The Daytona Law Blog

If you are like many business owners or executives in Florida, you know that your intellectual property should be carefully protected. Similarly, you know that avoiding an issue with another company's intellectual property can be important. In monitoring these things, it is good for you to understand the world of trademark infringements as trademarks may be among the types of intellectual property commonly involved in disputes.

As explained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the responsibility for enforcing any trademark rests squarely on the shoulders of the entity that holds the trademark. If that company does not enforce their marks, nobody else will. An allegation of infringement generally includes the assertion that another party is using the mark without approval and in a manner that is likely to cause confusion in the marketplace. This confusion, it should be noted, does not have to be intentional.

Your business partnerships in Daytona Beach are much more clearly defined when you have a contract in place. Yet as many of the companies that we here at Smith Bigman Brock have worked with in the past can attest to, simply having a written contract does not mean that such an agreement is valid (and, by extension, enforceable). It is the language and terms within a contract that confirms its validity. 

One of the basic elements that must be present in order for an agreement to be considered a contract is consideration. The Florida Bar defines "consideration" as "the exchange of promises to act and/or provide goods, services or money." Essentially, your contract consideration is the mutual benefits both you and your partner will receive from the agreement. For example, if you are a service provider, then the benefit your partner receives is your services. Your benefit is the payment for those services (or other services received in return). A contract cannot be "one-sided," or have benefits so heavily offered to one party of the agreement in order to be considered valid. 

If you work for a company in Florida and need to hire an outside vendor to perform some work for your company, you may well need to share sensitive business or industry information with that vendor in order for them to do the work you want them to do. Certainly, this sounds a bit concerning as the information you would share must be kept in confidence and not used incorrectly. This is what a nondisclosure agreement is for.

Sharing information with a vendor is just one of the many situations in which the use of an NDA, also referred to as a confidentiality agreement, is important. As explained by Forbes, you may even find it helpful to have your employees sign NDAs to protect the business while still giving employees access to the data they need to do their jobs. If you have developed a new product, service or technology and want to discuss this with a potential partner or buyer, you should again enlist the protections allowed by a confidentiality agreement.

Many people in Florida have dreams of owning their own businesses. In some cases, this may be achieved by working with another person and establishing a partnership. However, it is important that entrepreneurs proceed with caution before signing up to partner with another person as there may be serious legal and financial ramifications if a partnership does not work out as intended or hoped. 

According to Inc. magazine, there are some things that partners should have in common and some things they should not. Values, a work ethic and expectations for the business and each other should be shared for maximum synergy between partners. Skills, knowledge and even industry contacts may be best if not shared so that each person can bring something unique to the business and provide strength in different areas.