Jeffrey Stephen Fabian’s Answers

It depends on what rights (if any) the lease gives you to terminate. The typical lease written by a commercial landlord's attorney will require payment of rent throughout the term of the lease, regardless of the tenant's business success or financial situation. If you had an attorney review and negotiate the lease for you, they may have sought certain concessions related to your franchise that could give you a potential way out. However, landlords are resistant to such provisions, and it is...

U.S. trademark registration is most commonly done with the USPTO. State trademark registrations are also available, though whether you can apply and the extent of protection you will receive varies by state and depending on where you will sell your products/services. As far as searching to see if your trademark is available, there is no real easy way other than to hire an attorney to do it for you. Trademark clearance research is a complex process that involves more than simply looking for...

I second Ms. Koslyn's comments. In this type of situation the chances of getting a refund are slim to none. Even if you could find the "seller," it would likely cost far more to pursue them than what you would recover. This type of situation should serve as a warning to other people considering purchasing online business opportunities. There are legitimate ones out there, but you need to be sure to do your due diligence and thoroughly investigate the business and the seller before you pay...

To clarify some earlier responses, "copyrights" are automatic, but registering copyrights in original works with the U.S. Copyright Office provides important additional protections, which far outweigh the minimal costs of registration. There will be separate copyrights in the musical composition and the sound recording, and ownership of these rights should be established (or at least acknowledged) in the agreement with the studio. This response is provided for informational purposes only,...