by eclewis | Apr 29, 2015 | IP Law
Business is business, and the law is the law. Sometimes the combination of these two are unavoidable, even necessary, such as when it comes to business entity formation, contracts, licensing, permits, and the list goes on. In today’s electronic and technology-driven economy, intangible or intellectual property is becoming even more valuable than ever. When it comes to businesses, a lot of this comes down to their brand, their name, their slogans, which often use trademark protection to solidify and help protect these intangibles.
Trademarks as a system, were fundamentally designed to help avoid consumer confusion. That is ultimately the purpose. Trademark rights and protections are designed to prevent other businesses from coming up with products that use other business’ names, phrases, and sometimes even look and feel, sound, or color, which can cause consumers to buy something they thought was made by someone else because they were confused. Imagine a world without trademark protection. You’d probably never know for sure if those shoes with the Swoosh on them were actually made by Nike or not!
In an interesting local trademark story, a while back, Longmont-based craft beermaker, Left Hand Brewing Company, tried to register the trademark for the word “Nitro” as it relates to beer, after it came out with its Milk Stout Nitro beer. This is not the first time we have talked about craft brewery trademark issues, and it likely won’t be the last. Craft brewery trademark disputes are becoming more and more common.
In this case, the company wanted to use the word Nitro to distinguish its nitrogenated beers. It may seem like a harmless thing to do, but boy did it bring the company a lot of trouble. Other companies took action when they saw Left Hand trying to trademark the word, maybe you’ve heard of some of them, they include the makers of Budweiser, Samuel Adams, and Guinness!
Left Hand claimed it was doing it to prevent a bigger beermaker from ultimately registering the trademark, but due to the legal action from other brewers and the upset from the craft beer community over Left Hand’s actions, the company ultimately withdrew its efforts. Craft beerdrinkers were upset that Left Hand was trying to essentially “own” the word Nitro as it relates to beer. Other brewers use nitrogen in their products too, and being such a clear choice for a descriptive word, it only makes sense to use it to differentiate it from traditionally carbonated products.
Let this be a lesson. Whenever your business is thinking about asserting intellectual property rights or trademarks over something, it is important to think of it not only as a legal decision but a business decision as well. Businesses must think about how these actions will impact their competitors and how they might respond. Additionally, the way existing and potential consumers of your business’ products may respond to the news is critical to consider too.
Even if you may have a valid legal claim to something, it may not always be the best business decision to pursue it to the fullest. Cost-benefit analysis is key to situations like this, and it is clearly a good idea to consider both the business and legal ramifications of the different courses of action available to you. Branding is about more than logos, names, trademarks, etc. It is about the image your portray as a company, and a growing component of that is how litigious the company is, especially if it can be perceived as an “unfair” or “unnecessary” use of the legal system.
If your business needs help regarding a trademark, other intellectual property, or other business legal needs, do not hesitate to reach out to the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, P.C., home of your Denver Business Attorney, Elizabeth Lewis, at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Apr 22, 2015 | Business News
In a previous post, we talked about the importance of diversifying your business and the benefits that it can have toward your success. This time, we’ll talk more about developing an initial idea for a business.
You’ve probably heard it said before, that they key to a successful business is usually in the form of one of two ideas. The first is for your business to do something that other businesses are already doing but doing it in a different or better way. The second is for your business to do something completely different, something new, that nobody else is really doing (or perhaps just nobody in that particular area).
When you are doing something that others are already doing, in order to succeed, you probably need some kind of differentiator to make your business stand out. Maybe you will provide better customer service, maybe your business has greater expertise in the area than competitors, or maybe you are just in a more convenient location than the rest. There are benefits to this approach though too. By doing something others are doing, you know that there are customers out there, you know that it is possible to succeed. Basically, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
If you are doing something different, that nobody else is doing, it can be even riskier endeavor. Sometimes there’s a reason that nobody else has done it. Perhaps others have tried and failed, maybe there are legal or regulatory challenges in the way, or it could just be a concept that won’t generate enough customers to survive. However, by doing something new, it may be easier to attract customers, since you don’t have any direct competitors (for now—remember if your business is successful, it is only a matter of time before others try to jump in and compete).
Either route toward success will be challenging, but can be very rewarding.
It can seem hard to come up with that great business idea, something that nobody else is doing, or coming up with that critical differentiator to make your business do what others do, so much better than the competition. Sometimes you may be able to find a way to get some of the benefits of both approaches.
For example, you may consider combining two things that people already do and like to form a sort-of new, hybrid business. This can go hand in hand with that idea of diversifying your business that we have discussed before. With this approach, you can attract traditional customers of either business, as well as bring in new customers as a result of this new business concept. You also aren’t tasked with coming up with a completely new idea or way of necessarily being better than all the competition of the individual businesses. This could help you capture some of the benefits of either approach to coming up with a good business idea.
The current age of technology and rapid changes taking place in the economy are opening up all kinds of opportunities that would not have existed or been considered 5 or even 10 years ago. People seem to be more willing to try new things now than ever before, so this can open up the door for small businesses and entrepreneurs to find new and creative ways to bring new value or consolidate the value provided by other businesses in a new and exciting way. Another aspect of this is that this fast-paced change can also make it even more difficult to predict how successful a business will be. Moreover, this could make it nearly impossible to project the successfulness of a business over the long-term.
With whatever idea you come up with or consider, you should be sure to speak with experienced professionals and advisers before getting started. This way you can be more aware of the potential risks and know what challenges you will face with starting a business.
If you’re thinking about making that leap to start your own business, do not hesitate to reach out for legal help and guidance from the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, PC, home of your Denver Business Attorney, Elizabeth Lewis, at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Apr 15, 2015 | Misc. Legal Tidbits
In an age of technology enabling new ways to conduct business anywhere on a smartphone and work-from-home opportunities for many workers, it can be difficult to disconnect and get away from your business or job. If you are trying to open a new business or keep a small-business going, it can be especially stressful to even think about taking time off or having employees take time off. The worries about who will pick up the slack or how can the business afford it are powerful concerns.
Recently, there have been some federal and state proposals to mandate that employers provide their workers with more opportunity to take job-protected paid time off that would essentially expand the Family Medical Leave Act. Simply put, FMLA already provides workers with job-protected leave that is unpaid for a personal or family member illness or after a baby is born.
Here in Colorado, there is a proposal that would have every worker pay several dollars a week from their paycheck to fund a program that would allow workers to apply for all or a portion of their wages to be paid by the program if they need to take time off for maternity/paternity leave, an illness, or other similar circumstance. The program would pay a portion of the workers normal income that would be higher for low-wage workers, and a lower portion for higher-wage workers. The idea is that it would be a way for more employees to get access to paid time off, without burdening businesses, especially small-businesses, with the cost of paying the worker while they are gone.
However, it seems that most businesses and business groups oppose the measure, citing the administrative costs in managing the deductions and payroll with such a program and the challenges associated with finding temporary replacements for employees on job-protected leave. Businesses also fear that if the paycheck deductions are insufficient to fund the program, that businesses will end up covering any deficits.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are many companies and small-businesses that say that their workers already have access to these kinds of benefits. They say that they make sure that their employees get the time they need through a time off plan that suits their employer-employee relationship on a more individualized level.
Another interesting approach is one from a Denver-based tech company, FullContact. They have an extraordinary vacation policy that they call “Paid, PAID Vacation.” With this approach, they give their employees a minimum of 15 days of vacation with full pay every year, but they also give each employee $7,500 to pay for the vacation itself. The only catch for getting the bonus is that employees must actually go on vacation, they must “disconnect,” and they cannot work during this time off. Part of the inspiration for this program came when the CEO and founder was on vacation in Egypt. He was riding on a camel, in Egypt, with the Pyramids in view, and he was staring at his smartphone. There is a framed photo commemorating this moment at the company’s office. The company has called it a “giant experiment” that is designed to reward their employees and also help the company through benefits like increased productivity and employee retention. FullContact has had this program since 2012, so it looks like the company is satisfied with the results of this experiment.
If your business has questions about laws covering employee time off or about having an employee handbook or policies drafted with legal issues in mind, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, P.C., home of your Denver Business Attorney, Elizabeth Lewis, at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Apr 8, 2015 | Business News
Colorado was recently ranked 3rd among US state economies by Business Insider. You can see the full report here. This is not too surprising since Business Insider also ranked CO as being the fastest growing state economy last year. A large part of the methodology of the new ranking, Business Insider was looking at factors such as GDP per capita, unemployment rate, weekly wages, and state government budget situation.
Naturally, all of these individual factors are significantly affected by the state of the energy market, especially for states like Colorado with significant oil and gas exploration and development. It’s interesting to note that North Dakota came in at #1 on this list and Texas at #2, two states that also have substantial energy-based economies. With the recent drop in oil prices and reduction in related jobs, it will be interesting to see how this impacts Colorado’s economy. We already discussed in a previous post about how the lower gas prices have increased hiring and business overall in other sectors of the economy.
So far, it has been reported that Colorado has not been significantly impacted by the drop in oil prices yet, at least as far as the recent data is able to show. However, this will not likely remain the case. It was reported that half of Colorado’s drilling rigs have not been in operation for months. Growth and other economic projections for the state’s future are not as bright as they once were. This is expected to increase unemployment, reduce GDP, and also reduce state tax revenues too.
Colorado does have a diversified economy, certainly much more so than say, North Dakota, and the state is expected to weather the storm in the energy market better than other areas, with continued growth and low unemployment rates continuing, just perhaps not quite as strong, into the future. After all, business confidence here in Colorado is still continuing to rise. Colorado is and will continue to be a top state for businesses both big and small.
If you have questions about legal matters for your business, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, PC, home of your Denver Business Attorney, Elizabeth Lewis, at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Mar 25, 2015 | Business News
It cannot be put any more simply than to say that without your customers and/or clients, your business could not survive, so lets talk about ways that you can show your appreciation to them and increase their loyalty to keep them coming back again and again.
You can always consider sending out a handwritten thank you to your top clients to let them know how much you appreciate their business and that you are here for them if they need anything else. You may also think about hosting a client appreciation day of some kind where you offer to take them out to lunch or send out small gifts to them. Sometimes simply reaching out to them for a less formal check-up may be appreciated as a way of showing that you care about how they are doing personally and professionally.
If your business is “customer” rather than “client” based, consider issuing some coupons available for customers to get a discount when they come back next time. Not only are these incentives a relatively small effort on your part but also they can go a long way in forging long-lasting relationships. Such incentive programs do not have to be a drain on your business either; in fact, they can be a large source of long-term growth through customer loyalty and repeat business.
Speaking of customer loyalty, if you are ready to make a bigger step than offering one-time discounts, it may be time to consider developing a customer loyalty program. This could include offering discounts or free products after satisfying a particular number of purchases in a period of time or after meeting a certain dollar amount of purchases. These kinds of programs can be implemented with a variety of smartphone applications available for small businesses, so you do not have to develop one by yourself. This can be a great way to not only increase the quantity of your sales but it can also increase the quality of the overall experience for your customers. This will likely not only increase their customer loyalty, but it will also increase the likelihood that they will bring in their friends and family, write positive reviews online about your business, and tell others about your business.
Whatever you decide to do for your clients or customers, think about it from their perspective. If you were a client or customer, what would you appreciate and what would make you want to come back to that business or refer it to your friends and family? These ideas do not have to be expensive or complicated, but instead, they simply demonstrate how sincerely you value your patrons and want to keep them coming back.
If you need legal assistance for your small business, or if you are ready to start your own, do not hesitate to reach out to the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, PC, home of your Denver Business Attorney, Elizabeth Lewis, at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
