh… NASIR: Anyway, my name’s Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: I think most of the time you add lemons to a podcast. That’s the only thing I can think of. MATT: Oh, you’re talking about the end, after something’s already made. So, that would be very common in a fish and chips setting. NASIR: Oh, yeah, fish and chips. MATT: I thought you were talking about something like a lemon peel garnish type situation. NASIR: No, that’s way too fancy for us. We’re a fish and chips kind of podcast. So, welcome to our cooking show and food culinary arts. MATT: I’ve actually ranked my top ten things to have a twist of lemon with, food-wise. NASIR: Is one of them a podcast? MATT:

Nasir and Matt discuss the app that allows employees to post anonymous messages about their employers. They also talk about the legalities of banning gossip in the workplace. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Did I have an accent there? I feel like I had a strange accent there all of a sudden. MATT: I didn’t even notice. It was just so short that I was very thrown off. NASIR: Oh, actually, that’s right. I’m supposed to say, like, “Welcome to our program. This is where we cover business law in the news.” But everyone knows what we’re doing here. If you don’t, then why are you listening to us? MATT: Yeah, you should be able to tell by the thumbnail picture of two faces. NASIR: That makes it very clear. MATT: I think we’re wearing suits in the photo. NASIR: Well, that’s the law part. The business part is just, like, our faces. Very clear. MATT: We mean business. NASIR: Before we get into our topic, I want to do a

Nasir and Matt end the week by talking about businesses based on pranks, including exploding glitter and mailing animal feces. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Welcome to our program – probably the best podcast that is hosted by us. MATT: I hope so. It’s definitely in the top ten. NASIR: Well, twenty. MATT: So, I have a question for you. Do you have any enemies? NASIR: Do I have any enemies? I can name one person that I blacklisted. He’s not even an enemy. It’s just somebody that did something wrong and I don’t like, but I don’t really put much thought into him. That’s it. MATT: Okay. So… NASIR: You know who I’m talking about too, right? MATT: Yeah, I do. So, I mean, you say you don’t put too much thought into it, but would you put enough thought into it to possibly send him or her a secret envelope that would possibly explode with glitter upon opening? NASIR: Yes, of course