A business almost certainly owns the AI skill files its employees create on the job, but contractors and departing employees are different. When an employee writes prompts, rules, and skill files to …
READ MORE →For software your business builds largely by prompting an AI, the honest answer is that you own less of it by copyright than you would expect, and copyright was never your strongest protection in the …
READ MORE →Your employees are already using artificial intelligence (“AI”) at work, whether you have approved it or not. The question is not whether to allow it but whether you have written rules …
READ MORE →A Minnesota contractor who pays a framing crew on 1099s used to face a shorter checklist and lighter penalties. Since March 1, 2025, the rules are stricter and the stakes are higher. Under Minn. Stat. …
READ MORE →Minnesota’s first broad consumer privacy law is now in force, and the business owners I advise ask the same two questions: does it reach my company, and what do I do first? The Minnesota …
READ MORE →A CEO signing up for an artificial intelligence (“AI”) tool usually sees a familiar-looking subscription form and assumes the terms are standard. They are standard, in the sense that they …
READ MORE →When two owners of a closely held Minnesota company can no longer work together, the breakup is rarely as simple as one walking away. Someone has to be bought out, and the questions that follow are …
READ MORE →A cyberattack on your business is first a legal event, not only a technical one. The hours after you discover that an outsider reached your systems set the trajectory for everything that follows: …
READ MORE →A diversity program is legal in Minnesota right up to the point where a benefit, a slot, or a decision turns on someone’s race or sex. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title …
READ MORE →Two people start a company on a handshake and a shared belief that the details will sort themselves out. The details do not sort themselves out. A founder agreement settles equity, vesting, …
READ MORE →A reduction in force is one of the few business decisions where the legal exposure can outlast the cost savings. Done in the wrong order, a layoff in Minnesota can generate WARN Act penalties, an …
READ MORE →Minnesota now requires most employers that offer no retirement plan to enroll their workers in a state-run savings program. The Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program, enacted in 2023 and reaching …
READ MORE →Every Minnesota business carries a defined set of regulatory obligations, and the cost of missing any one of them can outweigh the cost of an entire compliance program. The obligations below are the …
READ MORE →Minnesota is a registration state: a franchisor cannot offer or sell a franchise here until a registration is on file and effective. Federal law adds a disclosure overlay through the FTC Franchise …
READ MORE →Minnesota is one of a minority of states that regulate the franchise relationship in addition to franchise sales, and Chapter 80C of the Minnesota Statutes gives franchisees a set of statutory …
READ MORE →When another business starts using a name or logo close to yours, the first instinct is often to fire off a cease and desist letter. That letter can be the cheapest, fastest way to protect your brand, …
READ MORE →When two owners hold equal shares and stop agreeing, the business does not just slow down: it can freeze. A 50/50 corporation cannot pass a board resolution, and a member-managed LLC split down the …
READ MORE →A shared driveway, a utility line crossing the back of a lot, a path a neighboring business has used for a decade: these are easements, and they can quietly add value to a property or quietly take it …
READ MORE →When a Minnesota business owner asks whether to register a trademark, the real question is which of four paths to take: federal registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office …
READ MORE →When a closely held company fractures, the squeezed-out owner usually wants one thing: a fair price to get out, and a clean exit. Minnesota gives a court the power to deliver exactly that. Under Minn. …
READ MORE →When a business partner drains company assets, signs a sweetheart deal with a side venture, or hands themselves unearned compensation, the harm lands on the company first, and on you only because you …
READ MORE →Most business owners treat the independent contractor agreement as the thing that decides whether a worker is a contractor. It is not. In Minnesota, classification is decided by how the relationship …
READ MORE →When a former employee, a competitor, or an anonymous reviewer publishes a false statement that costs your company customers, Minnesota law gives you a way to respond. A business can sue for …
READ MORE →Being sued is unsettling, and the part that catches most business owners off guard is discovery: the formal exchange of evidence that runs for months before any trial. Minnesota does not let the other …
READ MORE →One of the first questions in any business sale is a structural one: is the buyer purchasing the company itself, or just its assets? The answer drives the tax bill, the liability exposure, and the …
READ MORE →Letting another company use your brand name can be one of the most profitable things you do with it, or it can quietly cost you the mark entirely. A trademark license lets a licensee use your name, …
READ MORE →Most Minnesota business owners assume that if they pay someone to build software, design a logo, or write marketing copy, the result belongs to the company. For an employee’s work, that …
READ MORE →Choosing a business or product name feels like a branding decision, and it is, but it is also a legal decision you make once and largely cannot undo. A mark’s inherent distinctiveness is largely …
READ MORE →When you sell your Minnesota business with an earnout, you agree to take part of the price later, contingent on the business hitting performance targets after you no longer run it. That structure can …
READ MORE →When a commercial real estate deal in Minnesota falls apart, the fight is almost always about a contingency: a condition the parties wrote into the purchase agreement that one side now reads …
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