Chances are you hear several messages each day on ways to save money on legal fees. Companies like LegalZoom inundate the marketplace with advertisements for purchasing canned legal docs. I have a better solution – what about free canned legal docs? There is a fairly new social media site which aims to do just that. I am pleased to introduce all of you to Docstoc. To be fair, they provide more than just legal docs. In fact, you can find all sorts of helpful business documents at Docstoc. 
So how does Docstoc work?
Docstoc is an online social community for finding and sharing professional documents. The platform provides an opportunity for users and businesses to upload and share their legal, business, financial, technology, educational, and creative documents. All documents on docstoc can be easily searched, previewed and downloaded for free.
Why would you take the time to upload documents to Docstoc?
David Mink, Legal
free legal documents
One of the questions that many business owners share is “what types of contracts need to be in writing?” Many people actually assume that a contract has to be in writing in order for it to exist. While I agree that all contracts SHOULD be in writing, many do not HAVE to be in order to be enforceable.
The Statute of Frauds dictates that 6 types of contracts must be both written and signed. I am going to list the 6 types for you:
- Contracts in consideration or marriage
A. Like a “prenup”
- Contracts which cannot be performed within 1 year
A. Like a gigantic construction project, which will take at least two years to finish
- Contracts for the transfer of an interest in land
A. Remember all that paper work you had to wade through last time you bought or sold a house?
David Mink, Legal
contracts, put contracts in writing
As of 2008 there are 37 states in the USA, which have passed an anti-spam law to regulate unsolicited commercial email. Each one of these 37 states has a unique law, as there is no uniform state law. Despite there being no uniform law most anti-spam statutes, as well as the federal CAN SPAM ACT, primarily aim to prevent deception. Deception is the hallmark of SPAM.
The following is a short list comprising most of the email campaigning ‘do’s and dont’s’:
- You must provide an easy “opt-out” option
- Once a person has opted out you may no longer send messages to him/her
- You may not Include false or misleading content (in the header, source, path, or subject line)
- If the recipient has not “opted in” to your list you must include ADV: as the first item in the header (short for advertisement)
David Mink, Legal
CAN SPAM ACT, spam laws, state anti-spam statutes
Yesterday, while talking with our utah web designer about business entities I once again realized how often people unexpectedly enter legal business partnerships. Why does this matter? Well to answer that you really have to know what it means to be part of a legal partnership.
Wikipedia defines a partnership this way:
In the commercial and legal parlance of most countries, a general partnership or simply a partnership, refers to an association of persons or an unincorporated company with the following major features:
- Created by agreement, proof of existence and estoppel
- Formed by two or more persons
- The owners are all personally liable for any legal actions and debts the company may face
I would add a few other features:
- In the absence of an agreement otherwise, general partners split profits equally
- In the absence of an agreement otherwise, losses follow profits
David Mink, Legal
business partners
A few days ago I wrote a post about the US v. Drew case. That case has now been concluded (for the time being) with the jury finding Drew guilty of guilty of three misdemeanor offenses of accessing computers without authorization. Each offense is punishable by up to one year in jail and up to $100,000.00 fine.
Although this case leaves many legal questions in the air, I agree with New York lawyer, Nick Akerman, who said: “What you learned is that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is an extremely important tool in the federal arsenal against computer crime.”
David Mink, Legal
US v. Drew
What is the number one violation of law committed on the Internet? Copyright violations – by a long shot! Why is this such a wide-spread problem? People are uneducated and misinformed. Don’t get caught believing one of the following fairy tales:
1. “It’s not like I’m committing a crime.”
Actually, in the United States, commercial copyright violation involving more than 10 copies and value over $2500.00 was made a felony.
2. “They won’t complain – it is just free advertising.”
The rule of thumb should be to ask an owner of a copyright work before engaging in any kind of reproduction of the work. Believe it or not, there are many people who do not want to accept “free advertising”.
3. “It didn’t have a copyright notice, so I know it is not copyrighted.”
David Mink, Legal
copyright law
If you have not yet heard anything about the seriously tragic US v. Drew case, it may be difficult to answer this question. Here is a short recap of the facts in the case:
Lori Drew is a mother accused of helping to create and use a fake MySpace account (of a 16 year old “stud” named “Josh”) to torment a female teen who later committed suicide. Drew allegedly considered the plan a clever and comical way to deal with a teen-girl (Megan Meier) who she thought was spreading ugly rumors about Drew’s daughter. The plan was authored by Drew’s employee, 20-year-old Ashley Grills. Megan Meier eventually hanged herself after receiving an email from “Josh” which read “the world would be a better place without you.”
Drew is charged with of violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act by providing false information to MySpace to establish “Josh’s” account, violating MySpace policies by obtaining information about Meier, and using the account to “intentionally inflict emotional distress” on the teen.
David Mink, Legal, Social Media
Social Media Marketing, US v. Drew
Between Andrew and myself we have written on privacy issues twice this week already. Since we have been talking about so many privacy problems, I figured it is time to talk about a few privacy solutions. Many of our readers find the thought of writing a business document, particularly a legal business document like a privacy policy, to be very intimidating. Further, many businesses simply copy some other company’s generic privacy policy and then fail to keep it. So, if you find yourself among the intimidated here are a few facts about privacy policies and several tips for writing them.
Lets start with a little True of False quiz (just to warm you up); the answers will be listed at the bottom of the post:
1. Having and displaying a privacy policy is legally required. True or False.
David Mink, Legal
how to write a privacy policy, tips for writing a privacy policy
Privacy issues and the Internet have always and probably will always abound, however a new group “The Future of Privacy Forum” aims to tackle many of the issues that have private citizens concerned. We all remember the AOL debacle of 2006, when the Internet giant released the private data of over 650,000 consumer web searches. Can you imagine being one of the poor suckers that was identified/exposed as searching for “buy ecstacy” or some other search rooted in illegality or just pure illicitness?
The new Privacy Forum is comprised of privacy scholars, attorneys, and corporate big wigs and is being sponsored by AT&T. This group aims to clear up muddy issues like whether Internet companies should have the ability to track consumers online habits in order to tailor the most effective ads for each consumer.
David Mink, Legal
Internet privacy, privacy issues
The nation’s first “wired president” (term being used by some to describe Obama’s relative proficiency with technology) believes that net neutrality and access to broadband Internet connections in rural and poor areas will be a key to closing the economic gap in America.
What is net neutrality you ask? Google defines it as the “principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet.” As opposed to the notion that broadband carriers determine what content you have access to and the speed of that access. Of course, they propose that the information available to you and the speed at which is available, might have something to do with the almighty dollar.This is a hot political issue at the moment as the U.S considers new telecommunications laws. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, goes as far as to say that “Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight.”
David Mink, Legal
net neutrality
