Andrew Monroe Baer's Answers

Can I still open my own business even though I signed a contract?

Mr. Murillo states the issues well, and I agree with his advice that you should consult a business attorney. Interpreting the scope of the restriction in the contract is important ... does it prohibit you from opening any type of company within 60 miles for 2 years, or just a company engaged in the same business as your would-be employer? The latter restriction is more reasonable and would be more likely to be upheld than the former. Also, why did you decide not to start work, and in the...

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Where do I obtain or how do I write a Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

If you're going to disclose ideas you consider confidential and proprietary for purposes of having an exploratory discussion, you should definitely use an NDA (which is the same thing as a Confidentiality Agreement). Given what is at stake, I would not just buy a form or download one from the Internet, although LegalZoom.com and similar sites offer documents like this. You should have a business attorney with some exposure to intellectual property law draft or review the NDA for you. This...

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Can I be sued to remove someone's name from my blog?

I agree with the other attorneys here -- as attorneys, we know the sad fact is that you can be sued for everything, anything and nothing. More facts are necessary to answer the specific question and determine your actual liability. If the original attacker used his name in connection with certain statements on a publicly accessible web site and you truthfully reported those statements on your site or gave what was clearly an opinion (and also did not do so in a way that suggested the...

I sent email to my former employer asking them to not use my name in there ads. He changed the content. Is that ilegal?

Some additional context would be helpful -- for example, why was your employer using your name on postcards sent to customers, and how many people saw the e-mail that your employer changed and printed? You should consult with a lawyer knowledgeable about privacy and defamation/libel law. You might have invasion of privacy claims against your former employer based on unauthorized appropriation of your name for commercial purposes as well as false light publicity (changing the content of...

How can i publish my invention world wide

Not sure exactly what you're asking and what you mean by "publishing" your invention. Are you concerned about infringing someone else's rights, protecting your own rights or both? The foregoing is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney in person before taking definite action on this or any other legal matter.

What kind of lawyer do I need. We had a companynow its out of existance and someone I know is claiming to be me??????

You need a business and intellectual property attorney. Using your artwork (assuming that you own the copyrights in the artwork, a big issue which an IP attorney will need to consider) would constitute willful copyright infringement, for which the other party would be liable for up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each piece of artwork infringed. Misrepresenting himself as you could also constitute trademark or trade name infringement (if you still have vestigial rights in the name of...

Is it illegal for a company to put a virus on your computer?

Some more information would helpful in answering this question. Are you saying that a reputable, commercially available, off the shelf antivirus product has resulted in a virus being put on your computer? Or is this some sort of rogue site that lures people in by claiming to provide free antivirus software and then infecting the computers? If the latter, then I would starting by reporting them to the Federal Trade Commission (go to the www.ftc.gov website) as well as the FBI's cybercrimes...

Is it legal for an employer to spy on its employees' computers keeping records of their files, use of internet, passwords, etc?

Generally speaking, if it's a work computer as opposed to a personal computer, the employee has no expectation of privacy, and the employer has the right to monitor. So, if this is the case, you should keep your personal computer use at home, especially now that you actually know about the monitoring. Having said that, having a computer/Internet use policy that includes notice of monitoring is very common and is considered best practices in the employment world, so your employer's failure to...

Source code ownership rights

You need to have a technology/IP law attorney review the contracts in order to answer this question. The contracts may not refer specifically to source code, but they may contain a general work product ownership provision whereby the rights in any deliverables and work product are assigned to the retail company. Generally speaking, source code is copyrightable, and copyright stays with the author (here, the other consulting company) unless it is assigned via contract or unless the source...

Copyright laws: Can I publish a letter that someone else wrote in my book?

I agree with Ms. Mcfarland-Taylor. You should get something in writing from the authors of the letters acknowledging your right to reproduce and publish the letters in your book (and to continue to reproduce, reformat and republish the letters if your book appears in other forms, such as online, in excerpts, etc.) If any payment or royalty was discussed in exchange for the authors granting you these rights, this information should also be recited in the document. Not sure what the subject...