As reported by Inventors Digest, the independent inventor community is an industrious American subculture that has produced everything from the Segway to Snuggies. Yet according to a recent study by Auburn University business professor Paul Swamidass, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office can be hostile to those who file patent applications pro se, that is, […]
Does Patent Office Snub Inventors Who File Without Attorney? Read More »
Get ready for fame, tweeters of the world: the Library of Congress is archiving for posterity every public tweet made since the service went live back in 2006. Every. Single. Tweet, reports Ars Technica. The LOC announced the news, appropriately enough, on Twitter. Twitter isn’t just about being pretentious and notifying the world about the
Library Of Congress: Every Tweet Ever Made Read More »
Al’s Morning Meeting has an interesting story about how your state could be selling your name and other information right now, and hauling in a lot of money as a result. The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World discovered that their state government earns $65 million a year selling data. The revelation comes just as the
Find Out How Much Money Your State Makes from Selling Your Data Read More »
With job openings scarce for young people, the number of unpaid internships has climbed in recent years, leading federal and state regulators to worry that more employers are illegally using such internships for free labor, reports The New York Times. Convinced that many unpaid internships violate minimum wage laws, officials in Oregon, California and other
Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal Read More »
Bryan Nicholson moved his company from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, largely based on census information, reports The Daily Iowan. The University of Iowa senior and senior franchise owner of the Iowa City branch of College Pro Painting, said key factors in the decision were household income and property values. As census day arrives, officials
Student Entrepreneurs Use Census To Plan Bizs Read More »
In March 2009, President Obama vowed to address the drought of bank lending to small companies and announced an initiative to use $15 billion from the federal bailout to unfreeze the markets that finance Small Business Administration loans. More than a year later, the program was finally launched — as a $21 million effort, reports
$21 Million Program To Aid Small Biz Read More »
Does your business use independent contractors? If so, get ready for new scrutiny. Hoping to boost tax revenue as well as to protect workers, the IRS and many state governments are cracking down on how companies classify their workers.
Read This If Your Business Hires Independent Contractors for Some Jobs Read More »
Inc.com reports that one important aspect of the legislation: Two part-timers count as one full-timer for the purposes of determining whether a business is required by law to provide health insurance. For small businesses, it may be a case of the best of times and the worst of times. A group long distrustful of government
Small Bizs Grapple With New Health Care Law Read More »
Beltway blog The Hill reports that senators involved in the patent reform bill have reached agreement on language in the legislation that has lingered in Congress for much of the last decade. There’s a certain good news-bad news aspect to this. I’m for language in the bill that allows the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
Patent Reform Bill Close To Passing? Read More »
photo credit: 29856334@N00 There is one tiny upside to the onerous amounts of regulation that governments continue to generate: they occasionally allow smart entrepreneurs to create businesses that help people navigate through them. Here’s one such story: As Memphis city leaders try to find ways to lessen car inspection wait times like waiving emissions testing
New Biz: Smog Inspection Delivery Read More »
