Banyan Law Firm

Credit card history

curator — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:39:03 +0000

Some of our clients have credit card debt issues that led them to Banyan Law Firm for counseling. We may hear that new credit card offers were sent monthly to them with ever decreasing interest rates. Sadly, those that accepted those offers entered a cycle of debt, where over time, their family debt-to-income ratio became too high from credit card overuse. We share with them the following Frontline story on the “Secret History of the Credit Card” available at PBS.org and tell them they were not alone. If you find yourself in this cycle, and can no longer afford to pay for food and shelter, seek counseling.

Intellectual Property example: Trademark and Copyright

curator — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:50:49 +0000

Here is a hypothetical example, for educational purposes only.

Suppose a client had the following image below and wanted to use it to advertise a new online business selling candy. The client thinks that by using a photograph she took during a family vacation, everything should be fine.

She thereafter receives a cease and desist notice from the Hershey Company legal department.

Panicked, but being a self-starter interested in solving her own problems, she finds a website http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm that looks like someone from Harvard wrote it.

What should she do?

Legal services for our times

curator — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:54:49 +0000

While working at law firms and as in-house counsel for many years in Silicon Valley, I found time to nurture the soul by providing pro bono legal services to those in need. Being a techie at heart, having worked on early PC motherboards and Wang terminals, I developed a great appreciation for applying the law to technology. But something was lacking. The recent economic collapse and downfall of the middle class highlights for me the need to help consumer and business debtors. Thus, I threw on my entrepreneurial hat and started to blog about these topics.