The problems began in 2006 when web designer Terry Wilson launched a small business to market her custom-made laptop cases. Because the cases were designed to protect a laptop, like a pod protects a seed, and because she perceived “pod” to be an appealing buzz word, Wilson dubbed her product the TightPod, registered a trademark and began making sales at the domain of the same name. To her surprise, she received a letter from Apple, the company first to file for the trademark “pod”, requesting that she cease using the TightPod name and undertake the costly procedure of rebranding her product.

After 20 years of employment, Rowena Cheung quit her job with Fada International, an importer of jewelry and precious stones. She not only left the company with trade experience, but also an extensive rolodex of client contacts which she used to launch her own jewelry business. However, Cheung had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before leaving the company, in which she had promised not to disclose the customer information. Her former employer, in an effort to maintain its position in the competitive jewelry import business, then filed a lawsuit against Cheung claiming that she had misappropriated customer information.

Herbal tea manufacturer Traditional Medicinals wanted to market a trademarked laxative tea product called Smooth Move at the website SmoothMove.com. In 2008, the California-based company tried to register the domain but discovered that the domain had already been claimed by WorldWide Media, an entity which had “parked” the domain with a website showing ads to visitors. Rather than rebrand its product or register a different domain, Traditional Medicinals initiated an arbitration proceeding against WorldWide Media asserting that the domain had been registered in bad faith.

In 1996, a licensing manager for Taco Bell attended a trade show and came across a cartoon Chihuahua dog character called “Psycho Chihuahua.” The manager expressed an interest in using the character for its marketing campaigns, but after numerous focus groups and extensive discussions with the creators of the character, Taco Bell decided not to close a deal with the creators of the character.

Choosing a business structure is a decision that should be made on the basis of a variety of considerations, including the present and future needs of an organization. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in this area, since all business structures are associated with unique advantages and limitations. It is advisable to compare and contrast the attributes that are important to your organization and to choose accordingly with the knowledge that the decision, while not permanent, may have long-term ramifications.

Fair use is a familiar term to those who are interested in copyright law. Many understand it as a legal principle that somehow justifies the use of copyrighted material, especially since bloggers, filmmakers, artists and other content creators in the digital age tend to be vocal proponents of the concept. But despite the buzz, fair use is not a blanket defense against copyright liability or even a consistent of law.

As businesses continue to develop creative ways to monetize information in the digital age, friction has developed between the companies that create content and the companies that stand to profit from new models of distribution. In February, the United States District Court in New York addressed some of the basic issues faced by online media outlets when it issued a ruling in favor of the Associated Press (AP) in its lawsuit against online news aggregator All Headline News Corporation.