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Let's talk a little bit about the Post cereal lawsuit against OkGo.
I think there's been a lot of confusion about that. So I figured even though I'm on the road, let's chat post filed a lawsuit against the band. Okay go. Why Post wants to file a trademark called OkGo for a line of cereals. Probably ready to made cereals is my guess.
The band sent the post a what we call a cease and desist letter. Now, we've heard a lot about cease and desist letters, but we haven't really heard a lot about what happens after you send a cease and desist letter. One of the pitfalls of sending a cease and desist letter is that the potential defendant in a lawsuit who receives that cease and desist letter may have the ability to go to federal court, especially in trademark law, because everything is federal.
We want the court to say "We are not infringing upon this trademark."
Now, in that particular case, what has to happen then is that the now defendant who asserted the trademark claims, who would have been a plaintiff, also has to file a counter lawsuit for the trademark infringement, as well as answering the the complaint that's there. So really what's happened here is that post started using the phrase, okay, go on cereal. Okay, go. The band did not like that particular use of the phrase. Okay, go. Despite the different sets of goods and services, that lawyer said the cease and desist letter. And in response to the cease and desist letter post decided to take that issue to their home district court and they filed a what we call a declaratory judgment asking the District of Minnesota that they are not infringing.
So that's one of the that's one of the things that happens when you send a cease and desist letter. It can backfire on you. And you might actually wind up being a defendant in a lawsuit where, you know, they're being asked to say that they're not actually infringing. You have to make sure that you write your cease and desist letters calmly. You must make sure that you need to write your cease and desist letters specifically, and you need to make sure that you're not really going to kick up dust.
But that is certainly one of the things that can happen.
And in this particular case, that is exactly what happened that a lawsuit just started. So we have a lot to to to determine, especially a lot to determine about. Okay. Go's use of the trademark. Okay. Go ahead. And if it's a trademark that is famous enough that all other uses should be banned. To me, that's going to be the one and only question on the trademark case. -
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The "Law & Business" podcast has returned. Once again, we are with Heather Abissi, our co-host, from Abissi Law. We discuss domain names:How domain names are property;How domain names relate to trademark law;In which ways a person or business can challenge the validity of a domain name registration;Arbitration or Federal Court?What happens when the federal government seizes your domain name?It's a fun conversation! Don't forget to subscribe and rate us 5 stars!
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The "Law and Business" podcast is BACK.
And Anthony is joined by his new co-host, Heather Abissi. Heather M. Abissi, an attorney beginning her 15th year of practice, having served as an Executive Assistant District Attorney, Criminal Defense Attorney, Civil Rights Attorney, Tort Attorney, Family Law Attorney, Matrimonial Attorney, and Senior Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, and Corporate Outside Counsel, has a practice focused on legal writing, editing, contract negotiation, oral argument, trial support and strategy. The goal of her practice is to improve the work-life balance of attorneys by allowing them to outsource time consuming legal documents, and peace of mind to corporate clients who need detail oriented personal attention to their contracts rather than boilerplate.
Heather Abissi
The sensitive topic is revenge porn. Heather tackles the topic from the victim's perspective in terms of criminal law, and how to report such an action. Anthony tackles the problem from the perspective in terms of copyright law and rights of privacy/publicity aka name/image/likeness - how a federal civil lawsuit may help a victim. -
Coming aboard the "Law & Business" Podcast is Polina Chtchelok. Polina is an Australian lawyer and engineer. She started her career in the energy sector, where after having lived in 5 different countries and working on various investments and projects, she saw a business opportunity due to lack of specific legal services and she moved from working in-house to creating her own niche market law firm in a controversial and challenging business environment of Bolivia in South America. After completing Executive MBA from HEC Paris with specialization in finance end entrepreneurship her focus now is on development of financial and operational strategies for business growth.
This episode on how to define a business vs. how to define a startup was fun to record and we hope you enjoy it, also.
Anthony Verna: (00:02)All right. Welcome to the Law and Business podcast, the most blandly named podcast out there. With me today is Polina Chtchelok. Polina, how you doing?Polina Chtchelok:I’m good, and you?
Anthony Verna:I’m well. How badly did I butcher your last name?Polina Chtchelok:It was actually quite well.
Anthony Verrna:All right. Oh, good. Okay. That's because your last name is Polish in nature.
Polina Chtchelok:Russian.
Anthony Verna:Russian, I’m sorry, I keep making that mistake. I grew up near our Lady of Czestochowa, which is I believe a Ukrainian saint. So anyway, I've learned a little bit about trying to figure out some of the Eastern Europe…
Polina Chtchelok: (00:53)The region of my last name is Ukrainian Cossacks.
Anthony Verrna: (00:58)Okay. Okay. So, all right. Thank you for the diversion. Uh, Paulina is an Australian lawyer and engineer. Speaking of a diversion. You started your career in the energy sector after having lived in five different countries, working on various investment and projects. Polina, you saw business opportunity due to lack of specific legal services. And you moved from working with in-house to creating your own niche market law firm in a controversial and challenging business environment in Bolivia, in South America. And then after completing your executive MBA from HEC Paris, with specialization in finance and entrepreneurship, your focus is now on development of financial and operational strategies for business growth. So welcome because law and business is exactly where you and I collide and intersect and thanks for being on today.
Polina Chtchelok:Oh, thank you for having me here.
Anthony Verna:Hey, so we're going to talk a little bit about what you think of as an ongoing concern for a business versus a startup. And hopefully our listeners can take away some ideas for thinking about if you're a startup out there thinking about taking your startup, what do I need to do to be an ongoing business concern?
Polina Chtchelok: (02:14)It's a very complex subject, and it's a very current subject because as you know, with COVID-19, there's a lot of businesses being impacted. You have to shut down, but at the same time, COVID-19 accelerated in entrepreneurship. It's accelerated creation of startups. Its accelerated people being innovative and creative because of their restrictions they've been under. They had to think of new ways of doing a business, implement changes to keep the business afloat and, and even the current customers, they change their habits. And you had to adjust to these changes in the habits of your customers.
Anthony Verna: (03:06)I completely agree. And we see that as well. We're seeing a lot more trademark applications come through the door. We're seeing a lot of patent application inquiries, and a lot of people trying to figure out if their invention is something that they want to invest the time and the money to get a patent application. And, that really begins one of the thoughts, like how much have you invested of your own money in your business?
Polina Chtchelok: (03:35)Well, before we get into this point in terms of how much we invest, -
It's always fun when your friends drop in for a podcast episode.
My guest this time is my friend, the talented and lovely Andromeda Turre.
Andromeda is a jazz singer whose latest project is called Growing up Jazz, a series about the influence of jazz on the American soul that runs parallel to her life story as the daughter of two jazz musicians.
Andromeda had some copyright questions. These questions came from the musician's perspective, especially as we discussed the need for a copyright registration in the music and a need for a copyright registration in the sound recording (aka "sync license" when musicians license the recording). However, everyone who works in all media should find it informative and we want Andromeda back on soon.
BTW - nobody is allowed to use "poor man's copyright" on the podcast anymore. That term is officially banned.
Anthony Verna: (00:03)And welcome to the Law and Business podcast. I’m here with my friend Andromeda Turre. How you doing?
Andromeda Turre: (00:09)I'm so good. And thank you so much for inviting me on to talk to you today.
Anthony Verna: (00:13)Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming. And by the way, let's tell everybody listening. as Andromeda is a jazz singer and where can everybody find your stuff on the web?
Andromeda Turre: (00:26)You can find it at andromedaturre.com. I'm on Spotify. I'm on iTunes, wherever you download or stream music, you can find my music and, yeah, that's it.
Anthony Verna: (00:36)Well, thank you for coming. And so let's talk a little bit about copyright stuff, especially for, for the musician, especially the musician inside. Well, you've got a musicians inside and outside of you, so…
Andromeda Turre: (00:55)But there's so many questions about copyright that I think so many musicians will want the answers to, and I know that you can help us out. So, I've got some questions for you today.Anthony Verna: Hit me with the questions. That's what we’re here for.Andromeda TurreOkay. My first question is: Why do musicians need to copyright their music? It can be expensive. And I know that you can copyright things as a group or as an individual song. Give us the pitch as to why we should do this.
Anthony Verna: (01:24)Sure. So, in the United States… Let's start here… In the United States, without any kind of registration, if there's infringement, you can't file a lawsuit. So, I always say with copyright law, number one, it's the entry for, for a lawsuit and really it's a catalog as well. So, if you register every single song, you will be filing the composer's name, the date that it was composed, chances are where. And so, in that particular aspect, as your career grows, as your catalog grows, your copyright catalog grows. So, you have that barrier court and you have a catalog. So this way, if somebody needs to license something from you… I'm sure a lot of musicians are also members of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. And therefore, they've got to have that catalog in there for licensing as well.
Having the copyright registration is kind of the glue to making all of that work. Now also, besides just entering court, if you have the registration before any infringement happens, you are entitled to at least the potential for more damages. So for example, if you've registered your song and somebody copies it, whether it's intentional or unintentional, but if somebody copies your song passes it off as their own, and you get no royalties from it, then you can file a lawsuit and you can ask for actual damages. In other words, the loss monies. You can ask for what we call statutory damages, which is an easier accounting of those monies. And you can ask for attorney's fees as well, and this way copyright infringements would be worth it. If you don't file that lawsuit, you will… I mean, if you don't, excuse me, file your copyright before the infringement, you are not entitled to a statutory damages and you are not entitled to attorney's fees... -
On Episode 58 of the "Law & Business" Podcast, Anthony sits down with James Kwon, the CEO and Executive Strategy Chef of Figmints, a digital marketing agency in Providence, Rhode Island. Figmints has cracked the code on creating, developing, and delivering the scalable, repeatable marketing, and sales models that create results, drive revenue, and keep its clients smiling.
The conversation is about the Three Items Marketers Need to Know Now - right now, with the COVID pandemic hitting. Earlier, the podcast discussed why now is a perfect time for companies to continue to advertise - here are some thoughts on the strategy of how to advertise and market.
A lightly-edited transcript follows:
Anthony Verna: (00:02)All right, everyone. Welcome to the Law and Business podcast. With me is James Kwon from Figments. How are you doing James?
James Kwon:I'm doing as well as I can be. Thanks, Anthony.
Anthony Verna:You're feeling a little cabin fever lately?
James Kwon:There's certainly the Groundhog Day scenario of repetition. I just had a great morning check-in huddle with the team and just reminding them to break the repetition and to stay sane. And that was my tip for this week.
Anthony Verna:I think that's a very good, good tip for this week and I have to check in with my team as well. Our team is split between the East coast and the West coast. So I generally don't have like a one team phone call.
James Kwon:That makes sense.
Anthony Verna:Yeah. So James, tell us a little bit about yourself and a little about Figments as an agency.
James Kwon: (00:58)Yeah, happy to. So, I run a digital marketing firm, full service digital firm called figments fig M I N T s.com. And, we do storytelling that actually proves revenue results. So start with brand storytelling, logo design, website design development, because of course we have to, but this last part where we're actually proving results for clients by setting up digital automation, content creation, thought leadership so we can drive traffic and see real results happen, and we actually do some of those calls on behalf of the client. So we're really trying to take as much of that funnel responsibility as possible. And I've been running an agency now for, it's our eighth year. We're about 20 full time employees. Since Figments I've started about nine companies so I'm a little bit of a serial entrepreneur. Have a little, some startups and some software companies and some subsidiaries.I just got invited to speak at Inbound. I’m not sure if you're familiar with it.
Anthony Verna:I am certainly familiar. I'm certainly familiar with it. I mean, everybody listening is, sure.
James Kwon:So Inbound, it's the largest marketing conference in the world. It's run by the software tool, HubSpot's, which is very fast growing. It's a hot stock to keep your eye on and just got invited to speak which is flattering.
Anthony Verna:One particular question you certainly said that your agency helps with thought leadership, which is a buzzword, but I'm gonna have you break it down. What does thought leadership exactly mean?
James Kwon:Yeah, great question. So this day…
Anthony Verna:I only try to ask the great ones, man. I try not to ask stupid ones.
James Kwon:Great job so far. So the thought leadership is a principle behind content marketing where today buyers are more informed than ever because they can go online, they can research blogs, they just go to Google and start searching.
Well, what do I need to know if I'm going to hire a great patent attorney? Or what do I need to know if I'm going to hire a great agency? And you can find a lot of information. The person who can author that great content becomes the authority in that world. And so, this is the category we call thought leadership. If you can start to author a lot of great content, all of a sudden your name gets attached to all these great SEO content, all these great keywords when people are search... -
Anthony Verna sat down with John Eastwood of Eiger Law in Taipei, Taiwan to talk about some of the effects of the COVID pandemic. Some of the topics covered are intellectual property, especially in relationship to bankruptcy, and employment law across borders and oceans. Supply chains are affected, also.
Anthony Verna: (00:02)And welcome to the Law and Business podcast. On this episode is the most frequent guest, John Eastwood. How are you doing, John?
John Eastwood:Doing well, doing well. I'm here in Taipei. My colleagues in Shanghai have apparently weathered quite a bit of the storm in the sense that Shanghai has not been so heavily affected. Taiwan, in the midst of this Corona virus situation is actually doing really well. It's become a bit of a model for… and it's been getting plaudits from different ends of the political spectrum of the United States. You get like the Wall Street Journal recently from kind of, an editorial perspective. It was lauding that Taiwan could be a model for what other countries could do. And then on the other side of the spectrum, I think we just got a shout out from Barbara Streisand on Twitter.
The entertaining thing for that. The Taiwan government. I mean, I love the job of doing on Corona virus and it was currently, we're still living in the three hundreds at this point. We hear on as we recorded this in early April. But in terms of number of in fact the event, the administrative foreign affairs and Taiwan retweeted Barbara Streisand, so a tweet and said, Oh, you know, you're just basically, you're so awesome. Thank you for saying this. And one can only just look at how exactly the same concept of cooperation to reach great heights together in a mutually working mutually between scientists and government are exactly mirrored in the story for A Star is Born and you haven't seen A Star is Born. Kris Kristofferson does not come out on the ending of A Star is Born.
Anthony Verna:Well at least that version of it, John. This is what the fourth version of that story?
John Eastwood:I was just talking with my wife and kids about that this morning. We're up to four versions of A Star is Born.
Anthony Verna:Actually, I think it's five.
John Eastwood: (02:37)Any of them end well? Well, they're not happy stories, but you know, it's helpful idea. Like a star rises and one falls and you know, so that's not the point of the story is not that two stars rise together and reach their greatest heights and happiness anyway. Any hoo anyhoo yeah, no. See these are things that are the Chinese famous. He said these are interesting times.
Anthony Verna: (03:04)What's it like going in and out of buildings in Taipei? Like are you… I mean, we're stuck at home. We're on an order that if it's not essential, and of course the definition of essential I think is constitutionally problematic because you've got states like New York that says that say that alcohol is not a problem. Pennsylvania says we're shutting down all the alcohol stores cause they're state run. And Massachusetts has said that alcohol is essential. Medical marijuana is not essential. So there might be a little vagueness here as to what, what essential might be, but we're not going out unless it's the grocery store and even then, I hope we stocked up long enough to keep us interested in dinner for a while. That gigantic pack of chicken thighs is not exactly exciting, but you know, it's in the freezer.
John Eastwood: (04:13)We do approach the trips to Costco like it's a military operation, like, you know, in and out and got the masks and don't touch it other than what we're buying. And we do have like for example, right now I'm in the office, but we're in fact coming up this next week, we're implementing, even though Taiwan is in a very fortunate situation that could change at any time. And so we aligned with that. We are implementing a lot of… it's the new acronym for me. W F H - work from home and it's the first time I've had ... -
In Episode 56 of the "Law & Business" podcast, Anthony speaks to Jim Frawley of Bellwether (at bellwetherhub.com), an executive coach. Jim helps his clients with that a slight push, or a friendly face when they try something new. Whatever you want Jim and Bellwether to be, that’s what they can be. Don’t just talk about the next steps – take an actual step to getting it done.
Their topic is the hot-button issue is that as life is temporarily changed, our mindsets need to change. Jim loves to help people get stuff done. This can mean at the office, at home or in their community. It’s about getting motivated, disciplined individuals together to share ideas, learn from each other, and have fun. It is said that we are a result of the five people closest to us, so he wants to fish for those five that will challenge and help you improve the most.
Enjoy the episode - don't forget to rate us!
Anthony Verna: (00:04)Welcome to the Law and Business podcast, the least creatively named podcast out there in podcast land. With me is Jim Frawley. How you doing, Jim?
Jim Frawley:Fantastic day. I love being on such a creatively titled show.
Anthony Verna:Thank you very much. And, Jim, you're from Bellwether where you do a lot of business and executive coaching.
Jim Frawley:Yeah, we work a lot with senior executives and teams and organizations and then we work a lot with small businesses on their strategic direction and figuring out what it is that they want to do to get to the next level.
Anthony Verna:Excellent. Well, thank you for being on and for all of you out there who have forgotten what podcast you're listening to, I'm Anthony Verna, managing partner at Verna Law. And so, Jim, a lot of businesses, of course, are adjusting to the current new normal. I hesitate a little bit to call it anything more than the current new normal because I think we'll get back to normal at some point, even if it's in three or four months, I think we'll get back to normal. But, maybe that's my positive thinking.
Jim Frawley:Well, normal is subjective.
Anthony Verna:Well, that's true as well.
Jim Frawley:It's going to be interesting to see what that normal actually is.
Anthony Verna:That's true as well. So, from a coaching standpoint, the hot button items that your clients are coming to you about right now?
Jim Frawley:Well, there are a lot of the small business owners, especially the ones who are sole proprietors…
Anthony Verna:They're probably freaking out and panicking…
Jim Frawley:Incredibly and for good reason, right? Most sole proprietors can't file for unemployment. Most sole proprietors, this is their sole income for their family. And business has just dried up overnight for a lot of them, other than the other businesses that are completely overwhelmed with the type of work. So, it's really dependent on the type of business that you're in and, and where you're shaking out on it.
So, cashflow is obviously one of the big challenges that most of them are focused on, of course. But the other one that they're really interested in, and the one that I like to talk to most of my clients about is remaining relevant. And one of the big tokens of advice I give to my clients is, while you may not have revenue coming in, there is still an opportunity to not be forgotten from a business perspective. So we want to make sure that, you know, people's attention is everywhere right now how do you put your service and product front and center? It's probably just noise at this point. So how do you do it? And you have to do it in a selfless way where you're not trying to sell something because people aren't really buying anything.
So how are you positioning your business to provide value for clients so that you are remembered when these things do get back to normal?
Anthony Verna:It's a little reminiscent of the advertising mantra of: if needing to advertise in good times is important, well, -
In Episode 55 of the "Law & Business" Podcast, Anthony speaks with Chelsey Pendock of Innovision Advertising. Innovision is an advertising placement agency and Chelsey discusses the sudden changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes which businesses are advertising, and why it is still important to advertise in more difficult economic times.
Enjoy!
Anthony Verna: (00:02)And welcome to the Law and Business podcast. You already know I'm Anthony Verna. with me is Chelsea Pendock from InnoVision Advertising. How are you doing, Chelsea?
Chelsey Pendock: (00:12)Hi Anthony. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on your show.
Anthony Verna:Hey, not a problem. It's the least showy show in all of podcast world. So, it's also the least creatively titled show in all of podcastville as well.
Chelsey Pendock:So it gets right to the point.
Anthony Verna: (00:30)So, uh, InnoVision advertising is a what I would define as an advertising placement agency. How am I doing?
Chelsey Pendock: (00:38)That's correct. We specialize in media buying and media planning. We don't do the creative in house, but we can certainly advise clients with advertising strategy and work with the creative team to make the messages best and most effective as it can possibly be. But our internal specialty is negotiating media rates and placing the media for clients, determining where they should be advertising to see an investment or a return on their investment rather.
Anthony Verna: (01:12)In a time like this, I would assume that everybody's first instinct is to, you know, especially those who are running businesses is to stop their advertising.
Chelsey Pendock: (01:25)Yes. That is usually the first thing. When a panic hits, people always think of advertising as something that's not really a necessity. Depending on the type of business you're in, that actually could be true or it, most of the time actually isn't. Yes, sometimes it is one of the first things to get caught in a recession.
Anthony Verna: (01:54)So, have you been seeing that over the last two to three weeks?
Chelsey Pendock: (02:00)We have, it just depends on the industry. There are certain businesses that are struggling right now and there are certain businesses that are actually thriving right now. Some of the clients that we work with that we're seeing that had to make cuts are particularly in retail, plastic surgery, salons, restaurants, events in particular, and automotive and anything in the luxury sector as well. Travel. But we don't work with a lot of entertainment clients, but we have seen a lot of people shying away too from, you know, Broadway shows. They can't go to movie theaters anymore. So TV productions have been on hold. So we are seeing that. However, there are some businesses that are actually thriving in this type of environment who we work with, like healthcare providers, of course, lenders in particular, grocery stores, accountants, auto repairs, everyone still needs to get their cars repaired. And then of course, technology companies like Zoom I'm sure are doing phenomenally well at this time.
Anthony Verna: (03:13)You know, speaking of grocery stores, a couple of the podcasts that I listened to specifically from Philadelphia and one of the grocery store chains there has started advertising for employees and they are blunt to the point. In this time of need, we have developed a need for more people to come and work for us. And I was really shocked and surprised at how quickly the messaging changed.
Chelsey Pendock: (03:49)Yeah. I mean messaging is 100% key in this situation. If you are a business that's going to keep advertising, it's very important that you tailor your message. So, in the case you're speaking of what the grocery store, they're looking for recruitment at this time, that's great. They definitely have to get that message out there. But there's other companies that rather than holding back on advertising, -
It is our final episode with the Nessa Group, even though our relationship will last a long time.
In this episode, the Nessa Group discusses a business with a unique and very special product. The product has the ability to help other businesses greatly. However, the business is built on shaky ground and the discussion revolves around that a business needs more than just a unique product.
Anthony Verna: (00:00)Welcome to our eighth and final episode of our special mini-series with the NESSA Group. We'll start. Hi, Jim Huerta. How are you?
Jim Huerta: (00:08)I’m doing well and I'm happy that we've accomplished the eight episodes and I hope that they draw a lot of attention.
Anthony Verna: (00:14)Thank you, sir. And Barry Kolevzon, the other principle of the NESSA Group. How are you doing?
Barry Kolevzon:I'm doing fine. Getting educated. Learning more than we know now.
Anthony Verna:All right. Wil Jacques, our patent professor.
Wil Jacques:Yes. Always a pleasure to be here.
Anthony Verna:Justin Tripodi, our branding buddy.
Justin Tripodi:Pleasure to be here, Anthony.
Anthony Verna:I'm sorry I couldn't do better than that on the illiteration and Scott Mautner, our corporate attorney. How you doing?
Scott Mautner:Doing well, thank you.
Anthony Verna:And which firm are you with, for attorney ethics?
Scott Mautner:Harrington, Ocko and Monk.
Anthony Verna:I'm managing partner of Verna Law also. So on this particular case study is a former client of the NESSA Group and one that most of us here have experience with. So, let's talk a little bit about the software that this particular client had made. And it did really work very well. It made that client, and that company, I should say a leader in online shopping experiences. Jim, why don't you take it from there?
Jim Huerta:Just give it a backdrop. Sure, sure. The company had been up and around for a while. They actually had established a quite a bit of patents. I'm going to say it's somewhere in the 30s. I'm not totally positive right now how many patents they had. But it was, I think ahead of its time. It was a way that shoppers online cannot lose track of what they had been looking at or what they had been shopping for. You were able to have like a cookie sitting inside the shopping process where it would take you right back to where you left off of what you were interested in depending on the store, whether it'd be a jewelry store or a clothing store. The utilization and the possible additional utilizations were non-ending. I mean, you can keep on thinking about how many things you can do with it.
Anthony Verna: (02:13)So Jim, a user would be able to leave the website store and come back to it with the cart exactly as it was.
Jim Huerta:Correct.
Anthony Verna:And then would the user also see remnants of this cart, for lack of a better word, around the web? So if I close this cart and this store and I went like onto Facebook and I went to Twitter, would I see other ads targeted to me to go back?
Jim Huerta: (02:40)I think it would be more specific and driven to the establishment that were using the app.
Anthony Verna: (02:45)Okay. So, there were also a special ways that if I recall correctly that an ad could be shown to a user as well.
Jim Huerta:Correct.
Anthony Verna:I mean, so there was something unique with this particular, absolutely. And a lot of the, the shop, a lot of the online shopping experience was unique for this particular company as well. What did you think some of the benefits were to the user?
Jim Huerta: (03:12)Well, I just thought the whole concept of the way it would track your history and browsing and your shopping experience was very unique. I mean, until I saw this product, I wasn't someone who shops online, but this really created a point of interest for me. The things that it could do in the areas that it could tackle. It didn't have to stay solely based on shopping. -
It is the seventh and penultimate episode of this special mini-series with the Nessa Group, in which the discussion is about a plush toy company that is a start-up. The toy company has been able to services from Verna Law and the Nessa Group in order to get started - a mixture of intellectual property and business know-how. There was even some highly creative market research done at Toy Fair.
Anthony Verna: (00:01)Welcome to the seventh episode of our special mini-series with the NESSA Group. Jim Huerta, how's it going?
Jim Huerta:It's going well. I think we're making great progress. Great conversation. I hope the audience will enjoy some of the points that we're making.
Anthony Verna:I hope so too. Barry Kolevzon, how you feeling?
Barry Kolevzon:Feeling better every time we get involved in this area. And actually, …
Anthony Verna:You've got more…
Barry Kolevzon:where I think that we've got a nice length of time to build relationships. Thank you.
Anthony Verna:Thank you. Barry. Wil Jacques, patent connoisseur. How's it going?
Wil Jacques:Another great day. Great to be here.
Anthony Verna:Wonderful. Justin Tripodi, brand king.
Justin Tripodi:I was wondering if I was going to get a title this time. How you doing, Anthony?
Anthony Verna:Wonderful. Thank you. Scott Mautner, corporate attorney.
Scott Mautner:I'm doing well. Thank you. And I am with Harrington, Ocko and Monk before you ask.
Anthony Verna: (01:03)And I am managing partner at Verna Law. So let's talk about a little bit about the plush toy industry. Wil and I have lots of plush toy experience. Wil, you have written one patent or is it multiple patents…
Wil Jacques:Multiple patents.
Anthony Verna:For the plush toy you're currently holding? Nobody can see that you're holding it. So props don't do very well on audio, but, but you are holding the product.
Wil Jacques:Well, the audience can hear him.
Squeaky Voice:Hi.
Anthony Verna: (01:48)Let's talk about the patent because it's been published. So it is public. So let's talk a little bit about the patent application that was made for this particular product. What makes it so unique?
Wil Jacques:Ah, very interesting. And actually only one of the patents has been published, but, the plush toy industry, you know, has seen some innovation obviously over the last 80 years. But there's been very little has been done recently I think we would look to Jennifer Telfer’s pillow pets as an example of an innovation in the plush toy space. This particular toy actually tells a story, you know, around let's say a fairy tale figure that kids are familiar with, but it provides that story by putting some elements or features as we patent folks like to call it into the plush toy.
Anthony Verna: (02:44)Okay. So, so yeah, just tell us a little bit about what the patent discloses.
Wil Jacques:Okay. So essentially what the patent discloses is that this little bear allows you to take an object, let's say it's a tooth for instance, you're able to put this thing into the mouth of this little bear and it drops down into a little chamber, let's call it a heart section. And then the child is able to kind of, as we would like to say, it's a teaching toy - share and care. So they're sharing and carrying their fallen tooth into this little toy.
Anthony Verna:And there are some people who might have a problem wrapping their head around it, but a lot of people do have their baby teeth saved. And so this is a container that can do that as well as be a toy.
Wil Jacques:As well as be a toy, as well as allow the parents or the child or the user to be able to access and take that tooth or that object out of the toy later on, which is something that generally is not seen in a plush toy.
Anthony Verna: (03:50)I mean it's a plush toy. It's a patent. I have to admit that combination is rare. To me that sounds like a unique selling proposition.
Wil Jacques:Yes, it is. -
Be well, everyone. Thank you for listening. Do not forget to rate the "Law & Business" Podcast on your podcast app!
In this roundtable episode with the Nessa Group, we discuss the importance of accredited investors in venture capital, what it means to be an accredited investor, what the possible pitfalls are if the investors are not accredited, and solutions from various disciplines in the case that a business looking for venture capital happens to fall into this trap.
Enjoy the episode.
Anthony Verna: And welcome to episode six of our special mini-series with the NESSA Group. And let's just start this off. Jim Huerta, how are you doing?
Jim Huerta:Hi, I'm wonderful. Enjoying the company and enjoying the conversation.
Anthony Verna:Thank you, sir. Barry Kolevzon, how's it going?
Barry Kolevzon:Going very, very nice. And we're very excited at the movements that we're making to go forward again.
Anthony Verna:All right. I only like going forward never backwards, but I practice law. So, Wil Jacques is with us. How are you doing, Wil.
Wil Jacques:Very good to be here. Hello to our listening audience.
Anthony Verna:Justin, how's it going?
Justin Tripodi:Doing great. Compliments on that joke.
Anthony Verna:Thank you, sir. Justin’s buddy over there, Scott Mautner. How you doing Scott?
Scott Mautner:I'm doing well, thank you.
Anthony Verna:And since you and I are attorneys, what firm are you with?
Scott Mautner:I'm with Harrington, Ocko and Monk.
Anthony Verna:And I'm managing partner of Verna Law, as well. So let's start here. Scott, this situation came from you. An entrepreneur had a great idea. Some friends worked on source code with this entrepreneur to launch an app. There were some issues there and I believe they came to you with already $2 million raised.
Scott Mautner: (01:13)And with unaccredited investors.
Anthony Verna: (01:16)Yeah. So that $2 million came from unaccredited investors.
Scott Mautner:Not all of it, but some of it, yes.
Anthony Verna:So, all right, let's start here. What's the difference between an accredited third party and an unaccredited third party?
Scott Mautner: (01:30)So under the securities laws to be accredited, you need to have income individually for $200,000 per year or with your spouse of $300,000 per year or have net assets excluding your home value of over $1 million. And so when you're raising money, it's a lot easier because you don't have to provide the amount of information for accredited investors that you would for unaccredited. So, when we raise money, we always want to do it with accredited investors. And if you don't meet the security laws, exceptions and rules relating to that, what happens is your investors can rescind their investment at any time. So, you could be running a company for four years and someone finds out that you didn't meet the exemptions you need under the securities laws. And they could say, I want my money back and you have to give them their money back. So it becomes a much bigger problem than just, “Oh, I forgot to give them financials.” or “I forgot to give them this or you know, other information.” So that's the first thing. And, and you know, every sort of company when you're dealing with venture capitalists and angel investors, they're always going to want to deal with accredited investors. It makes it simpler.
Anthony Verna: (02:45)So is that what the definition of bad securities exemptions are, is the ability to take that money back?
Scott Mautner: (02:51)Effectively if you have a bad offering? Yes, it would be rescinded. Rescission of the offering.
Anthony Verna:So basically if somebody is not accredited, could take the money back and if you said a company is working for four years and maybe they're burning through capital, they don't have that.
Scott Mautner:It's a problem. Yes, yes. Yeah. I mean there's ways to fix it, but the best way to fix it is just to make an offering from t... -
In Episode 51 of the "Law & Business" Podcast, we take a look at a company that makes a plush product that is also a curtain tie-back. It is a very useful product, but one that also features the ability to be very fanciful. So the group takes a look at how the Nessa Group improved its sales and revenues from many different aspects, and also looks at what to continue to improve.
In this episode: Anthony Verna, Wil Jacques, Jim Huerta, Barry Kolevzon, Justin Tripodi, and Scott Mautner.
Enjoy the stimulating conversation.
Anthony Verna: (00:00)Everyone, welcome back for our fifth episode of the special mini-series with the NESSA Group. I'm Anthony Verna. Chances are you already knew that by listening to this., With us, Jim Huerta, principal of the NESSA Group. How you doing?
Jim Huerta:Hi, I'm doing well. Thank you.
Anthony Verna:And Barry Kolevzon second principle of the NESSA Group.
Barry Kolevzon:I’m listening to all of this.
Anthony Verna:I'm glad. I'm glad that you are. Also Wil Jacques. How are you, Wil?
Wil Jacques:
Very good.
Anthony Verna:
Justin Tripodi…
Justin Tripodi: How are you doing Anthony?
Anthony Verna:
I’m well, thank you. And the well-dressed Scott Mautner there. How you doing, Scott?
Scott Mautner:
I'm doing well, thank you.
Anthony Verna:All right. And for attorney ethics since you and I are a part of firms, what firm are you with as well?
Scott Mautner:
I'm with Harrington, Ocko and Monk.
Anthony Verna:All right. And, of course, I'm the managing partner of Verna Law. But again, chances are you knew that. All right. So today we're going to talk a little case study here. And NESSA Group had a client, one that I'm familiar with as well. We won't mention it by name, but we will just say that their product is a curtain tie back. Jim, how'd I do with describing the product?
Jim Huerta:
Perfect.
Anthony Verna:
The current tie back has a plush cover and on top of that plush cover, I would say, is a plush figure as well. How am I doing?
Jim Huerta:
You're doing well. It's amazing how well you are doing . I'm just listening.
Anthony Verna:Thank you, Jim. And basically, the plush part of this, what makes it attractive is that it's in different animal shapes. Again, how am I doing with describing the product?
Jim Huerta:You’re doing very well.
Anthony Verna:Okay. Jim, Barry, let's start with you two. This company, when you met them, was having problems. Can you describe, let's start here a couple of the problems that this company was having?
Barry Kolevzon: (01:55)Oh, there, there are a bunch of issues that are involved. I don't believe that they were staffed to carry on what they had. They’re in business 15 years, 20 years, 30 years. I'm not sure. And basically they were evidently happy with where they were. Then they woke up and said, “Hey, you know, we got a problem.”
Anthony Verna: (02:19)
Well, I think a lot of a lot of business owners are like that. You're in business for a while and it seems okay.
Barry Kolevzon: (02:25) Well that's a problem. That's a big problem there. You know, they go to their buddies and talked to them and hey know everything, and the problem is evidently they don't.
Anthony Verna: (02:39) All right, so what would be another problem?
Barry Kolevzon: (02:42)
Well, could be the problem of whether they make the product or the sample or whatever it is in house or out house. It depends on getting…
Anthony Verna:
That sounds like a supply chain issue.
Barry Kolevzon:
A supply chain issue, yes.
Anthony Verna: (02:57)
All right. So let's start here. When you say that the company was in existence for 10 to 15 years, but not exactly where the business owners wanted you're talking revenue?
Barry Kolevzon:
Yeah, they were short on revenue. That was a problem.
Anthony Verna:
Okay. So let's start here. Was there a sharp decline in the revenue or was it just the revenue wasn't good eno... -
In our big 50th episode of the "Law & Business" podcast, Anthony sits down with Amy Birks, a strategic growth advisor for businesses. Amy has over a decade of experience in corporate finance, developing strategies and managing projects, and six years creating digital marketing and growth strategies for online businesses. That's what makes her the purposeful CEO’s secret weapon for growth and results.
Amy and Anthony talk about how the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has caused a "new normal," debate whether this is around for a long time, how businesses are already quickly adapting to it, and how businesses need to continue to adapt, regardless of what a "new normal" looks like. After all, no matter what happens, technology will continue to develop and change business. Enjoy!
Anthony Verna: (00:19)
Welcome listeners to the Law and Business podcast. Once again, I'm Anthony Verna, but you knew that if you've been listening to the podcasts. With me is Amy Birks. How you doing, Amy?
Amy Birks:
I'm terrific. Thank you.
Anthony Verna:
Amy, I see you as a business consultant, somebody who is helping people to think of ways to grow. Am I being too wordy about what you do?
Amy Birks:
Am I too wordy or are you too wordy?
Anthony Verna:
No, am I being too wordy?
Amy Birks:
No, I think you summarized it really well. I think you did a great job.
Anthony Verna:
Well cause you have people just go intellectual property lawyer. You can get me in a couple of words. I can never see if I can get you in a couple words. So let's start here. A lot of us are hunkered down. A lot of us are cooped up. You are. I am. And I guess a lot of businesses are changing because of that.
Amy Birks: (01:19)
Yeah. At the time that we're recording this right now, we're kind of in the height of all the unknowns around the coronavirus and so everything is uncertain and it seems to keep changing on a day to day basis, hour by hour, really. I mean right now, especially in our country and really across the world. So we're seeing this very, very interesting shift in how everything is done. And what I'm noticing is that there's a couple of different opportunities. One is that we can all react from a space of fear of the uncertainty because unknowns and change and uncertainty create a good amount of discomfort for most people. But I think the other opportunity is looking at how we can, as business owners, especially how we can respond creatively to what's happening. And rather than seeing it as like, Oh, wow, our business could be in danger. Our economy could be in some real danger to seeing what the possibilities are instead. And that's what I'm most excited about because I am somebody who sees opportunities. I find them like a heat seeking missile and so I just keep seeing them everywhere I go. I see them and especially for small businesses cause that's who I support.
Anthony Verna: (02:45)
I've always seen you seen you, Amy as a bit of an optimist as well.
Amy Birks: (02:49)
Yes. That is also true. That is also true. But I think that's needed right now. You know, like you said, we're all hunkered down. I'm sitting outside on the back porch of my home right now because the children are home from school and they're very noisy which is also wonderful. Like it's great that we're all getting opportunities to connect more with our families, but there's a lot of uncertainty and I think that if we can find those moments to be optimistic and hopeful, then that is what is really required. I think for all of us right now to move on and to continue to grow. Growth is my business, right? That's what I do is I help companies grow. And so in order for us to grow, we have to be able to adapt to change and be willing to do that. And that's sometimes hard when we're afraid.
Anthony Verna: (03:36)
So let's get into specifics. What are some really specific things about change that businesses have to do? I mean number one. -
In Episode 49 of the "Law & Business" podcast, we have a chat with John Knebels. Knebs - as he is affectionately known - is a long-time local sports journalist in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
Anthony and Knebs sat down in the public view in a local Panera and talked about: How has his job changed as technology changed? What keeps him going in journalism? How are journalism and law - and being a journalist and being a lawyer - similar?
Enjoy!
Anthony Verna:
All right. We are live and kicking in our favorite Panera. Welcome to the Law
and Business podcast. Everybody out there knows I'm Anthony Verna. With me, John
Knebels. How are you doing, sir?
John Knebels:
I'm doing well. Nice to be here.
Anthony Verna:
Thank you very much. And look, just to
get everybody up to speed… You've got local journalism in your blood, right?
Who are you writing for right now?
John Knebels:
So right now I'm doing Catholicphilly.com. It is a diocesan website in Philadelphia.
I've been doing that since 1982. Basically covering all of Catholic stories: Catholic
schools, personality profiles, features, news stories, sporting events, and
then I'm writing for a wonderful website and it’s called Philadelphiasportsdigest.com
and it's run by a mother-daughter team. Like every human being on the planet
should have bosses like this. They just really, really great people. And that
covers in Philadelphia the Philadelphia Catholic league, and inter-academic
league are the two that have maiden leagues. So, the boys and girls they cover
and there's a tremendous amount of opportunity for people who get involved with
them because there's so much to do.
Anthony Verna:
Sure. I mean, I've totally forgotten the Philadelphia high school athletics in
my time. So, what else needs to be covered? If you're saying there's a lot of
work to do in the local scene, what else wants to be done?
John Knebels:
There's a couple of different things. It's interesting like the Philadelphia
Inquirer no longer really has a high school sports section.
Anthony Verna:
That's still amazes me.
John Knebels:
Yeah. Now let me be clear, they'll do stories and they have a couple of really
good writers, but they no longer do things like standings and updates and previews
and we'll do a preview for maybe a tournament. But back in the day you would
get so much information about what happened the night before: who did what, the
box scores. They don't have that anymore.
Anthony Verna:
Sure, sure. I remember when I was first home from college and in law school I
was part time at the Bucks County Courier Times and that's all they had me do
was go write high school sports.
John Knebels:
And, and you know, it's interesting because 95% of high school athletes are not
going to play in college. So, mom and dad are going to really like seeing Bobby
Schmidt's name scoring two points in the box score. There's something to be
said for that. I'm sure if my kid had scored two points for St Joe's prep, I'd
be like, Oh my God, I'd be taking pictures and sending them or his name
mentioned somewhere. So, what you're finding is that a lot of these companies
are desperately trying to find good strategies to get readers, but the problem
is the monetary part of it. So, people are not making a whole lot of money
doing this, obviously from the advertising standpoint is the most important
part of it. But you're seeing these people, you have a lot of people who are
pretending to be journalists. And I would say that they have no training and
they're like, you know what, how hard is it to sit there and cover a wrestling
event and they'll go up and you know, say, Oh this one did that, that would
that with no training which is a little aggravating for people who've done it
for their whole life, but some companies are just taking whatever they can get.
Anthony Verna:
But there still is a bit of a hole in the market for people who are invested in
high school sports. -
On Episode 48 of the "Law & Business" podcast, it's Tina Vignali of the blog Traveleidoscope.
We have a friendly chat about what the blog means from a business model standpoint and some hot travel topics as the world is beginning to not be friendly to travel for the time being.
Here is a lightly-edited transcript of the conversation:
Anthony Verna:
All right. Listeners, this is Anthony Verna back with you for another episode
of the Law and Business Podcast. We are with today, Tina Vignali. How'd I do?
Tina Vignali:
Pretty good.
Anthony Verna:
All right. That, that silent G in Italian always throws me.
Tina Vignali:
Well, you're Italian. You should…
Anthony Verna:
I know, but that silent G always gets
me.
Tina Vignali:
That's okay.
Anthony Verna:
You know, even when I was taking Italian lessons, that silent G just gets me a
little.
Tina Vignali:
Well, I won’t hold it against you.
Anthony Verna:
Thank you, my friend. Thank you. Tina is the main blogger at the Travelidoscope
blog. All right. And my tongue is not caught up yet. So, Tina talk to me a
little bit. Let's start here. What specific niche and travel do you blog about?
Tina Vignali:
So, Anthony, thanks for having me. I typically blog about active travel, so
that folds in with my personal interests. I'm an avid skier. I like to scuba
dive, I like to hike, anything active, but I also keep in mind that there's a
broader audience. And so, I also like to blog about good food, great
restaurants, and there's even a travel related recipe in there from time to
time.
Anthony Verna:
So what does active travel specifically mean?
Tina Vignali:
It can mean a lot of different things. As I mentioned, my personal interests
are in very sporty activities, skiing, scuba diving, hiking, kayaking, anything
like that. But it doesn't have to specifically address those topics. It can
just mean I'm not passive. So not in a tour group perhaps. But that's not to
say that I exclude going on a tour. I've done tours myself and they're
frequently very active. So, it can mean a lot of different things.
Anthony Verna:
Let's wake up at 6:00 AM to catch the bus. But, I'm not working. I don't want
to wake up at six.
Tina Vignali:
You need a vacation from your vacation.
Anthony Verna:
Yes. I think I've made that joke a few times after tours. So, let's move to the
business side of this. Since this is the Law and Business podcast, how do you
make money as a blogger? That's always the first question around the blogging
industry.
Tina Vignali:
Sure. I think it depends on what your personal goals are.
Anthony Verna:
Oh, and absolutely. That's correct. Cause everybody's blog is different. As we
know, this podcast is a supplement to my law practice, same with my blog. I
mean, all of that is in a way advertising, but for some people, blogging is
their career.
Tina Vignali:
And I admire that. That ability to do that.
Unfortunately, I think that it's better for me to supplement my career as a
blogger. the way that I take a couple of different approaches. So, we know each
other from PHL bloggers and that's a great way to network because while
traditional networking is more face to face, as we are today, but, you can also
network through social media and I think that's a really important way to find
business, create business help others in the blogging world. And so, I think
that's a valuable way to produce and assist others. The other thing that I like
to do is I like to get out and do work with libraries. So for example, I've
done workshops at libraries where I discuss how you can use your library as a
travel planning tool, not just for guidebooks but for things like if you are
interested in finding out what kinds of foods you'll like, get a recipe book
from the destination that you'll be traveling to or even music. Frequently libraries
have CDs or records. So, you can find out what kind of music you'll be hearing
or even what kind of different movies or books. -
Anthony Verna and Wil Jacques visited Toy Fair 2020. This is Anthony's eleventh Toy Fair and Wil Jacques' fifth Toy Fair. They opened the phone and recorded their thoughts for intellectual property trends they saw from the smaller businesses.
Anthony Verna at Toy Fair 2020
Anthony Verna:
Welcome to the “Law & Business” podcast. I'm Anthony Verna, Verna Law Managing
Partner.
Chances are that if you're listening, you already knew that.
I am here at toy fair, 2020 with Wil Jacques, my patent
agent.
Wil Jacques:
Good afternoon listening folks! Great to be here.
Anthony Verna:
All right, well, so let's talk a few items, a few big idea
items for intellectual property and toys.
One item that I noticed from maybe a patent side is the fact
that there are plenty of companies that have patents filed, or at least they
told us they had patents filed, but the patent is number is not noticed on the
packaging. So let's talk a little bit about what that means for them.
Wil Jacques:
Yeah. Kind of disturbing, actually, but, as you said, a lot
of companies claim that they had a few utility patents that were filed and or
issued.
But, the designation of those patents or markings were not on the packaging
that they had. And what I wanted to bring out to them is that it really plays
significantly or importantly in whether or not they were able and how much
damages they might be able to capture from market infringers if in fact they
never notified the market that the product that was being copied in fact had
patents on it.
And so that's the whole idea of marking your product, with your
patent numbers: so you send a signal to the market that if you copy this
particular product, you're copying one that's already patent protected.
Anthony Verna:
I would also be worried from an infringement standpoint
that, without giving notice of the number that a defendant would possibly have
a complete defense to patent infringement anyway, because without that
particular notice.
Wil:
It is onus on patent owners to notify any infringer, of copying
or infringing on their patents.
I mean, there's, there's no patent police, you know, there's no one that goes
around to see whether or not people are actually infringing on your patent is
actually your responsibility to, to police that. So, you know, there are many
strategies that you need to employ. But one of the first strategies is you
can't extract damages from someone until you notify them that they are actually
infringing on your patent.
Part of the marking of your product is a notification to the
marketplace that you have a patented product.
Anthony Verna:
And, remember, “There is no patent police” is a trademark of
Wil Jacques, because if you listen to this podcast you have heard “There is no
patent police” at least 10 other times from, from Wil in past episodes.
So let's talk about the utility versus design issue.
We spoke to several companies that said they had design
patents, but I think you and I probably wanted to try to push them a little
further to see if that design actually had utility.
Wil Jacques:
Yeah. Actually, it was very interesting conversation with a
number of people that we talk to and, you know, again, in full disclosure and
without disclosing what they were, telling us there were a number of companies
that had what we thought to be utility features for their toys, their products,
their inventions.
And for whatever reason they never sought, they never looked
into the opportunity to exploit the potential value of those utility, of
potential utility claims and those patents. And I was kind of surprised to hear
that there were various excuses, some around cost and what it would potentially
cost to do something like that, which can be somewhat erroneous. It's almost
like asking how much is a brain surgery going to cost before you get, before
you get the x-ray.
And so, you know, -
It is Episode 46 of the "Law & Business" Podcast. This is a continuance of our mini-series with the Nessa Group. Here, the group talks about businesses who are resistant to change. One trademark infringement lawsuit comes to Anthony's mind on the topic, because after the trademark infringement lawsuit, Anthony sent the client to Nessa Group because the client had a loss of one million dollars a year.
Anthony Verna: Welcome to our fourth episode of our special mini-series of podcasts, a series on the NESSA group. And, once again, we're here with the same team. My name is Anthony Verna. Jim Huerta, how are you doing? Jim Huerta: I'm doing fine. I'm glad to be here. Anthony Verna: All right, Barry Kolevzon, how are you doing? Barry Kolevzon: Great. Anthony Verna: Wonderful. Wil Jacques, what's happening? Wil Jacques: Oh, not a whole lot, but I'm glad to be here. Anthony Verna: Glad to have you here as well. Justin Tripodi. Justin, how's it going? Justin Tripodi: Doing great. Excited for the conversation today. Anthony Verna: Yeah, me too. Me too. So today we're going to be talking about clients who are resistant to change and businesses who are resistant to change. And hopefully we will find businesses who are not resistant to change because change sometimes, especially when you bring in a group like us is what helps a business grow. Jim, Barry, the three of us worked on a particular business a few years ago and I know it's more than a few years ago, but let's talk about that for a second. This was a client, a company that was sued for trademark infringement. This was a case where it wasn't a full brand, but it was an apparel company that was using a design on its clothing that was similar enough to a registered trademark where the trademark owner filed a lawsuit. It really wasn't worth defending. We were able to settle. The good news is that we were able to settle for $20,000 over a period of time and the company was able to destroy the offending products, we'll call it that cause I don't necessarily think it was infringing and move on with life. That part was I think was a great settlement. The three of us looked at this particular company's books and the three of us saw a company that was $1 million in the red. They're selling jeans. A company that is selling jeans, in my opinion, should not be $1 million in the red. One area that I noticed was that they were buying too much product from their factories. They were not selling the product fully. And when they would sell their product, they would sell it over at overstock.com for a loss from what they bought it from the factory. So, Jim, let's start here. What are some ways to avoid that red number when you know you're purchasing too much from the factory? Jim Huerta: No, in this case it was tricky. I mean obviously inventory becomes a very important thing. I think a lot of companies don't realize that if you have an excessive amount of inventory and you're carrying too much inventory, that you're not moving, it starts working against your P. and. L. it just has to you releasing prices that you can't really work with. This company had more unique things going on when it came to this red number. They had a parent company offshore and the parent company was trying to move their inventory back to the local company. So, in order for them, the parent company to look better that they will be moving inventory, they will house it back into the local company who was getting beat up and was going into the red. But there was no communication what was going on. There was no idea where the stages of different inventory levels were at. There were an incredible amount of transportation costs. When we looked at it and we looked at some of it, we didn't get enough information, we started to realize that a lot of this inventory was in transit because of the way they were structuring this movement. You couldn't really track the inventory and the dollars just kep... -
Episode 45 of the "Law & Business" Podcast, presented by Verna Law, features a collaboration with the Nessa Group, focusing on a detailed case study about helping a company rebrand fully. The episode explores a hypothetical scenario, influenced by a real-life trademark infringement lawsuit, and delves into the decision-making process between choosing legal action or rebranding. It highlights the complexities of trademark law, the challenges and strategies in maintaining brand identity during rebranding, and the significance of understanding customer perspectives in such transitions. The discussion provides valuable insights for businesses facing similar situations, emphasizing legal and marketing considerations in rebranding decisions.
Our special mini-series at the “Law & Business” Podcast with the Nessa Group continues.
In this special episode, we take a case in which a company must rebrand. The company's actual name is changed, but the situation is based from a real case. Quite often, in trademark infringement lawsuits, companies are facing a difficult choice: Rebrand or Fight. Fighting trademark infringement lawsuits are quite expensive with many procedural moves in federal district court. These procedural moves raise legal fees so that smaller companies have issues in fighting these infringement lawsuits.
How can a business consulting group help a company rebrand? Or at least begin to see the benefits of rebranding? This podcast episode starts that discussion.
Anthony Verna: Welcome to episode three of our special podcast mini-series. I'm Anthony Verna and we're here with the gang from the NESSA group. Jim, pleasure to see you again.
Jim Huerta: It’s a pleasure of being here. I find this will be very interesting.
Anthony Verna: Barry, thanks for being here.
Barry Kolevzon: Well, thank you for having me here and I think that we have exciting discussion to discuss.
Anthony Verna: Good. Thank you. Wil, great to see you, sir.
Wil Jacques: Yeah, I got a ditto that from Barry. But yeah, this is going to be exciting. I like real live case studies.
Anthony Verna: We like dittos. We don't like mega-dittos. Justin, it's a pleasure.
Justin Tripodi: I'm not going to hold this up. Let's get into this.
Jim Huerta: Good follow up.
Anthony Verna: All right, so let's start doing our case study section of our mini-series. So, let me tell you a little story about a client of mine. And the names here are changed to protect not just the innocent but what is private as well. So, we're going to call this Bronze and Bourbon. And I wish I'd thought of that in real life. But Bronze and Bourbon is a company that was sued for trademark infringement. They're an apparel company. They make not revolutionary materials, but they make apparel. So fancy, fun tee shirts, fun sweatshirts, caps, a lot of caps, a lot of accessories. And some of them do have sayings. The aesthetic, the Uber of this apparel is very traditionally manly.
Certainly cars, certainly a lot of motoring type of imagery in it. The plaintiff was a Bronze and Coke and so, from that particular standpoint, they're also an apparel company. Totally different type of apparel though. I would say that they sell a very expensive apparel, very good dress shirts, very good dress, pants, shoes, ties, things that are very much more upscale than the client in this case. So Wil, let's start with you as to some thoughts here.
Wil Jacques: You know, again, I'm a novice and certainly don't understand trademark law as you would. But the first thought that came to mind was you gotta be kidding me.
Anthony Verna: So let's talk about that for a second. No, and I understand exactly where you're coming from because a lot of people don't understand trademark law and a lot of people don't understand what the what the reasoning is for a trademark infringement lawsuit like this. So let's talk about that for a little bit. The plaintiff needs to have one) a trademark that is registered with the United Stat... - Vis mere
