New law Cans Spam.

As expected, President Bush has signed into law the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, creating the first federal restrictions on unsolicited commercial e-mail. Later this year, the Federal Trade Commission will set regulations implementing the law and defining commercial electronic mail message.

Based on conversations with key staff from the committees of jurisdiction on Capitol Hill, ASAE believes that e-mails between nonprofit ...

lawyers ...

Additional Considerations in Selecting Your Mark ...

Our clients often ask us for suggestions in selecting a Trademark for their products or services. Our response is always the same ? it depends...

On one hand, do they want to create a completely coined name (i.e., something no one has ever heard of like eBay or Google) or use an arbitrary mark (i.e., a term we have heard of but that?s use is arbitrary in connection with the goods or services provided such as AMAZON for online retail store services or APPLE for computers).

On the other, do they want a mark that creates instant interest in the product or service because it is suggestive or describes of trait thereof (e.g., ORANGE CRUSH for orange-flavored soft drinks or COPPERTONE for suntan oil).

No matter what they decide a great name should be catchy and memorable, should create interest in the product or service, and most importantly be registerable as a trademark - that is capable of registration on the principal register maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO").

A common problem in selecting a trademark that would create instant interest is the temptation to use descriptive or generic terms - marks that directly convey characteristics of the goods (e.g., RED SHOES for shoes that are red).

Unfortunately, descriptive terms are not registerable as trademarks, absent proof of a secondary meaning (i.e., you have been using it for five years or you have spent millions in advertising of the mark).

So what is the best way to select a trademark for your products or services?

Coin or use arbitrary terms if you intend on building the brand from scratch. Note, this will take more effort and resources as consumers will need to be educated via advertising and otherwise as to your product or services provided in connection with that mark.

In the alternative, if you want that instant buzz which comes with suggestive marks, be cautious and avoid generic, descriptive, and non- inherently distinctive marks as they will not be registerable before the USPTO nor protected from infringement by others. Make sure that the terms you use in your trademark do not merely describe an ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature, purpose or use of your products or services. Rather, select a trademark that requires some bit of imagination, thought or perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of your products.

www.TheTrademarkCompany.com ...

Financial ratio ...

I completely agree with you that Finance ratio analysis is the most complex aspects of Business management. One should monitor the periodic performance increase against the financial plan. In order to know what the financial position of a company is, one must compare the true figures extracted from the financial statements to other figures. I came across a site called www.fintel.us which is providing tools for financial ratio.
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The Snickering Turns Serious ...

Hanna- Your article is right on target. The workplace conversations about Letterman should turn from snickering to serious.

once upon a funny ...

Laterman is past his funny stage. He has seemed bored in his role for about 10 years - as he is now a dirty old man who is not funny, he is just annoying. Don't know why he wasn't shutoff years ago. Why hasn't there been a walkout or protest ala Andrew Dice Clay? ADC was a funnyman posing as a misogynist, Laterman is a misogynist posing as a funnyman - so he and Polanski get a pass. Holywood and the media really choose their battles!