Legal Question in Business Law in Minnesota

Re: Can you copy a business idea ?

Great question!It used to be the case that you couldn if all you copied was the general set-up (e.g. Selling burgers via drive-in) but recently attempts have been made (with some success) to patent business systems (like Amazon's One-click web ordering process).

I would like to get a bigger picture from you re: your concept (confidential of course).

As always TM and copyright issues may be presented (don't use pink for insulation/golden arches for a restaurant etc).

Call or email for more assistance.

Re: Can you copy a business idea ?

Thank you for your question, for which I am afraid there is no simple answer.

It is not necessarily "illegal" to copy a business idea (such as to provide a certain kind of service), but you could easily infringe another party's trademarks or copyrights if you use logos, sales materials and even certain sales methods that are owned by another company.

Whether your "copy" of another specific business model would violate another company's copyright, for example, is perhaps less important than whether you are likely to be sued by the original business. In the world of business litigation, the ultimate success of a claim is sometimes less important than the collateral effect that bringing a law suit will have on a competing business. The fear of incurring attorney's fees and costs if often a substantial deterent, just by itself. The likelihood you will be sued for any kind of perceived infringement increases in more or less direct connection to two variables: how successful the other business is, and how closely you copy their idea.

You are well advised to carefully review your plan with a lawyer, if you are serious about starting a new business occupied by another player. My contact information is below if you have any further questions.

Good luck.