This morning I received a call from a small business owner who had negotiated to sell all her inventory to a buyer for $60,000. The parties agreed that payment would be made over several months. The buyer drove in from another state, picked up all the inventory in a truck, and drove back home. The seller hasn’t heard from her since.

Yesterday, the American Bar Association Journal reported on a dispute between former law partners. The firm filed suit, claiming that former partners have been using office space without paying rent, to the detriment of the firm and the creditors.

Assume that you are a service provider and most of your jobs are worth about $10,000. For the most part, people pay on time and you do not have any problems. But then you encounter a client who refuses to sign the contract. You need the work, so you agree. The client pays half the balance, and you complete the work. Now the client refuses to pay the remaining balance, claiming that the work was not performed properly.

My newest post on Silicon Bayou News discuss what to do when you have an idea that you want to discuss with someone, but want to protect that idea and keep it for yourself. The answer may surprise you.

One of the requirements of a federal trademark application is that you must actually be selling the product using the mark across state lines. In legalese, this is interstate commerce and gives the federal government, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, jurisdiction to register your trademark. This presents a problem to business owners who are doing business in only one state but plan on expanding to other states.