Engineers: I hope to see you on June 16 for this Engineering Law and Ethics continuing education seminar. I’ll be speaking on intellectual property essentials for engineers, focusing on trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

• Earn professional development hours
• Minimize your risk of unintentional intellectual property infringement
• Maximize value by protecting and monetizing your intellectual property

#engineers #intellectualproperty #copyright #trademarks #tradesecrets

Warm and Fuzzy –

Over a Lease Review?!

One this week’s best legal moments: commercial office lease review.

Commercial lease review for a client. A client who is newer to business. A client who has a lot of business decisions to make. A client who is not used to the legal lingo and the details of a commercial lease. A client who knows their area of expertise and is humble enough to ask questions and for help with the rest.

A project I do regularly – dissecting and examining the lease, putting it back together in a way landlord and tenant can survive and hopefully thrive with for the term.

Commercial lease review – help I can give and a client who appreciates it. Not warm and fuzzy like a favorite soft blanket in front of the fireplace – but surely one of this week’s best legal moments of making a positive difference.

3 Take-Aways from a New Court Ruling

It takes trust to sign a general power of attorney. You are trusting someone else to make your financial decisions while you are still alive. It might be for convenience and it could be good planning if you become ill and can’t make your own financial decisions. But it still takes trust.

A Nebraska Supreme Court ruling released today, Cisneros v. Graham, 294 Neb. 83, highlights laws and rulings that help ensure your general power of attorney will not inappropriately act in their own interest. The Court acknowledged that there are “manifold opportunities and temptations for self-dealing that are opened up for persons holding general powers of attorney”.

Key reminders from this court ruling:

➢ An agent who is not your ancestor, spouse, or issue must have express authority in your power of attorney in order to create in himself or herself an interest in your property.

➢ If you are serving as a general power of attorney, make sure you understand what you are authorized to do.

➢ Before you sign a general power of attorney, carefully consider what you trust your agent to do.

This is general information and is not legal advice specific to your situation. You should visit with an attorney for advice that applies to you.

Networking Lunch and Learn

Intellectual Property - Every Organization Has It:

How to Identify and Protect Your IP

What:   Business law attorney Vicky Amen of Amen Business Law, L.L.C. will be the guest speaker for the weekly Center Sphere Lincoln business networking group. Complimentary – excluding any food and beverage you may order.

When: Wednesday, July 6, 2016, 12:00 P.M. – 1:00 P.M.

Where: Blue Blood Brewing Co., 925 Robbers Cave Rd., Lincoln, NE

Why:    Meet and engage with others for business referral while learning about intellectual property and common business blunders – from IP considerations to business formation mistakes

Who:    Center Sphere is opening this networking lunch to those interested in learning about intellectual property and hearing about the most common business formation mistakes.Please RSVP to 402.819.9529.

Your business intellectual property strategy could include reserving relevant new domain names. The Trademark Clearinghouse helps businesses protect and plan for their strategy of brand protection and expansion. You can apply to reserve your right to use one of the new internet top level domains (TLDs) through the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Opening today, the option to reserve .TUBE, a new domain for businesses and people who create, watch, and share video.

Coming soon on June 30, .shop – a domain address that identifies your business website as a place to shop.

If you are in the Lincoln area, you never know whom you may meet, greet, and learn from at a Lincoln Independent Business Association event – including these cardboard characters!

In addition to the cardboard characters, the 6 “S”es of Success was the focus of recent guest speakers Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic. Lawrence and Kunalic shared their perspectives to success that they have learned both as former college and professional football players and as entrepreneurs:

1.) Solve Problems
2.) Sudden Change – be prepared to take what you have learned and apply it to a new situation
3.) Self-Awareness
4.) Start
5.) Scale – focus on your opportunity to be the best, being efficient and doing more with less
6.) Support

Lawrence and Kunalec are the co-founders of opendorse, a business that helps secure and activate athlete social media campaigns. Lawrence and Kunalec also founded and have since sold hurrdat, a digital marketing agency.

Thanks to Lawrence and Kunalic for concisely sharing their success insights balanced with humor and humility – and more personality than the cardboard characters. Nice presentation - with a video here.

Learn about one of my favorite business law topics this Wednesday - intellectual property.  I’m looking forward to being a guest speaker on the best business approach to intellectual property at a lunchtime meeting of SCORE business mentors.  SCORE is volunteer business people helping small business people solve business problems.

Join us if you want to learn more about planning, protecting, and preserving your most valuable nontangible business assets.  Business owners and prospective business owners are welcome to attend with an RSVP to (402) 819.9529.

Wednesday -  February 10 - Noon

The Egg and I, 6891 A St. Ste. 102, Lincoln, Nebraska

For Sale By Owner:

Buyer Options for FSBO Property

A popular neighborhood regularly has a waiting list for its elementary school – and also has many families who drive across town for the benefits of the area middle and high schools. A certain price point of homes in this school district is seeing success with For Sale By Owner transactions. Interested buyers are asking “What is the next step in a for sale by owner?” The best answer: It depends – of course. 😉

•  The Buyer and Seller may put the transaction together and close with minimal to no third party assistance.

Informed buyers and sellers can visit and discuss the terms that will work best for both parties. The document preparation can be done by either party. Naturally, the documents will be reviewed no matter who prepares them. A cash transaction is greatly simplified and the easiest to accommodate with the most flexibility. A mortgage company will also have a list of requirements that can be arranged as needed. This arrangement has the most potential for $$$ savings – but it requires buyers who are comfortable and willing to work directly with the sellers. Experienced home buyers are most likely to be comfortable with this approach.

•  The Buyer may choose to work with a real estate agent.

The Buyer can select a real estate agent to represent them with their FSBO transaction. The Buyer’s time to consider terms, review, and sign documents may not be reduced – but an inexperienced home buyer may like the prospect of having their own representation. Depending upon the demand for the property – the Buyer may have to independently negotiate and pay their broker’s fee – or the FSBO Seller may contribute an agreed upon amount toward the Buyer’s Agent.

• The Buyer may choose to work with a lawyer.

Many home buyers choose to use an attorney to review, prepare, or help negotiate a home purchase. The legal services may be in addition to those of a Buyer’s real estate agent – or the Buyer may choose to use an attorney and little to no other third party assistance in a residential real estate transaction.

The answer as to how to approach a for sale by owner residential real estate transaction has options that depend upon the Buyer’s preference. Nebraska does not require a Buyer’s agent – so the Buyer can decide how to best make their offer and realize a successful transaction.

Alert for Possible Physician Liability:

Yesterday the Office of Inspector General issued a fraud alert for physician compensation arrangements.  This alert is a reminder that there may be criminal, civil, and administrative sanctions, including physician liability, when physicians are paid other than with the fair market value of their services when federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are involved.  Physicians who are paid by businesses participating in Medicare or Medicaid should review their compensation arrangements to assess their risk.

Development Contracts

Development contracts for a new product or new technology have significant risks and rewards.

Minimize risks of the unknown costs and market by having an option to renegotiate terms such as price, time, warranty and indemnification after development is complete.