This book, a primer for the entrepreneur, is filled with valuable and ready-to-use information on using trademarks to avoid lawsuits and protect your ideas. Easy to follow and affordable, this helpful guide will teach you how to manage your trademark to maximize profits, avoid problems, and coexist with other marketers while you market your own product. It also provides answers to your questions about when to call a lawyer and how to avoid needing one. Finally, it offers a full briefing on the problems associated with selecting protectable trademarks that do not infringe established marks, what happens if trademarks are selected carelessly, and what to do if someone infringes your trademark. This handbook will save readers expensive lawyers’ fees, and will make an invaluable addition to the library of anyone who markets a product or service.

In our age of unlimited, around-the-clock communication, copyright literacy has become a must for almost all of us, and everyone—informed or not—seems to have strong opinions about the rights of copyright owners and the rights of copyright users. This clearly written and objective book will reward readers with a more concrete understanding of our whole copyright system. Intellectual property lawyer Lee Wilson, author of six books on intellectual property law, explains how creators can preserve their copyrights, how users of copyrights can do what they want without obstructing the law, and how both can profit from copyrights overall. This indispensable, friendly manual includes guidelines for negotiating copyrights as well as form agreements, and is a must-have for anyone who wants to protect and profit from their own copyrights and use the copyrights of others—legally.

Many great ideas fail because the inventors do not take the appropriate steps to protect, promote, and profit from their ideas. This friendly guide will walk you through everything that needs to be done before you can expect to realize financial gain from your invention. Experienced patent attorney Carl W. Battle provides methods for commercializing your invention, sources of information and assistance, and helpful guidelines for obtaining a US patent on your idea. Specific topics include: Using patent attorneys and agents Dealing with invention brokers and promotion firms Maintaining confidentiality of your ideas Obtaining foreign patent rights Enforcing your patent against infringement Licensing opportunities And much more This invaluable handbook also offers information that can assist in the selection of an attorney or patent agent, and will help you to get involved and monitor the patent and marketing process. Finally, easy-to-use forms and step-by-step instructions give you the option of saving money by handling the patenting and commercializing processes without hiring a patent attorney or invention broker. If you have an idea for an invention that could improve productivity, create jobs, or solve some long-standing problem, then pick up this Pocket Legal Companion™ and learn how to maximize your profits.

How should you respond to a request to remove copyrighted materials from a Facebook page? If you create a Twitter handle at work, who owns that handle when you change jobs? Can you be sued for libel if your posts are defamatory? If you’ve ever asked yourself these kinds of questions, this pioneering legal handbook is for you. Despite the enormous growth in social media, scant legal advice is available to help the many people who are posting online. Easy-to-understand, comprehensive, and current, Legal Guide to Social Media provides the latest information on case law and statutes. It covers everything from privacy laws to copyright issues to how to respond to employers’ requests for your social media passwords. This plain English legal companion offers examples of and solutions to the kinds of situations you can expect to encounter when posting online content, whether for personal enjoyment or on behalf of an employer. You’ll learn how to avoid liability for defamation and third-party posts, the legalities of copying and linking to content, how to protect your own content, and much, much more. Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, business owner, new media manager, or simply one of the millions of social media users in the United States, this must-have guide will help you to understand and mitigate the most common legal risks inherent in social media use.

When does nontaxable business income become taxable? How do you calculate the cost of goods sold? What can be deducted? What is a fixed asset? This no-nonsense guide answers these common questions and more, empowering small business owners to understand how and why they are taxed and maximize their deductions. You’ll learn when depreciation begins, how to classify payments to employees, how to track inventory and sales, and strategies for successful accounting. Coverage also includes: Tax benefits for employers Business classifications S corporation tax issues Deductible expenses Retirement plans Shareholder loans Family employee payroll And more Taxes can be intimidating and confusing, especially for a small business owner who may have only handled individual taxes in the past. Understanding the tax system is essential for all small business owners, whether they are filing on their own or with the help of an accountant. When it comes to running your finances, knowledge is power, and The Pocket Small Business Owner's Guide to Taxes puts the power in your hands!

Most businesses that close their doors have one thing in common: They ran out of money. Don’t let this happen to you. This indispensable book, part of Allworth’s popular Pocket Small Business Owner’s Guide series, will help you to save money on every aspect of your business, from advertising to overhead. With invaluable cost-cutting tips for all types of businesses, from e-commerce and home-based operations to services and retail, this guide will help you create a blueprint that will allow your business to survive and thrive. You’ll save on: Advertising Marketing Purchasing Transportation and shipping Labor Financing Facilities Operations Taxes And more! In today’s economy, small business owners must seize every opportunity to keep costs down, and every penny saved goes to your bottom line. Follow this street-smart advice to lay the foundation for a business that will be profitable for years to come.

Managing a nonprofit organization has many challenges. One key to success is building a strong relationship between the executive director and the board of trustees. This book is a treasure trove of information for navigating the personal, political, and legal minefields that cause so many nonprofits to fail. Dozens of case studies illuminate the key issues that often impede the progress of nonprofit organizations. Each chapter also contains a set of questions that enable leaders to reflect on the health of their own organization and also evaluate other nonprofits, as well as to create sustainable, effective business practices and productive working relationships. Topics discussed here include: Communication between managerial parties Sharing powers and responsibilities Fund-raising Financial oversight and boundaries Planning programs Hiring and firing Developing partnerships Assessing business practices Building productive working relationships And much more Whether you are an executive director, a board member, or someone contemplating either important role, Effective Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations is an excellent resource for understanding the dynamics of nonprofits and creating a strong organization.