Five-minute general counsel: A little trademark search saves a lot of headache

By Rick Colosimo / February 6, 2017 / Comments Off on Five-minute general counsel: A little trademark search saves a lot of headache

This WSJ article describes some of the problems that small businesses have faced with names. The most significant one, from my perspective, is the trademark lawsuit that cause the cookie company to change its name after being featured on the “Rachael Ray Show.” What a waste of potential marketing value! Over the years, I’ve serviced…

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Startup-NY is over-complicated and will under-deliver

By Rick Colosimo / February 19, 2014 / Comments Off on Startup-NY is over-complicated and will under-deliver

A friend recently asked me about Startup-NY, New York’s new program ostensibly designed to help foster startups. As you might expect, the bark is better than the bite. Fundamentally, there are a bunch of complicated rules, exceptions, and requirements, and some conveniently unstated limits. Now, since I think the prerequisites will gut most of the…

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There are no legal issues

By Rick Colosimo / August 6, 2013 / Comments Off on There are no legal issues

This Lifehacker post attempts to answer the question of how someone should handle befuddling legal documents, like terms of service, leases, car rental contracts, and so on. The easy answer is in the article: of course you should read everything. The problem is that that’s not what lawyers actually say and do because it’s advice…

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Why the "best" law journals are mostly worthless

By Rick Colosimo / July 19, 2013 / Comments Off on Why the "best" law journals are mostly worthless

This WSJ law blog post references a Georgetown constitutional law professor who thinks we should get rid of the Constitution because, effectively, he’s smarter than 200+ years of Americans and will get it exactly right.  You should know that law journals are not edited by professionals, and law review articles are not subject to anything you would…

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