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The Scale Your Small Business podcast welcomes Jessica Shraybman, a highly qualified lawyer who specializes in business and intellectual property law. She is a member of the Florida Bar’s Intellectual Property subcommittee, and serves on the Intellectual Property Board certification task force. Additionally, she is a board member of several Miami-based non-profit organizations, and graduated with honors from the University of Miami and was in the top 20 percentile of her class at Florida International College of Law. As a native Russian speaker, she is the first member of her family to be born in the United States.

On the show, Jessica will be discusses the key steps that entrepreneurs need to take to set up a new business, including deciding which entity type is best for them, and the tax and legal obligations that come with being a business owner. She also discusses the concept of intellectual property (IP) and how it relates to art and business.

She mentions that the US Constitution includes provisions related to protecting creativity and the arts. Intellectual property generally includes trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Trademarks protect a brand’s name and logo, copyrights protect creative works such as photographs, paintings, books, and music, and patents protect inventions and technical solutions. Shraybman notes that ideas themselves are difficult to protect, but their manifestation in a physical or tangible form can be protected. In the context of online businesses and educational resources, IP protections can be built into participation agreements and terms of engagement. She also gives an example of a street artist entering into a partnership with a liquor company, using copyrights and a partnership agreement to protect the artist’s characters and set guidelines for their use. Overall, the speaker emphasizes that IP protection is a multi-faceted approach that can be difficult to navigate, but can be made clearer through well-written agreements and contracts.

In addition, Jessica also emphasizes the importance of establishing terms of use for online platforms and digital companies. She stresses that terms of use, privacy policies, and participation agreements are important documents that outline how the platform or company can be used, what rights and responsibilities users and owners have, and how personal information will be protected and used. She advises entrepreneurs to think through these issues and formalize them in written agreements, even if things are going well in the business. She also advises that it is important for partnerships to have a game plan in place for how to handle disputes, as this can make a big difference in the outcome of a difficult situation. She uses the analogy of a business partnership being like a marriage and advises that it is important to discuss and formalize these agreements before things become difficult.

In conclusion, Jessica Shraybman is a highly qualified lawyer who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Scale Your Small Business podcast. She is able to provide valuable insights on the key steps that entrepreneurs need to take to set up a new business, as well as the intricacies of intellectual property and how to navigate it. Her advice on establishing terms of use for online platforms and digital companies and the importance of having a game plan in place for partnerships is particularly useful for entrepreneurs. Her insights and advice are sure to be of great value to anyone looking to start a new business or protect their intellectual property.

Show Notes