Stanley Jobson was recently released from prison. After an initial meeting with Gabriel Shear, Stanley demonstrated his hacking skills and was persuaded to write a “worm” program to steal money from A-Bank’s electronic fund. As a result, money was stolen and customers’ sensitive personal information was compromised. After this breach, A-Bank should:

At their high school reunion, Romy and Michele decide to start a fashion design business. Which of the following entity types avoids “double taxation” by allowing income to be taxed only at the individual level, rather than at both the entity and individual levels?

Following up on Question 9 above, suppose instead that Alex had responded to the partners, “No, I’m only going to bill 2,000 hours, but I’ll bring in five clients – that’s the deal.” Which of the following best characterizes Alex’s response to the partnership’s offer?

Jim owns a U.S. retail clothing company called Jim’s Athletic Apparel, organized as a C-Corporation. He does not keep meeting minutes, maintains insufficient corporate funds to cover most obligations (such as rent), and sometimes pays corporate expenses from his personal account. Jim also uses corporate funds to buy his wife a Hermes purse and pay his child’s college tuition. Jim runs the risk of:

After the earlier dispute described in question 8 above, the partners at Pearson Hardman LLP meet and tell Alex: “If you stay at the firm and bill 2,200 hours this year and bring in five new clients, we will make you partner. That’s a promise.” Alex does not explicitly agree to these terms, nor does he reject them. However, Alex remains at the firm and performs exactly as requested, billing 2,200 hours and bringing in five new clients by year’s end. Which of the following best describes the type of contract, if any, formed between Alex and the partnership?

TechGear Inc., a company that manufactures electronic devices, purchases microchips from ChipWorks under a written purchase order contract governed by California law, which incorporates the UCC’s laws related to warranties and implied warranties. The contract contains no warranty, but does contain a tiny line of lower-case boilerplate on the back page at the very bottom of an invoice stating “all warranties disclaimed.” TechGear incorporates the microchips into its devices and sells them to consumers. A consumer is injured due to an alleged defect in a microchip and sues TechGear. TechGear seeks to recover from ChipWorks. Which of the following is correct?

For questions 31-34, please refer to the following passage: Locuna Incorporated (“Locuna”) hired Dr. Howard Mierzwiak to invent a surgical device capable of erasing unwanted or painful memories in patients. Dr. Mierzwiak developed a targeted memory erasure device that detects the active area of the brain when a patient recalls a painful memory and then zaps that part of the brain to erase it. The device includes both hardware and software, and Mierzwiak’s duties encompassed development of both components. Dr. Mierzwiak has been employed by Locuna for 20 years. He works in a corporate office in New York City, receives an annual salary of $250,000 (paid bimonthly by direct deposit), has medical and dental benefits, and uses Locuna’s labs and equipment. His work is closely supervised by the company president, who reviews all designs and revisions daily. Stan was hired separately to invent and develop the computer software that operates the device. He was paid a flat fee of $150,000 upon completion. Stan worked independently from his own basement, used his own computer and Internet, provided progress updates to Mierzwiak voluntarily, and received no direction from him. Stan paid for his own medical and dental benefits. Patrick was hired by Locuna as an underwater ceramic disinfectant technician. While learning about the memory erasure project, Patrick voluntarily contributed by writing a software module after hours on a Locuna computer in a computer lab owned by Locuna. This module contained patentable features, which were incorporated into Stan’s software. On April 15, 2016, Dr. Mierzwiak and the president presented the device at a venture capital conference in Washington, D.C., publicly distributing a detailed printed article describing the device in sufficient detail for someone skilled in the art to replicate it. A U.S. nonprovisional patent application was filed on February 15, 2017. A U.S. patent issued, properly naming Dr. Mierzwiak, Stan, and Patrick as co-inventors, covering the device with the software.

Was there a statutory bar to obtaining the U.S. patent based on prior public disclosure?

The Phoenix Foundation manufactures and sells pocket knives, which account for only 10% of the market share for pocket knives. The Foundation also sells cigarette lighters, but they hold only a 5% share of that market. In an effort to boost sales and increase competitiveness, the Phoenix Foundation decides to bundle the pocket knife with a cigarette lighter, requiring customers to purchase both items together. Angus MacGyver, a customer who is interested only in purchasing the pocket knife and not the cigarette lighter, believes this practice violates antitrust laws. Is the Phoenix Foundation likely in violation of U.S. antitrust laws?

Kincaid sees that Laura has written a short story. Laura tells him she plans on submitting it for publication. Kincaid notices that she did not put a copyright symbol (©) on her story. “You better put the copyright symbol with your name and date. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get copyright protection.” Is Kincaid right?