Saving on Furniture, Equipment
Q: Can you help me find a source for used call-in dictation systems? I run a small transcribing center, and we want to expand but do not want to buy new equipment.
--Jacques Grainger
West Hollywood
A: I always advise small-business people and those starting businesses never to pay full retail prices for office furniture and equipment. There are any number of very reputable discounters in Southern California, who offer new and used office furniture, fixtures and equipment at very low prices.
The largest and best of these, I think, is A-1 Auction Liquidators in San Diego. About every two months, they auction up to 10,000 pieces of office furniture and equipment at their 40,000-square-foot warehouse. It is well worth the trip to attend one of their sales. Call (619) 689-2324 to get their schedule of auctions.
Another source is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. ([714] 263-7100), which auctions computers, business equipment and furniture from financial institutions that have closed. It has an auction scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at 17822-A Gillette Ave. in Irvine. You can preview the merchandise Thursday and Friday from noon to 8 p.m.
Watch for business equipment and furnishings auctions advertised in the The Times’ Sunday Metro section under the “Southern California Auctioneers Assn.” banner. A good cross-section of sales is advertised there regularly.
There also are discount office furniture and equipment stores that are easily found in the yellow pages.
--Chuck Dreyer
Dreyer’s Auction Co.
Newport Beach
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Q: For some time I have been a recognized authority in a certain area. It has always been my custom to share freely information I have found on my own time and at my own expense.
Now I am seeing Web sites that are copying my material (often without bothering even to correct my typos) and presenting it with no identifying information connecting the work to me. How do I protect my work so I can continue my business and still post information on the Internet?
--Doris Dell, West Hills
A: There are a few ways you can try to protect your work. If you want to post your research and information on your Web site and make it available for only your clients, you could “password” protect it and distribute the password only to your clients.
If you want to make the information available for anyone to look at, it is more difficult to protect. The first thing you should do is put a copyright notice on your work. If you have written articles or books, you’ve done this before.
On the Internet, you might include a statement on all your work that says something like, “This information is intended to be shared freely, but it is my work, so please do not distribute it without due credit.”
What will happen is that ethical people will leave the notice in place. A lot of the time, the free-wheeling redistribution of information on the Web is not intentional plagiarizing.
Those who disregard your notice are crooks who would steal your material in any case. When you see that your information is being plagiarized, find out who is responsible, contact them directly and be aggressive about pursuing them legally. In most cases, I have found that if you send people a notice telling them to cease and desist--and threatening legal ramifications if they don’t--they will go along with you.
Much of our trademark and patent law has not yet been applied to the Internet, so there are many gray areas.
This very problem is stirring up a lot of concern on the part of large companies, who see their trademarks picked up and passed along freely. Recording companies, for instance, are disturbed that music clips can be downloaded for free and used on Web pages.
Is that OK or not? If an advertiser wanted to use the same clip in a television commercial, he or she would have to pay for it. Look for more discussion and potential litigation on this issue in the next few years.
--Ian Bentley, president
Web Marketing Plus
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Q: I want to start a small business on the Internet marketing workout wear with a unique design. When I approach manufacturers and designers, how do I protect my idea? So far, I have documented various meetings with recordings and e-mails, but is there something else I can do?
--Darice King, Culver City
A: Have a confidentiality agreement drawn up, then ask everyone you meet with to sign it before you give that person any information about your designs or business venture.
Such an agreement, which should be written by an attorney specializing in intellectual property, states that you are considering using the services or products of the people who are signing but that you will be unable to hire them unless they agree that the material you provide them will be considered a trade secret.
I just drew up a three-page agreement for a client along these lines. It includes language that forbids the person the client is meeting with to sell, copy or circulate my client’s ideas, designs, reports or other documents. The people being met with agree that they will use their best efforts to prevent inadvertent disclosure of my client’s trade secrets to any third parties without prior written consent from my client.
An attorney will be able to put in all the necessary language to make it a legally binding document, one that can successfully be pursued in court if a breach of contract occurs. An attorney would bill you for about two hours of work. Fees would range from about $250 to $415 an hour to meet with you and draw up such an agreement.
--Jeffrey Graubart
Intellectual property and
entertainment lawyer, Century City
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If you have a question about how to start or operate a small business, please mail it to Karen E. Klein in care of the Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016; or e-mail it to kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. The column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.
