Legal Question in Administrative Law in Florida

We own an event coordination business. We were contacted last year by a couple that wanted to put on a "Green Expo" (green theme and sustainability) in Gainesvuille, FL, thus named the "Gainesville Green Expo". They have a website promoting the event. They are listed as the company promoting the event and we are listed as the organizers and coordinators. We have been contacting businesses, have set up the venue location, and have put down a deposit on the venue location for 3-4 October 2009.

We were just contacted by them saying that they want to postpone the event. However, because of the amount of manhours we've invested in coordinating this event, we'd like to go ahead with it as planned.

My question is this: If they do not want to continue with the event on the date already set (setting it up for next year - 2010), and if we wanted to set up a green theme and sustainability event by another event name (such as Gainesville Green Meadows) with our company as the sole organizers and owner of the event, would they be able to file any sort of lawsuit against us because they initially had the idea? It doesn't seem that there would be any sort of proprietary rights on such an event.


Asked on 8/07/09, 11:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

No... or maybe. Your gut instincts are probably right. There are no proprietary rights to the idea of holding the event. Absent a contract stating otherwise, or intellectual property infringement, or statements of endorcement, or other such things which you have not stated here, it's probably okay. "PROBABLY" is the key word - if in doubt, hire an attorney for a couple of hours to review all the facts and give you a full opinion. Better safe than sorry.

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Answered on 8/09/09, 7:37 pm


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