Cow Protection Is Very Important

Prabhupada: Vaisya means the mercantile community. They are meant for giving protection to the animals, for producing grain and trading. That's all. Because formerly there was no industry, people generally depended on agricultural work. Therefore the duty of the mercantile community was to produce food grains, distributing them, and giving protection to the cows. As the king was entrusted to protect the lives of the citizens, similarly the vaisya class, or the mercantile class, were entrusted to protect the lives of the cows. Why particularly cows are protected? Because milk is a very essential food for the human society. Therefore cow protection is the duty of the human society. That is the conception of the Vedic literature.

Protecting the cows and providing them grass for grazing are among the essential needs of human society and for the welfare of people in general. Animal fat required for the human body can be also derived from cow's milk. Cow's milk is very important for the human body and the economic development of society depends on sufficient food grains, sufficient milk and sufficient transportation and distribution of these products. Lord Sri Krsna, by His personal example, taught us the importance of cow protection. This is not only meant for India but for all human beings all over the universe.

Less intelligent people underestimate the value of cow's milk which is also called "gorasa", or juice from the cow's body. Milk is the most valuable form of "gorasa" and from milk we can prepare many important and valuable foodstuffs for the upkeep of the human body. The killing of cows by human society is one of the grossest suicidal policies, and those who are anxious to cultivate the human spirit must turn their attention first toward the issue of cow protection.

As written in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.1, and similarly the vaisyas, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.44], they should be trained in three things:

1.Production

2.Agriculture

3.Cow protection

That is essential, agriculture and cow protection. And vanijyam. Vanijyam means trade. If there is excess milk product, if there is excess grain product, then you can sell them to others. Nowadays the trade is that you take as much milk as you can, and then kill the animal and sell the flesh to other countries. That is going on. No. Go-raksya. Cow protection is very, very essential in human society because it gives milk, the miracle food. You can make hundreds and thousands of preparations, all not only delicious, but they nourish the brain. You can get good brain. Therefore go-raksya, cow protection is especially recommended.

As written in the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.18.52, if one is trained to honor and worship the cows and brahmanas, he is actually civilized. The worship of the Supreme Lord is recommended, and the Lord is very fond of the cows and brahmanas (namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca). In other words, a civilization in which there is no respect for the cows and brahmanas is condemned. One cannot become spiritually advanced without acquiring the brahminical qualifications and giving protection to cows. Cow protection insures sufficient food prepared with milk, which is needed for an advanced civilization. One should not pollute civilization by eating the flesh of cows. A civilization must do something progressive, and then it is an Aryan civilization. Instead of killing the cow to eat flesh, civilized men must prepare various milk products that will enhance the condition of society. If one follows the brahminical culture, he will become competent in Krsna consciousness.

Here we see Maharaja Pariksit, as soon as he saw that a cow was being attempted to be killed, immediately he took his sword and inquired "What nonsense are you doing? You are killing my citizen." This is a good government. Why the cow is not a national? She was also born in the land, so she's an important national as you are. Krsna has given her grass to eat. She's not interfering with your food. What right you have got to kill her? You have got your own food. The cow has got the grass as her food. You have got food grains and the cow is giving you milk. Just give her protection. The cow is saying, "Don't spill my blood, yet drink my milk. Please do not kill me." So why are these things happening? It is because there is a 'rascal' government. Kalina upasrstan. Rascal government. So one should lament that, "We are under this rascal government, under the rascal guru, rascal father. They, who are meant for giving protection, are all rascals. This is our position."

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for Krishna art, religious gifts from India, and Hare Krishna books. You can find the best marketplace for Krishna art, religious gifts from India, and Hare Krishna books at these sites for cow art, cow protection gifts from India, and Cow milk products.

Consumers Need Protection From Products That Contain Lead

In 2008, products that contain lead continue to arrive from China and appear everyday on American store shelves. The purchase of many of these products can result in a variety of potential health risks to the unsuspecting consumer. The danger inherent in the lead in the product is not identified on the product label. The consumer has no knowledge until a product is recalled that the product even contained lead.

Last year in America there was an extensive list of consumer products, made in China, that were recalled. The 2007 product recall list for high lead content included the following items: jackets and overalls, bracelets, key chains, children's rings, easels, paint, lunch boxes, necklaces, and wooden toys.

In 2008, imported products containing high lead content continue to be found on store shelves. So far this year the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) product recall list includes Hobby Stores Easter egg containers, X Force Commander Jet Airplanes (sold at the Dollar Store), children's medal jewelry sold by the Pecoware Company, children's memory testing cards from Riverside Publishing, children's sketchbooks from eeBoo Corp, and various children's educational products from importer RR Donnelley, of Chicago, Ill. The product recall list also includes products with high lead content in various children's garden rakes, toy banks, and jewelry. In fact, at this point everything on the retail store shelf made in China, even if it has not yet been recalled, is an item that the consumer should assume probably contains lead.

In addition to products containing lead on the store shelves, a new concern for the consumer has surfaced in the dentist office. It has recently been reported that dental crowns, veneers, bridges, and dentures made in China and other foreign dental labs may contain lead. Since about 20% of restorative dental products are outsourced to foreign dental labs, including China, it may be a good idea for consumers to check with dentists to insure that their restorative dental care does not include dangerous amounts of toxic lead from products produced in foreign labs. The FDA currently monitors only a small amount of imported dental products for compliance to its standards.

The problem for the American consumer is that government agencies involved in product oversight have not been properly funded by the federal government. Indeed, the Consumer Product Safety Commission was created in 1974 to insure product safety for the American consumer. However, since its creation, imported products from China into the United States have increased over 300%, but the budget for the CPSC has been slashed to less than half of its original 1974 budgeted amount.

Consider that the CPSC began with 800 employees in 1974. Today, it only has 420 staff members with just one employee monitoring imported toys. It is an agency overwhelmed and therefore the American consumer should not expect it to protect them from all the lead products on American store shelves imported from China. It is evident that many current products containing a high content of lead on American store shelves will never be properly identified or recalled.

The truth is that the world of globalization is presenting increased risk to the American consumer and the natural environment as it provides ever higher profit margins for large national and multi-national corporations. In an effort to increase profit margins by taking advantage of cheap, unskilled labor, an American company contracts China to make a product. This action reduces the cost of making the product to the company and, in effect, may out-source American jobs to mainland China. The product is made by the Chinese and imported back into the country where it is sold on American store shelves. The product is often made with cheap components such as lead paint. The imported product may not be reviewed by the CPSC because the Commission has not been properly staffed. Therefore the product may never be found to contain a high content of lead or ever be recalled.

If a product is discovered with lead, the product is then recalled by the company and apparently the lead somehow just disappears. Hopefully, in the next few years lead won't be found in our landfills and contaminate the environment. On the other hand, if the product is not discovered to contain lead, but does, it is never recalled. It eventually gets sold to a consumer and the lead content in the item places the buyer's health at risk. When the product is eventually discarded, it will end up in a landfill and the lead will contaminate the environment.

In an effort to finally address the problem, the United States House and Senate have both recently passed consumer protection bills. The Senate bill nearly doubles the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission from $88 million next year to close to $160 million in 2015. It bans lead in all but trace amounts in children's toys, and it also gives the agency new authority to levy stiff fines against companies that balk at product recalls.

In effect, federal lawmakers have just begun to take the problem of imported lead on consumer products seriously. The new 2008 Consumer Protection Bill also bans lead on children's toys. That sounds like a great idea until we realize that lead paint has been banned on children's toys in the United States since 1978.

The solution to faulty consumer products is not politics, new law, or regulation. It is simply providing the money and the authority necessary for the CPSC to do the job it is supposed to do in an age of high consumer product imports and globalization. The federal government spends more than $400 billion per year in grants. In addition, Congressional pork-barrel spending was estimated to be $29 billion in the fiscal year 2006 alone. (Citizens Against Government Waste). A few million dollars to address the problem of lead in imported consumer products has always been available. It is about time that Congress has acted to provide the money necessary to begin to adequately staff the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Indeed, it is Congressional action long overdue to protect the American consumer and the environment from dangerous imported consumer products that contain high levels of lead.

James William Smith has worked in Senior management positions for some of the largest Financial Services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. He has always been interested in writing and listening to different viewpoints on interesting topics. Visit his website at http://www.eworldvu.com

Malpractice Protection

As professional malpractice becomes more visible year after year, professionals seem to be more concerned and worried that they may be sued next. Unfortunately, many notions regarding protection of personal assets from lawsuits, although popular, remain surprisingly untrue, ineffective, and outdated.

These "myths" give professionals an unstable sense of security and more often than not, they expose themselves to more serious harm.

MYTH #1: Owning assets under your spouse's name will protect you.

Legal statutes declare that transfer of properties between family members should be done legally, with attorneys carefully scrutinizing such acts. The Uniform Fraudulent Conveyances/Transfer Acts state instances in which transferring of assets into your spouse's name can actually be the basis for fraud.

MYTH #2: Assets can be easily transferred to another's name if a lawsuit occurs.

This is called fraud, similar to the discussion above. Even if there are lawsuits such as misdiagnoses or medical injury, courts may still find the transfer of properties to another person as an attempt to deceive creditors before a lawsuit is actually filed.

MYTH #3: The law will protect my assets.

Actually, it depends on which state you live in. Only the states of Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, and South Dakota protect their residents' assets from being seized in lawsuits.

MYTH #4: Political reforms can solve the problem.

Tort and other insurance reforms do play an important role in resolving the problems on malpractice. However, political reforms are often too slow in producing the same tangible results.

MYTH #5: They can never seize a physician's personal assets.

The National Medical Foundation for Asset Protection conducted a recent survey and found out that almost 20 percent of the nation's physicians had lost personal assets in lawsuits, so yes, they can be seized.

MYTH #6: More malpractice insurance means less exposure to lawsuits.

While more liability insurance makes it harder to exceed payout caps, larger policies actually make malpractice lawsuits more likely to happen in the first place.

MYTH #7: Total asset protection is impossible.

It is definitely possible to secure all your assets with just the right combination of legal and financial planning.

Malpractice provides detailed information on Malpractice, Medical Malpractice, Medical Malpractice Attorney, Dental Malpractice and more. Malpractice is affiliated with Whistleblower Protection Acts.

Teacher Licensing -- A Protection Racket

Contrary to popular notions, teacher licensing in public schools does not insure teacher quality. A license also does not even insure that a public-school teacher knows much about the subject she teaches. In fact, in our upside-down public-school system, licensing often leads to ill-trained and mediocre teachers instructing our children. As we will see, it turns out that teacher licensing is a protection racket.

The notion that only state-approved, licensed teachers can guarantee children a good education is proven wrong by history and common sense. In ancient Athens, the birthplace of logic, science, philosophy, and Western civilization, city authorities did not require teachers to be licensed. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did not have to get a teaching license from Athenian bureaucrats to open up their Academies. A teacher's success came only from his competence, reputation, and popularity. Students and their parents paid a teacher only if they thought he was worth the money. Competition and an education free market produced great teachers in ancient Greece.

Parents in America gave their children a superior education at home or in small grammar or religious schools for over two hundred years before we had public schools or licensed teachers in this country. School authorities' claim that teachers have to be licensed for our children to get a quality education, is therefore false.

Today, in millions of companies across America, bosses or their managers teach new employees job skills, from the simplest to the most complex. Private schools and trade schools teach millions of students valuable, practical skills. Thousands of college professors with masters or doctorate degrees in the subject they teach, instruct hundreds of thousands of college students in subjects ranging from philosophy to electrical engineering. Over a million home-schooling parents teach their children reading, writing, and math with learn-to-read or learn-math books, computer-learning software, and other teaching materials. All these teachers are not licensed yet they often give children a far better education than licensed public-school teachers.

Licensing laws imply that only public-school education "experts" can judge a teacher's competence. These alleged "experts" are usually graduates of teacher colleges and university education departments. Unfortunately, so-called teacher education is often an academic joke or waste of time, especially to student-teachers who have to endure years of this "teacher-training" torture.

Steve Wulf, writing in Time magazine, revealed the opinion that many student-teachers had about their so-called teacher training:

"Six hundred experienced teachers surveyed in 1995 were brutal about the education they had received, describing it as "mind-numbing," the "shabbiest psycho-babble," and "an abject waste of time." They complained that fragmented, superficial course work had little relevance to classroom realities. And judging by the weak skills of student teachers entering their schools, they observed, the preparation was still woefully inadequate."

Many teacher colleges don't teach crucial reading phonics or math instruction skills, nor do they teach science or history. Many "licensed" reading, math, history, or science teachers have not taken courses in or majored in these subjects in college. One survey by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education found that more than three-quarters of teacher-college graduates preparing to be elementary-school teachers had no academic major except education.

In many teacher colleges, student-teachers don't learn specific knowledge in their subject field or competent teaching techniques to teach our kids reading, math, and science. Instead they learn the history and philosophy of education and other mostly useless nonsense. Also, many university education departments waste student-teachers' time on socialist, politically-correct courses about gender and minority oppression, multiculturalism studies, and other courses that would fit right in to a Marxist curriculum in Cuba.

Licensing also implies that parents can't and shouldn't judge a teacher's competence. Yet millions of parents in all fifty states send their children to private kindergartens, grammar schools, and colleges. These allegedly ignorant parents have no problem judging the competence of teachers in private schools, and withdrawing their children if the schools don't live up to the parents' expectations.

We judge the competence of our car mechanic, accountant, and our child's private kindergarten teacher all the time, and we do so reasonably well. Is there some mysterious reason we can't judge whether our children are learning to read, write, or do math? Public-school officials who claim that parents are too ignorant to judge their children's education are self-serving. If we allegedly can't trust parents with this job, obviously we have to trust the so-called education "experts," thereby guaranteeing these so-called education experts' cushy jobs.

School authorities also claim that we need licensing to guarantee competence, so no charlatans become teachers. Yet some licensed public-schools teachers are barely literate themselves or are ill-trained or have little knowledge of the subject they teach. Fred Bayles, in a "USA Today" column titled, "Those Who Can't Spell or Write, Teach," gave an example:

"On April 1, 1998, the Massachusetts Board of Education gave applicants who wanted to teach, a basic reading and writing test. The results of the test were that 59 percent of the applicants failed. If you think these test results made the Board of Education do something constructive, think again. It promptly lowered the test's passing grade from 77 to 66 percent. Under the "new" standard, only 44 percent failed. Note that all the applicants were college graduates."

Also, these same education students often score lowest in academic achievement among other high-school graduates. Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, wrote about this issue in his book, "Inside American Education."

"Despite some attempts to depict such attitudes as mere snobbery, hard data on education student qualifications have consistently shown their mental test scores to be at or near the bottom among all categories of students. This was as true of studies done in the 1920s and 1930s as of studies in the 1980s. Whether measured by Scholastic Aptitude Tests, ACT tests, vocabulary tests, reading comprehension tests or Graduate Record Examinations, students majoring in education have consistently scored below the national average."

"At the graduate level, it is very much the same story, with students in numerous other fields outscoring education students on the Graduate Record Examination--by from 91 points composite to 259 points, depending on the field. The pool of graduate students in education supplies not only teachers, counselors, and other administrators, but also professors of education and other leaders and spokesmen for the education establishment."

Because of poor teacher training, public schools often hire ill-trained or mediocre teachers, which can cause untold damage to millions of children. Parents have no recourse to oust these teachers because most teachers get tenure after a few years on the job.

In contrast, in a private school, a truly incompetent teacher will not last long. Parents will complain, and the school owner will have to fire this teacher to keep parents happy. Also, for the same reasons, a private-school owner will make every effort to find out if a teacher is competent before he hires that teacher. The school owner's livelihood and the success of his school depend on having competent teachers and happy customers. Compulsory public schools can ignore parents, so they have no such constraints.

Most parents naively assume that if a teacher is licensed, he or she is now a trained professional they should trust their children with. Parents therefore lower their guard with "licensed" teachers because they assume that a licensed teacher must be competent. As we have seen, this is often not the case.

One solution offered for this problem is "merit" pay for teachers. Merit-pay programs would judge all school employees on competence. Better teachers would get paid more, and bad teachers, principals, or administrators could be fired or demoted. How one judges merit, of course, is a whole separate issue, but just as private-school owners devise methods to judge the merit of their teachers, so too could public schools.

Yet, if teacher licensing produced competent teachers, why do school authorities and teachers unions fight so hard against merit pay? The answer seems obvious--the system produces many teachers, principals, and administrators who may not "merit" their pay, and might lose their jobs under merit-pay rules.

In effect, public-school employees say to parents: "You have to pay our salary and benefits, but how dare you demand proof that we know how to teach your children? How dare you judge our merit? How dare you demand that you get your money's worth?" Only employees who think the world owes them a living are afraid to be judged by the people who pay them. So licensing does not keep charlatans out of our public schools. Instead, it practically guarantees that we employ charlatans or ill-trained teachers.

If licensing doesn't work, what is the alternative? The answer is, no licensing. If anyone could teach without a license, like home-schooling parents or private-school teachers, then millions of new, competent, creative teachers would flood the market. These new, unlicensed teachers would compete with one another and drive the price of education down, much as competition drives down the price of computers. They would, hopefully, also put public schools out of business, since millions of parents and free-market schools would now hire these new competent, low-cost teachers.

Without licensing laws, anyone with a special skill or knowledge could simply put an ad in the Yellow Pages or their local newspaper and advertise themselves as a tutor in English, math, biology, history, or computer skills. Retired cooks, engineers, authors, plumbers, musicians, biologists, or businessmen who love teaching could easily open a small school in their homes. If there were no license laws, these talented new teachers would not have to worry about school authorities shutting down their schools because they didn't have a license.

How would parents be sure they were not hiring a charlatan if there were no licensing laws? The same way they judge their car mechanic, accountant, and child's kindergarten teacher -- by results, reputation, and by being careful consumers. Naturally, parents would make occasional mistakes in judgment because they are human. However, they would quickly become careful consumers because they would now be spending their hard-earned money for teachers. It is amazing how fast we learn to judge the work of others when we have to pay for their services out of our own pockets. Also, if a parent does make mistakes in judging an unlicensed teacher, by watching her child's progress she will soon catch her error. At that point, she can quickly fire the teacher and find a better one. Can a parent do that with her children's public-school teachers?

The worst nightmare for public-school authorities is a true free market of teachers who don't need a license to teach. Fierce competition by millions of new, unlicensed, competent, highly-skilled people might destroy public schools, the teacher unions, and teachers' lifetime security in tenured jobs. It might destroy the licensing racket that protects their jobs. That is one unspoken reason why school authorities fiercely defend licensing laws--real competition terrifies them. That is also one of the best reasons to eliminate licensing.

The only way to insure good teachers is to let parents decide who will teach their children, not bureaucrats. Millions of parents making individual decisions about who should teach their children will bring forth the best teachers. Fierce competition and an education free market would raise all boats in the teaching profession. Teachers who want to succeed in their profession would have to prove to parent-customers or private- school owners that they have what it takes. They would have to prove by results that they know how to teach and motivate children to read, write, and learn.

Once this licensing protection racket was broken, parents would have complete control over who teaches their children. Our kids could then learn from the best teachers out there and get the great education they deserve.

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst, and author of ?Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."

Contact Information:
Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Email: lbooksusa@aol.com

Article Copyrighted © 2006 by Joel Turtel. NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel?s email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com

FAQ: Intellectual Property Protection

Frequently Asked Questions on Intellectual Property Protection

1. Are intellectual property assets?

Without a doubt, intellectual property (IP) is one of the most important assets that a company will own. IP can be licensed, bought, sold, hired or mortgaged like any other form of property. One of the main sources of IP is from the results of research and development work. In order for companies and individuals to maintain the value of their IP, they must ensure a sufficient level of protection and safeguard against infringing a third party's IP, writes Dr Rosanna Cooper.

2. What are intellectual property rights (IPRs)?

Intellectual property right is the right to use intellectual property. IPRs fall within two main categories, registered and unregistered rights. Patents, trade marks and registered designs are registrable rights. Unregistered IPRs include copyright, designs, brands and know-how. Domain names can be classed as quasi-registered rights.

3. How to obtain a UK patent?

Patents protect inventions such as processes and products. Patents in the UK are obtained by filing an application with the UK Patent Office. On examination of the application, the Patent Office determines whether a patent should be granted. The application goes through various stages and can take up to four years before it is granted, although under the UK system, the process can be expedited.

Should patent searches be carried out?

It is always worthwhile to carry out relevant patent searches to establish the risk of infringement.

4. What is the test for patentability?

To be patentable, an invention must satisfy each of the following conditions:

It must be novel (i.e. not made or used anywhere in the world before the filing of the patent application);
It must involve an inventive step (i.e. it cannot be an obvious step);
It must be capable of industrial application( all industries apply); and
It cannot fall within an excluded category i.e. a discovery, a literary work or mathematical model.

5. What is the priority date?

On the filing of a patent application, the owner of the invention has 12 months from the filing or priority date in which to file foreign patent applications.

6. How long does a patent last for?

It is good practice to decide, as early as possible, on an international patent filing strategy. An investor should be made aware of the significant costs involved in obtaining international patents.

Is should be noted that the inventor may not necessarily be the owner of the invention as an employer will own any invention made during the course of employment. A registered patent protects inventions by giving the owner of the

invention a 20 year monopoly right of exploitation.

7. Are patent rights territorial?

Patent protection applies only in the country in which the patent is granted. It gives a patent owner the right to bring an injunction to stop a third party infringing an invention protected by a patent i.e. a third party cannot use, sell, hire or import the patented products or processes without the authorisation of the owner. The case of Agilent Technologies Deutschland GmbH v Waters Ltd (2005) is a recent patent infringement decision.

8. What are the remedies for patent infringement?

The remedies available are damages (compensation for any loss suffered) or a percentage of profit made by a third party. The claimant can also obtain an order from the courts to have the infringing products destroyed.

A recent case is http://www.rtcoopers.com/patent_infringement_aug.php

9. When can an invention be disclosed?

Disclosure is only relevant to patents, registered designs and know-how. If an invention is disclosed in any form (which could be oral, written or by use), the invention loses its novelty and the proprietor of the invention loses the right to obtain a patent for that invention. The following disclosures, before the priority date, can lead to an invention losing its novelty:

If the invention is published (even in an obscure journal);

If an invention is published on the Internet;

If the invention is disclosed at an international conference;

Publication of a patent application by the UK Patent Office;

Use of the invention by a member of the public (without breaching confidentiality);
The public is given sufficient information in the patent application to perform the invention; or
The oral disclosure of an invention.

An exception is where an invention is exhibited at an international exhibition within six months before the priority date in that case novelty will not be lost.

10. What is the position with the USA?

It should be noted that even if an application is published in the UK, it may still be patentable in the USA, as the invention date will be taken from the dated, signed and countersigned page of the researcher's laboratory notebook which first described the invention.

11. Are Computer Programs patentable?

With the advent of the Internet and the growth in IT, companies are seeking to obtain patent protection for computer programs. Patents of computer programs are more readily obtainable in the USA and Japan than in the UK and the rest of Europe. The EPO and the UK Patent Office only granted patents for computer programs where the program brought about a technical effect. The Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (CII Directive) was rejected on 6 July 2005 by the European Parliament during Second Reading. It was intended to maintain the status quo of permitting the patenting of certain types of inventions involving the use of computer programs, providing they made a 'technical contribution' - and providing they also met the normal patentability requirements of being new, inventive and having industrial applicability

http://www.patent.gov.uk/media/pressrelease/2005/0607a.htm and http://www.rtcoopers.com/software_patents.php

However, the UK Patent Office will accept patent claims to computer programs, either themselves or on a carrier, provided that the program is such that when run on a computer it produces a technical effect which is more than would arise from the running of any program on a computer.

12. Can you patent a business method?

In the USA, patents for computer implemented business methods are available but not in the UK. If a company has a novel business method it should consider making an application for a US patent. There are certain formalities, however, which will have to be adhered to.

13. What are design rights?

Design rights are of two types, registered and unregistered. Unregistered design right affords protection to functional as opposed to purely aesthetic designs.

14. What are unregistered design rights?

Design right arises automatically by the operation of law and protects new original, non-commonplace designs of the shape or configuration of articles. Design right is not a monopoly right but a right to prevent copying.

15. How long does an unregistered design right last for?

It lasts until 10 years after first marketing articles made to the design, subject to an overall limit of 15 years from creation of the design. Certain exceptions apply to design right.

In general, design right protects designs created by nationals, residents or companies of the European Community. The design right owner has the right to take civil action in the courts and the remedies available are the same as above.

The Dyson case represents a significant decision regarding unregistered design rights.

16. What are registered design rights?

A registered design is a monopoly right for the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials of the product or its ornamentation. For a design to be afforded protection, it must be new and have an individual character. A design is new if no identical design or the designs whose features differ in immaterial details have been disclosed to the public anywhere in the world (the prior art), before the date of filing the application or the date from which priority is claimed.

17. What is the grace period?

However, if a designer himself, at least 12 months before filing an application (or claiming priority) markets, promotes or exhibits his designs to gauge levels of interests this would not amount to disclosure.

18. What is the test for a registered design?

To meet the requirements of individual character the design must produce on the informed user, a different overall impression from prior designs. This may be a retail customer. The degree of freedom of a designer in creating a design is taken into account in determining whether a design has individual character. Where minor differences separate the design from the prior art then the scope of protection is limited, the public should be able to ascertain that a design is different from others that already exist.

19. How long does a registered design last for?

Registration of a design would last initially for 5 years, and extendible by 5 years, up to a maximum of 25 years.

20. How do I obtain a UK registered design?

To obtain a UK registered design you can apply to the Patent Office on the prescribed form. You can obtain further information on obtaining a community registered design by clicking on this link.

21. What should be taken into account in my business plan regarding filing of a registered design?

Investors usually require a start-up business or inventor to have a design filing strategy in place as the filing costs should be taken into account when preparing a business plan.

22. What are trade marks?

Trade marks are the badge of a business and protect any mark capable of graphical representation, which distinguishes the goods and services of a company from those of another. Trade marks include names, signatures, smells, shapes and logos. When choosing a new trade mark, it is advisable that a company carries out the requisite trade mark searches in the UK and in all other key markets, in order to minimise the risk of infringing a third party's trade mark.

23. Should a trade mark search be carried out?

Searches are therefore imperative, although the costs of trade mark searches can be significant.

24. How long does a trade mark registration last?

Trade mark protection lasts for ten years and the registration is renewable every ten years thereafter. The registered mark must be used, preferably in the form in which it is registered, in order to avoid the risk of a cancellation action.

25. Why is the priority date important?

A company has six months from the date of filing a trade mark application (the priority date) in which to make foreign applications, otherwise the company will not retain the filing date. There have been some significant developments in trade mark law.

26. Is a filing strategy required?

Investors usually ensure that a company has adequate trade mark filing strategy in place for achieving international trade mark protection. There are a number of trade mark systems available to achieve International trade mark registration including the Madrid Protocol.

27. What can be done if a third party infringes our trade mark?

A company can only bring an infringement action when the trade mark is registered. The remedies available are the same as for patents. However, a company can also obtain damages for past infringement, which occurred before registration.

28. What is copyright?

Copyright protection in the UK arises automatically by an operation of law.

Can a copyright work be registered in the UK?

There is no system of registration. However, copyright registration can be obtained in the USA for certain copyright works.

What types of works are protected by copyright?

Copyright protection can be afforded to various aspects of work such as literary, dramatic, artistic works, including, research notes, books, recipes, computer programs, typographical arrangements of published works including articles or lecture notes.

What is the test for copyright protection?

For copyright to subsist in a work there has to be some element of originality and the test is the degree of skill, labour and judgement expended by the author in the creation of the work.

Who owns the copyright?

The author of the work owns copyright, unless the work was created during the course of employment, in which case, the copyright belongs to the employer.

How long does copyright last for?

Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.

What are good housekeeping rules regarding copyright protection?

A company should, as part of its good housekeeping rules, place copyright notices on all original, texts, scripts, sketches and diagrams and other copyright work. For e-businesses, a copyright notice should also be placed on a website.

What amounts to copyright infringement?

If a third party infringes copyright material, whether it is the copying of text from a website or a published article, the owner of the copyright has the right to bring an infringement action to stop the copying of such material. The remedies are the same as described above.

What are brands?

Goodwill and reputation protect the brand of a business.

Can a company sue for infringement of a brand by a third party?

A company can bring an injunction for the unauthorised use of its unregistered trade mark to stop a third party from passing off its name. In order to succeed in a passing

off action, a company must have the necessary goodwill and reputation and satisfy certain other criteria. One of the most important criteria is that the company bringing the claim must be able to show confusion on the part of the public. This is usually achieved by using survey evidence, which is generally expensive to collate. The remedies available are the same as for a trade mark infringement action. For a recent case on brands see http://www.rtcoopers.com/deception_or_confusion.php.

How can confidentiality/know-how be protected?

Confidentiality protects other information not capable of IP protection, such as an invention before a patent application is filed, know-how, including commercial information, recipes, trade secrets, processes and improvements to products. In order for an invention to be protected by the law of confidential information, the information must have the necessary quality of confidence.

It is therefore crucial for the owner of an invention to enter into a confidentiality agreement at the outset of any negotiations relating to an invention. The agreement must specify:

o What information has to be kept confidential;

o How long for;

o The purpose for which the information is to be disclosed; and

o Any other limitations placed on the use of the information.

What are the remedies for breach of confidentiality?

The remedies for breach of confidential information are the same as for IP infringement.

What is IP Insurance?

IPRs are valuable assets and, as such, should be protected to the fullest extent. Litigation can be very expensive whether a company is bringing or defending an action. There are specialist types of legal expenses insurance policies available for safeguarding or defending against:

o Infringement of IPRs;

o Actual or alleged breach of contract; or

o Defending a challenge to the validity of the insured's IPRs e.g. the validity of a patent.

What are the key issues involved in IP protection?

The following checklist should aid you in assessing whether your company has a sufficient level of IP protection. The list is not in anyway exhaustive.

IP Issues

Patents

o Is the invention capable of patent protection?

o Have the relevant patent searches been carried out?

o Is there a risk of infringing a third party's patent?

o Has the invention been disclosed in any form to a third party?

Copyright

o Is the work original?

o Who owns the copyright in the work?

o Have copyright notices been placed on all original work?

Design

o Is the design original?

o Is the design commonplace?

o Who owns the design?

o Trade Marks and Brands

o Who owns the trade mark?

o Have the requisite trade mark clearance searches been carried out?

o What is the trade mark filing strategy?

o What is the risk of infringement and/or passing off?

Know-how

o Is the know-how kept secret and identifiable?

o Have any know-how licences been granted?

Patents

o Has the invention being disclosed in anyway, anywhere in the world?

o Was the invention disclosed under an obligation of confidence?

o Did the parties sign a confidentiality agreement?

Designs

o Has the design been disclosed to a third party?

Confidentiality

(Protects information as long as the information remains confidential)

o Has the inventor entered into a signed confidentiality agreement with a third party?

o Is there a third party in breach of confidential information imparted to it?

o How does the individual or company keep information confidential?

o Have all relevant information been marked as 'strictly confidential'?

E-business

o Does the company have well drafted Terms and Conditions?

o Does the company have all relevant notices on its website?

o Does the company own all copyright and other IPRs on its website?

o Does the company have the relevant data protection notice on its website?

o Does the company's advertisement comply with the relevant UK Codes of Advertising and legislation?

Risk Management

o Does the company own all its IPRs?

o Does the inventor or its employee's keep written records of developments?

o Are research notes written, dated and initialled?

o Does the company require a data protection certificate?

Insurance

o Does the company have adequate insurance cover?

o Does the company have a specialist IP or 'cyberliability' insurance?

o Has the company undertaken an IP audit?

o If so, has the audit identified any other invention, which should be exploited?

© RT Coopers, 2005

Dr Rosanna Cooper is a partner in RT Cooper Solicitors specialising in commercial law. Dr Cooper may be contacted on 020 7488 2985 or by email: enquiries@rtccopers.com. Website: www.rtcoopers.com

© RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Full service commercial law firm based in the City of London specialising in intellectual preoerty law, intellectual property protection, copyright law, intellectual property lawyers, patent attorneys, patent lawyers, copyright lawyers, copyright solicitors, trademark lawyers, trademark solicitors, intecllectual property lawyers, intellectual property solicitors. If you require advice and assistance email us at enquiries@rtcoopers.com or visit our website at http://www.rtcoopers.com/practice_intellectualproperty.php

Special Report - Secrets of Asset Protection

Section 1: The Current Landscape (Battlefield)

- Out of control lawsuits
- Bloated government with an ever-increasing appetite.
- Advancing Socialism
- Insane over-regulation

Section 2: Economic Slavery

- The Middle Class Treadmill
- Hidden inflation guarantees failure
- "Debt is good" - another lie
- Anesthetized Society

Section 3: Solutions

- Asset Protection for Current and Future Wealth
- Why a Bank may be the Worst Place For Your Money
- Set Up Your Own Virtual Bank Account
- Take Action

Introduction

We live in a dangerous world. What you do not know can hurt you. The purpose of this report is to help you to better understand and protect yourself from the many dangers that threaten your economic survival.

Section 1

The Current Landscape (Battlefield)

"America has degenerated into the most litigious society in the history of the World."

There are now well over one million attorneys in our country - that's 70% of the world's attorney population, and Americans only comprise 5% of the world's people! Our law schools are presently graduating over 40,000 attorneys a year.

For every 20 engineers, Japan only has one attorney. For every 2.5 attorneys, we have just one engineer. Is it any wonder we can't find justice?

In 1993, the American Bar Association estimated there to be a 37% probability of the average American becoming involved in some form of legal action in any given year. This, of course, is very good news to the trial attorney who will charge you an average of $100/hr and up: and whether he wins or loses your case, he still gets paid!

What would you do if you were to be sued today?

Hire an attorney?

In many cases, having an attorney is worse than not having an attorney at all!

At an American Bar Association dinner in New York in 1978, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, as the guest speaker, stated:

"Ninety percent of all trial attorneys in this country are incompetent."

If you believe that an attorney can always better represent you than you can represent yourself, you have bought the attorney's lie that, "The man that represents himself has a fool for a client."

Did you believe that an attorney will always represent your best interests first?

"The Attorney is an Officer of the Court. His first duty is to the courts and the public, not to his client" 7 Corpus Juris Secundum, §4, pg. 802

Source: Economic Solutions, by Peter Kershaw, 1997

The American landscape today is filled with many dangers - any of which can spell financial disaster for you. Here are just a few of them:

a. Out of control lawsuits
b. Bloated government with an ever-increasing appetite
c. Advancing Socialism
d. Insane "over-regulation"

Out of Control Lawsuits

As noted in the opening quotation, lawsuits have now become so prevalent that you can no longer believe that you will not be affected. It is now a matter of "when" not "if" a lawsuit enters your life.

Bloated Government

Bloated governments are expanding at an incredible pace and they never seem to have enough money. Their growing appetite and inefficiency causes them to need more and more tax revenue.

When they can't tax any more, they begin "licensing" and "permitting" those things that are supposed to be our "rights" and they tack on another fee. When they get desperate they resort to outright confiscation of the people's private property!

Advancing Socialist Philosophy

Another dangerous trend is the Advancing Socialist Philosophy. This is the philosophy of "government knows best". This Advancing Socialist Philosophy punishes innovation and industry and rewards
laziness and non-productivity.

In 1848, Karl Heinrich Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, which has since become the most widely read political pamphlet in the history of the world.

These are Nine Planks of the Manifesto [author's comments in
brackets]:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. [Property taxes are "rent".]

2. A heavy progressive or graduating income tax. [Internal Revenue Code]

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. [Estate and inheritance taxes]

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. [Ashcroft's Patriot Act: If you are designated a rebel "Enemy Combatant" you lose all constitutional rights.]

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. [Federal Reserve]

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. [FCC, TSA, controlled media]

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Free education for all children in public schools. [Our public schools no longer teach the Constitution and have virtually eliminated God from the classrooms.]

Source: Economic Solutions, Peter Kershaw, 1997

Many people will argue that most of these Planks are already in place!

What do you think?

Insane "Over-Regulation"

Do you believe we live in a "free" country? Try and do something without a permit, license, or Social Security Number (read: Socialist Security Number).

"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:17

The immense explosion of laws, codes, ordinances, and regulations have created one the greatest threats to one's assets and private property. The following quote from Ayn Rand's novel says it well:

"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We WANT them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age of beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were piker's, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one 'makes' them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens?

But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system,
Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
(Page 406 of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand).

Consider another quote concerning the voluminous 6000 plus pages of the Internal Revenue Code that no one understands:

"Is it possible to ever learn the truth about income taxes, especially in light of all the confusion, if not blatant misinformation? Yes, you can, but not by trusting attorneys and accountants. These, after all, are highly compromised individuals - taxes are their very livelihood! Higher taxation and more tax
laws with ever-increasing complexity are to their advantage. Yet, even these tax "professionals" seldom have a clue as to how to properly interpret the tax laws. The results of a 1989 Money Magazine survey of 50 top "Professional Tax Preparers," unequivocally demonstrates the utter ncomprehensibility of the income tax laws.

The fifty preparers were given the assignment of preparing tax returns for a fictitious American family. None of them arrived at even close to the same bottom line figure. In fact, discrepancies ranged anywhere from $12,539 to $35,813! Imagine the absurdity of trying to figure your own taxes correctly,
when even the "professionals" are incapable of doing so!" - Economic Solutions, Peter Kershaw, 1997

In fact a survey in 2003 showed that the IRS "help line" gave wrong answers to taxpayers questions 47% of the time!

In summary, we live in a dangerous world and the American landscape is fraught with land mines that are direct threats to your financial well being.

Section 2

Economic Slavery

Americans, living in what is called the richest nation on earth, seem always to be short of money. Wives are working in unprecedented numbers, husbands hope for overtime hours to earn more, or take part-time jobs evenings and weekends, children look for odd jobs for spending money, the family debt climbs higher, and psychologists say one of the biggest causes of family quarrels and breakups is "arguments over money." - Billions for the Bankers, Debt for the People, Pastor Sheldon Emry

What they don't tell you is that, after inflation, taxes and debt payments...most people are worse off than when they started! They are simply taking one step forward and two steps back and they wonder why they never get ahead!

Consider this statistic from a recent government report:

At age 65, ninety-five out of one hundred people will be dependent in some way upon their family, their church, or the government. Four of them will be comfortable and only one will be rich.

Society has been so "anesthetized" by television and recreation that we don't see our money being taken from us from right under our noses. Most people in America can tell you what episode of "Survivor" they saw last night but they can't tell you the last time they read the united states Constitution or the Declaration of Independence! Did you know that our Founding Fathers revolted
over a 5% tax by the King of England? Yet today Americans pay as much as 50% in local, state and federal taxes!

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their
fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson

Because the Federal Reserve is privately owned by international banking families, and 'creates' our money by loaning it to our nation, it is mathematically impossible to ever repay the national debt. We are slowly and methodically progressing towards the day our nation goes bankrupt.

When this happens we will see the rapid drop in the value of the dollar. This will shatter our current economic condition and create the "mother of all depressions".

For a sneak peak into our future do an Internet search on Argentina's recent default on their national debt in 2002. When this happened the Argentine Peso lost over 60% of its value in less than six months! Unemployment soared to over 25% percent and the country went from being a thriving economy to a third world country.

"No currency has suffered a smaller loss from inflation since World War II than the German Mark. Yet even so, 71 percent of it's value vanished between January 1, 1949, and the end of June 1995. The world reserve currency during this period, the U.S. Dollar, lost 84 percent of its value. This is a measure of the wealth that governments expropriated by exploiting their territorial monopolies
on legal tender." From The Sovereign Individual, by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg

The Federal Reserve, by attempting to regulate the economy with the expansion and contraction of credit, has created an economic environment that greatly magnifies our boom and bust cycle. The "boom" times are signified by greatly exaggerated prices like the stock market "bubble" of the nineties and the housing bubble of the years 2003 - 2005.

Combine these two major forces and it doesn't take much to recognize that we are in for some very rough seas over the next 10 to 15 years. The place to be during these tumultuous times will be in precious metals. In times of economic uncertainty people will flock to gold and silver.

Gold and Silver have been real money since biblical times - long before "paper" money was created - and they will be here long after "paper money" returns to its intrinsic value which is nothing.

Here are some interesting quotes on gold:

"For more than two thousand years gold's natural qualities made it man's universal medium of exchange. In contrast to political money, gold is honest money that survived the ages and will live on long after the political fiats of today have gone the way of all paper." Hans F. Sennholz

"If you don't trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a beautiful pine tree, worth about $4,000 - $5,000, cutting it up, turning it into pulp and then paper, putting some ink on it and then calling it one billion dollars?" Kenneth J. Gerbino

"Gold is not less but more rational than paper money. Money holds value so long as it is in limited supply; gold will always be in limited supply, and would require real resources to produce even from the sea; paper and printing ink are not in limited supply. The gold system is much closer to a modern automatic scientific control system than the crude and relatively unstable system of paper." William Rees-Mogg

"Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money." Daniel Webster

"Betting against gold is the same as betting on governments. He who bets on governments and government money bets against 6,000 years of recorded human history." Gary North

"Gold is worshiped in all climates, without a single temple, and by all classes, without a single hypocrite.
Caleb C. Colton

Section 3

Solutions

How do you protect yourself and your assets in these treacherous times?

We believe that there are two critical steps that you must take to protect your financial future.

The first thing you must do is protect your current assets so they are insulated from these financial threats.

The second thing you must do is create additional sources of income that will help you weather the storms that comes your way.

Asset Protection for Current and Future Wealth Asset Protection is the act of positioning your assets in such a way that they are out of reach of predators, lawsuits and even government agencies. The key is to "control" your assets without actually "owning" them.

A good Asset Protection Plan is designed to make your assets difficult to discover or too expensive to pursue.

A good Asset Protection Plan is put into place before it is needed. In a sense, it is a type of insurance that will enable you to sleep well at night knowing that you are protected.

How do you "control" your assets without actually "owning" them?

First, let us define "asset". An asset is anything of value that you want to preserve or protect against hostile third parties.

To protect your valued assets against these predators you must own your assets in an entity other than in your own name. There are many types of entities that you can choose from and here are just a few:

Corporations
Partnerships
Trusts
Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)

When you "control" the company you also control the checkbook. As the President or Manager of your company you make all the decisions on behalf of the company and benefit from all the assets of the company.

Corporations work well but are often difficult to maintain and, If you do not keep proper records, you can lose your personal liability protection.

General Partnerships are generally not effective in asset protection although Limited Partnerships offer some liability protection.

Limited Liability Companies are quickly replacing Limited Partnerships as Asset Protection vehicles.

Limited Liability Companies have become the premiere Asset Protection vehicle because of their superior asset protection features, their ease of operation, their low maintenance, and their relatively low cost.

A Trust is an effective Asset Protection vehicle but only if it is an irrevocable trust. This simply means that you give up control of the trust to an independent trustee.

An Unicorporated Business Trust Organization takes the limited liability features of a corporation and combines them with the "pass through" tax benefits of a partnership. It is literally the best of both worlds.

U.B.T.O.'s are flexible and simple to form and are much easier to maintain than other entities.

Internationally, the U.B.T.O. is the most common form of business entity in use.

The Unincorporated Business Trust Organization is now the entity of choice for individuals and businesses seeking the ultimate in privacy and asset protection.

You also have a much lower profile.

The Unicorporated Business Trust Organization is one of the ultimate asset protection and privacy tools!

With an Unincorporated Business Trust Organization Protecting Real Estate, Rental Property, Business Assets, and Financial Accounts with Multiple U.B.T.O.'s

The basic idea when using U.B.T.O.'s as an Asset Protection Strategy is to separate High Risk Assets (cars, businesses, rentals) from Low Risk Assets (bank accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds).

You can buy just about any kind of personal and real property in separate U.B.T.O. to maintain maximum privacy and asset protection.

You can also have your business assets, real estate, and equipment owned by a separate M.T. (or multiple U.B.T.O.'s) and then lease them back to your business.

Owning a Vehicle With An U.B.T.O.:

U.B.T.O.'s are a great privacy tool and are great for owning cars, heavy equipment, and recreational vehicles.

Imagine you are in an auto accident and you are sued. When the hostile party discovers that the owner of the vehicle is an U.B.T.O. (which has no other assets) and that you don't own anything either (your assets are owned by other U.B.T.O.s) they give up or settle at a greatly reduced amount.

The more assets you have, the more U.B.T.O.s you may want to set up.

Why a Bank may be the worst place for Your Money:

Did you know that banks may be the worst place to keep your money?

Try this little experiment:

Pick up your Account Holder Agreement (if you don't have one go pick one up from the bank) and read it. Here is what one from Wells Fargo states:

"The Bank may accept and act on any legal process that it believes is valid, whether served in person, by mail or by facsimile transmission, at any Bank location. Legal process includes, without limitation,
a levy, garnishment or attachment, tax levy or withholding order, injunction, restraining order, subpoena, search warrant, government agency request for information or forfeiture relating to your account."

Does that make you sleep well at night? With the new, so-called "Patriot Laws" if you "look" suspicious you are at risk! (What does a suspicious person look like?)

It gets worse. You must first understand the monster called "fractional reserve banking" (which is the way our banks operate). *Fractional Reserve Banking means what it says. The banks only keep a fraction of the deposits on hand as reserves to cover any withdrawals.

Sounds innocent enough but let's examine it further:

Banks only keep about $1 in reserves for every $10 in deposits. This means that if more than one out of every ten account holders were to appear at the same time at the bank to make a withdrawal,
THE MONEY WOULDN'T BE THERE!

Another way of looking at this is the fact that the banks have the ability to loan out $10 for every $1 they take in!

If you think Enron and WorldCom had crooked books, this makes them pale in comparison! Banks have the ability to create money out of thin air. If we tried that we would be thrown in prison for
counterfeiting!

What about the FDIC?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation only has about 1/2 of 1% in reserves to cover insurance claims. The FDIC is nothing more than a "confidence" game.

What's the solution?

One solution is to keep as little money as possible in your bank. Only use banks to cash your checks.

Take Action

Never before in history has there been such a threat to your personal financial security than right now. Like the story of Noah's Ark in the Old Testament, you must build your financial lifeboat before you need it. When the rains come it will already be too late.

Contact us for a Complimentary Consultation 312-298-9075 or by e-mail at fa2z@aol.com!

Evident, LLC

Chicago,
Illinois Republic

20+ years in the fields of Mortgage Financing.....Real Estate Acquisition.....and Asset Protection for Business as well as Personal

Top-Rated Trial Attorneys Reveal The Truth About Asset Protection

This article is not legal advice. The accuracy and applicability of the subject matter of this article changes on a daily basis. Laws are different in each state. By reading this article, you acknowledge and agree that you have read and understand all terms and conditions set forth in the disclaimer posted at our web site and incorporated herein. The disclaimer is set forth at http://www.jwcms.com/privacy

Introduction

Today's social and economic environment is more litigious than ever before. Theories of liability are expanding and across the U.S., jury awards are increasing. Not too long ago, million dollar verdicts were rare. Today, it's not uncommon to read about multi-million dollar verdicts (or more) on a weekly basis.

That's why it is so important that when doing business in today's ever changing business world, you must make sure that smart and intelligent decisions are made RIGHT NOW allowing you to avoid unnecessary claims and lawsuits tomorrow.

To take proper legal and ethical steps TODAY to protect your personal and business privacy and assets BEFORE a problem arises sometime in the future.

To setup a system that has YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND rather than the best interest of your insurance company or its defense attorneys.

As indicated at our web site, 9 out of 10 lawsuits in the world are filed in the United States. Statistics show that a new lawsuit is filed almost every 30 seconds.

Business owners and professionals have a 1 in 3 chance of being named as a defendant in a lawsuit over the next year. Individuals statistically will be sued 2 to 3 times over the course of their lifetime.

Other estimates show 50,000 new lawsuits are filed everyday with the costs of defense (regardless of merit) ranging from $5,000 for an individual involved in a small case to well in excess of $10,000,000 for larger companies named as defendants in product liability and national class action cases.

Several examples of both legitimate and frivolously lawsuits (obviously each case is unique in and of itself) might include...

Doctors- There are 13.9 malpractice claims for each 100 doctors. 4 out of 10 medical doctors have been sued. The average Obstetrician in New York has been sued eight times. Nationwide, the average jury verdict in medical malpractice cases is $1,333,000 and in New York, it is three times larger than the national average.

Accountants- Accounting firms now face over 3,000 suits each year seeking more than 13 billion in damages. Huge judgments are being obtained like the recent $338,000,000 judgment against Price Waterhouse. Several regional firms have gone bankrupt.

Investors- Every businessman, developer, business owner and board member is exposed. Liability is often based on emerging and unanticipated legal theories. For example, the partners in a major law firm were recently stunned when they were notified of their joint and several liability under CERCLA for the projected $72 million toxic clean-up cost on a parcel of raw land they bought in the early 1970's.

Now add the dollar amount of the verdicts...

Keep in mind that the above figures do not take into consideration the billions of dollars in settlements and verdicts that are paid out each year by businesses in the U.S. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that last year, more than $152 billion was paid to settle frivolous lawsuits. While we believe this figure is grossly overstated, and includes settlements of cases with merit, the point is that there really is no greater financial exposure which will result in permanent detrimental results than of being sued.

So, the real question is, "What type of events can lead to personal or business litigation?"

Events that could trigger liability exposure include...

Intentional acts which are not covered by liability insurance

Negligent acts (automobile accidents, premises liability...)

Dog Bites (strict liability in many states)

Breach of contract

Employment related disputes

Discrimination related claims

Professional malpractice

Business partner claims and lawsuits

Alter ego and piercing the corporation

Officer and Director liability

Promissory notes and personal guarantees

Personal and business creditors

State and Federal tax liability

Environmental law liability

Joint liability like owning a home in joint tenancy

Divorce

Unfortunately, we want our clients to understand that it's not a matter of if you get sued, it's WHEN. The question is, "what are YOU going to do about it?"

Now here's some information that you probably didn't know. Even if you do everything right but are at the receiving end of a large damages lawsuit, there are inherent conflicts in our insurance liability and defense system that place your best interest no higher than third on the priority list.

At the top is your insurance company. Next on the priority list are the insurance defense attorneys hired by your insurance company to protect your interest. And last on the list is you. Your "best interest" is superseded by your insurance company and defense attorney. Here's why.

Conflicts Exist In Our Current System

Whether you know it or not, most insurance companies and defense law firms have huge conflicts of interest concerning issues involving protecting your interest from claims and lawsuits while at the same time, maximizing their bottom line profits.

Insurance companies are in the business to make a profit. The less money they pay out in claims each year, the greater their annual profits. Defense attorneys hired by insurance companies to defend you or your company generally bill by the hour. The longer they "work" your file, the more money their law firm gets paid. There is absolutely no incentive by either the insurance company or defense attorney to place your interest before their own. In most states today, there are little, if any, "checks and balances" in place to protect your interest.

Problems We've Personally Seen With Insurance Companies...

Failing to properly and timely open your file and investigate the claim.

Failing to properly investigate the facts and analyze liability and damages issues.

Improperly interpreting policy coverage, amounts and exclusions.

Failing to simply and timely pay a claim.

Forcing you to try and first get the other person's insurance company to cover the claim rather than allowing you to deal with your own insurance in company as you're entitled to do.

Improperly raising your insurance premiums simply because you presented a claim under the terms of a policy that you have been paying premiums on for years "just in case" something like this ever happened to you... and the incident wasn't your fault.

Fraud and deception.

Failing to provide you with all the facts, options and proper counsel.

Requiring you to "jump through hoops" or provide documentation not required under the terms of your policy.

Denying your claim and arguing that it never received a premium payment from you after your submit a claim.

Implementing improper or unlawful schemes to decrease or eliminate your rights to pursue a claim.

Failing to keep you up-to-date on all important issues including settlement discussions

Failing to settle a case within your policy limits thereby unnecessarily exposing your personal and business assets to an excess policy coverage verdict.

Failing to resolve conflicts of interest- for example, the same claims person handling conflicting claims.

Improperly demanding reimbursement from you for money they paid out on your claim.

Problems We've Personally Seen With Defense Attorneys

Insurance companies may hire inexperienced or inadequate attorneys to try and protect your interest.

Giving you the impression that experienced partners are handling your defense when in fact, inexperienced associates are doing much, if not all, of the work.

Rather than quickly and timely resolving your case, the claim is dragged out over an extended period of time allowing the defense firm to heavily bill the file.

"Rolling the dice" at your expense- settlement offers are not communicated to you or, unrealistic promises of getting you a complete defense verdict are made. When the verdict comes back from the jury for an amount in excess of your policy, you are the one writing a check for the difference.

Overworked, understaffed and underpaid. Many associates are given caseloads which are simply too large to effectively handle. We constantly run into defense attorneys who are answering "ready" for trial on a Monday morning on three different cases in three different courtrooms.

In all of these instances, you should ask yourself, "who's best interest is being served?"

Real Case Examples- Still skeptical. Read several "real case" examples from our personal files...

Insurance company intentionally misrepresented and interpreted important facts against its own insured

Our client was hit head on by a drunk driver who was drag racing another vehicle. The drunk driver was uninsured.

Our client sustained serious injuries including broken bones and serious head trauma. His medical bills were about $100,000.00.

After we were retained, our client's own insurance company told us that he only had $30,000.00 in insurance coverage. Furthermore, based upon their review of the file, that was more than enough to cover the value of the case.

Our independent review of our client's written insurance policy indicated to us that there was actually $1,000,000.00 of available insurance. Furthermore, our client and his family had been paying large insurance premiums to this insurance company for more than a decade with the impression that they had the $1,000,000.00 in coverage.

Our instincts told us that something was wrong with how this claim was being handled and we filed a first party bad faith lawsuit against the insurance company to protect our client's legal rights. We asked for copies of our client's insurance claims file and the insurance company refused. Only after threatening to bring a motion to have a Superior Court Judge order the files be produced and for an award of monetary sanctions were the files finally disclosed.

What we learned blew us away.

In the files were letters and memorandums indicating that the insurance company's own lawyers valued this case at a figure substantially higher than the insurance companies earlier $30,000.00 offer. The file also contained written documentation that the insurance company had earlier consulted with an accident reconstruction expert who confirmed that the cause of this accident was the negligent operation of an automobile by the other driver.

To our surprise, a follow-up reference was found in the file stating that if the insurance company discounted their own expert's earlier opinion and instead retained a new expert who (for a price) would point the finger at their own insured (our client) for causing this accident, it could save the insurance company a ton of money.

We put our team to work and eventually obtain a binding uninsured motorist arbitration award for our client in the amount of $865,000.00 and a subsequent insurance bad faith settlement for another $2,500,000.00. The total claim was resolved for $3,365,000.00. Remember, this is after our client was originally offered only $30,000.00 by his own insurance company.

And here are two more real cases.

Policy Limits Misrepresented by $1,800,000.00!

In two separate cases involving tragic wrongful death traffic accident claims, we were told by the insurance claims adjuster over the telephone that the only insurance coverage available for our clients' families was $100,000.00 for each accident.

After litigating each case and conducting discovery (forcing the insurance companies to turn over all documents and their insured to answer questions under oath), we discovered that in fact, there was $1,000,000.00 in liability coverage resulting in an additional $900,000.00 of coverage per claim. Both of these claims were then subsequently resolved for the full policies.

New Privacy Concerns...

The USA Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001. As a result, new agreements, laws and treaties with foreign governments have opened up the doors to the free exchange of information that was once difficult to obtain and extremely confidential in nature. Without discussing personal views on whether or not this Act was the right thing to do, as we understand the Act, several important facts are as follows:

It grants the FBI broad access to individual and business records without evidence of a crime.

Surveillance laws have been broadly expanded (wiretaps, search warrants, pen/trap orders and subpoenas).

"Secret searches" are authorized.

"Roving" wiretaps are authorized.

Telephone and internet communication surveillance rights of police departments are broadened.

Right now, attorneys and investigators can access databases giving them information about your:

Voter registration records

Medical records

Telephone records

Business and personal checking account information

Property tax records

Driving records

Social Security number

Workers' compensation information

Police records

Court records

Real estate records

Fictitious business name and licensing records

Corporate records

Marriage records

Utility records

Credit card records

Family history records

Probate records

The average consumer is simply not aware of the financial exposure lawsuits can bring and, the lack of privacy that exists in this country today. People's best interest are placed after the defense attorneys and insurance companies and personal and business assets are unnecessarily exposed.

And that's where we come in.

Jackson & Wilson Consulting and Manages Services, LLC was founded to help individuals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, large companies (including officers and directors), services organizations and professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants...) minimize exposure to lawsuits and maximize privacy and asset protection.

To offer products and services designed to protect you and your business with a strong emphasis on specific, constructive and objective solutions, by seasoned and experienced trial attorneys, showing you how to MINIMIZE your liability exposure and MAXIMIZE your personal and professional privacy and, the protection of your personal and business assets.

So, what can you do next to protect your family and business?

Proper Steps Taken Today Can Maximize The Protection Available To You, Your Family and Business From Future Claims and Litigation

Developing new business revenues, prospects and clients should be at the top of every businesspersons list. At the same time, legitimately protecting your privacy, personal and professional assets must also be a main priority.

How do you go about this?

First, you need to know that most of what you know or have been told about "asset protection" is probably wrong. Although we hate to be the bearer of bad news, the reality of the situation is that now is the time to find this out, not later after you or your business is being sued by a talented trial attorney who you watch walk through your layers of asset protection as easily as one would peel back the layers of an onion. An experience that is not necessarily limited to bringing tears to your eyes.

Fact No. One: There are no "asset protection" specific laws or statutes under State or Federal law. For example, in California, we have a Vehicle Code which controls the operation of vehicles. We have a Business and Professions Code which controls how you do business. There are no "Asset Protection" Codes or Statutes which describe or control how you can avoid having your assets taken by a creditor.

Fact No. Two: Most of the tools and concepts offered in the "Asset Protection" seminars you read about in various advertisements found in the Sports or Business sections of your local newspaper are worth no more than the piece of paper the ad was printed on.

Most of these seminars are given by people with little, if any, legal background. The alleged benefits and protection which are inaccurately, but effectively hyped with all the bells and whistles, are for the most part, completely ineffective for purposes of asset and privacy protection.

State and Federal Judges will normally use concepts or equity and fairness when determining whether or not a good faith creditor should be paid for provided products or services and will not simply disregard money you have stashed in a Family Limited Partnership, Nevada Corporation, or Off-Shore Trust to avoid creditors.

And while you may argue to a Federal Judge that all of your assets are in an Off-Shore Trust beyond her control, he will remind you while you are standing in front of her that your failure to turn over your assets would result in you being in-contempt of court and that you can continue to assert your argument from inside a federal jail cell.

Furthermore, remember the USA Patriot Act which expanded the amount of information now available to the government.

What You Can Do...

To effectively, legally and ethically survive in today's litigious environment, you must be smart about

1. How you make decisions;

2. How you setup and manage your personal and professional life;

3. How you hold and manage your personal and business assets.

An overall plan must be designed and put into place which incorporates a combination of proper estate and succession, financial, business, risk management, liability insurance, asset preservation/ protection and tax planning. By necessity, it must involve a comprehensive approach to establish and then manage your personal and professional life in such a way as to maximize the ultimate transfer of your estate to your heirs while at the same time, minimizing liability risk thereby preserving and protecting your assets.

Here's One Proven Approach You May Want To Take A Close Look At...

Step No. One- Use a "Private Consulting Attorney."

Set up a system to allow you to make smart and informed decisions. You establish a win-win professional relationship with a "private consulting attorney" who has no financial connection to your partners, board of directors, liability insurance company, any of the defense law firms "on retainer" with the insurance company.

All important business decisions, documents and contracts are reviewed with your "private consulting attorney" before decisions are made and documents signed. We can't begin to tell you how many major lawsuits could have easily been avoided had this initial step been routinely followed.

An additional benefit of private counsel is that decisions are made in your best interest as opposed to the best interest of insurance companies and defense firms.

Important Attorney/Client Privilege- Another important reason to use a "private consulting attorney" is the strict confidential privilege with any communications between you and your attorney. This relationship is a "must have" in order to maximize all legal and ethical confidential attorney-client communications. The only way to invoke the well established attorney-client privilege is to properly retain an experienced and qualified attorney to assist you with the concepts discussed herein. Your professional relationship with an accountant or any other non-lawyer, although critically valuable and important, WILL NOT invoke the important "attorney-client" privilege.

Why is this important? Because absent the "attorney-client" privilege, a court or creditor can force your non-legal adviser to disclose all information, notes and documents associated with the establishment and existence of your plan. Your discussions, ideas and concerns all become a matter of public record. Not a good idea.

Subject to all "attorney-client" privileges, your private attorney will review your personal and business situation and determine your unique potential creditor exposure. Past, present and future challenges and issues are review and analyzed. Special forms can be used to streamline this initial process.

If you find yourself in the middle of unavoidable litigation, your "private consulting attorney" can be the educated professional holding your hand and looking over everyone's shoulders to make sure ALL insurance decisions are made with your best interest in mind. He or she will also be able to "review" the efforts of defense counsel resulting in you getting top-notch legal representation as opposed to the services of a first year inexperienced defense attorney.

Believe it or not, other steps can be taken by private counsel to maximize the chances of any excess verdict (a trial verdict for more than your policy limits) actually being paid by your insurance company. About 12 years ago, we had such a case resulting in an insurance company being obligated to pay more than $950,000.00 more than the written policy limits. In another case, more than $200,000.00 was paid out above the policy limits.

Step No. Two- Set and manage your business using the correct business entity.

Before taking personal or business actions, make sure you are doing so under the protection of the correct business entity. For example, when setup and used correctly, Corporations and LLC's can offer you certain tax and liability advantages that simply are not available when acting in your individual capacity.

Your best choice for the specific type of entity may directly depend on the type of activity or business you are planning to conduct. Also related to choice may be short and long-term tax, retirement and estate planning considerations. It may be best to use a combination of different entities for different assets and projects, depending on your unique circumstances.

Depending on your individual needs, various tools and approaches can be put into action to maximize such a plan. These include but are not limited to Insurance (liability, disability, life, D&O, business loss), Corporations (Nevada, Delaware, domestic and foreign), International Business Companies or Corporations (IBC), Collateralization, Trusts (revocable, irrevocable, domestic, international, spendthrift, domestic asset protection trust, foreign asset protection trust), LLC (charging order protection LLC, Delaware Series LLC, Offshore LLC's), ERISA Plans (anti-alienation provisions), Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), IRAs SEP IRAs, Keogh's, Private and Public Pension Plans, Annuities, Extreme LLC, Xesop (complex arrangement for holding an operating business which combines an ESOP with an Xtreme LLC), Homestead and Creditor Exemptions, Family Limited Partnerships (charging order protection) and Management/ Leasing Companies.

Different entities may be used to segregate different assets. And when it comes to allocating liability risk, different business entities can be used to separate companies and liability arguments.

Step No. Three- Setup and manage an estate plan.

Now that you have a good start on the proper way to run your business, generate wealth and legitimately minimize tax liability, you need to make sure that you have an effective plan to pass on your estate to your heirs. Not only will proper estate planning guarantee that your heirs, and not the state or federal government will receive the bulk of your estate, but in many cases, you can avoid probate and minimize taxes. Concepts and options to review would include one or more of the different entities described in step two above.

An indirect result of proper estate planning techniques is that in your planning, you may also create certain privacy and asset protection devices. Benefits which on their own, might be subject to being tossed aside by a Federal Judge. But if part of a legitimate estate plan, these same benefits may very well be preserved and interpreted as simply a secondary benefit to a valid primary estate plan.

Step No. Four- Obtain proper insurance.

The basic, but important issue as to whether or not you have proper and adequate insurance coverage is reviewed. Remember, when used with the additional services of your "private counsel," liability insurance benefits can be maximized.

Depending on your personal and professional needs, entities and estate plan, insurance coverage to review might include homeowners, auto, umbrella, commercial, directors and officers, disability and life. Each entity may require different insurance choices and amounts.

Step No. Five- Maximize creditor exemptions.

Creditor exemptions should be maximized. What we mean by this is that certain state and federal statutes actually provide an almost "bulletproof" shield allowing you to protect various significant assets.

For example, in different states, certain retirement plans (for example, ERISA anti-alienation provisions) and accounts (IRA, Keoghs, public pension plans, county employee pension plans...) may be protected from creditors. Life insurance and annuities (for example, may require a clause which prohibits proceeds from being used to pay the beneficiary's creditors) may also afford a level of protection. Homestead exemptions also may provide exemptions depending on your state and circumstances. In California and as of 2004, several homestead exemptions are $50,000 for a single person, $75,000 for a couple and $125,000 if 65 or older.

Depending on your particular situation, the type of entity you are doing business under may provide you with the ability to annually contribute to an exempted retirement account certain funds that a creditor may not be able to touch in the future. Combining this protection with legitimate estate planning tools and these funds may be able to pass to your heirs free and clear from attachment by creditors. Furthermore, certain exemptions built into estate planning tools (like a QTIP trust) also play a factor in passing wealth along to your heirs without creditor intervention.

Step No. Six- Utilize advanced products and services.

If necessary and appropriate, use more sophisticated privacy and asset protection products and services. Other alternatives to further legitimate business and estate planning goals, while as a bi-product, providing privacy and asset protection, may include the use of various out-of-state corporations, off-shore business corporations and off-shore trust. At this level, a combination of one or more of the above tools are normally utilized to best serve the client's interest.

Under the right circumstances, many of these entities can offer excellent benefits associated with legitimate business and estate planning needs. Additionally, they may offer outstanding privacy and asset protection levels offering various forms of legal and geographical privacy barriers.

Summary

In summary, and looking at the above six steps from a slightly different perspective, a properly established plan is a combination of proper estate and succession, financial, business, risk management, liability insurance, asset preservation/protection and tax planning.

It is a comprehensive approach to establish and then manage your personal and professional life in such a way as to maximize the ultimate transfer of your estate to your heirs while at the same time, minimizing liability risk, thereby preserving and protecting your assets.

A properly established and managed plan requires constant review and modification depending upon your personal and professional needs and, changing state, federal and international laws.

A properly established and managed plan is designed using established laws, to make it extremely difficult, inconvenient and in some instances, impossible, for someone to know what business and assets you have... or don't have.

A properly established and managed plan must not be established to hide income or avoid paying legitimate income taxes. However, it may be created and implemented to take advantage of legitimate and established tax laws to minimize or eliminate certain tax consequences.

A properly established and managed plan helps you avoid personal and professional litigation or if the initiation of litigation is beyond your control, promotes an early amicable and fair settlement within your insurance liability policy limits.

A properly established and managed plan will, from the very beginning, have a proper, legitimate, legal, ethical and moral purpose. Otherwise, most judges will allow a creditor access to your assets.

Despite what slick, uninformed non-lawyer seminar presenters are advertising and promoting across the country, judges will not normally tolerate an "asset protection plan" that doesn't look, taste or smell right. A plan that is setup for all the wrong reasons like tax evasion and fraudulent asset conveyance. "Real world" judges will rarely issue a ruling or order resulting in a debtor being allowed to defraud creditors.

A properly established and managed plan absolutely requires an attorney-client relationship in order to invoke the confidential "attorney-client" privilege. Only after the important attorney-client relationship is established will other experts and consultants such as other attorneys, accountants, retirement plan experts and tax specialist be utilized, in proper format, to plan, establish and manage your plan.

The most important aspect of a correctly implemented plan is to make smart and informed personal and professional decisions which will help minimize or completely avoid legal and ethical mistakes and litigation in the first place. The best plan possible is one that is never put into use because the need never arises.

With the above in mind, smart people will take action right now to begin an overall analysis of their personal and professional "situation" in order to determine what steps they need to take to minimize their exposure to lawsuits and to maximize their estate planning, privacy and asset protection.

We've provided you with a great deal of information and want you to know that we are available to answer any questions you may have with respect to the information in this article.

P.S.- Important Tip: If a claim or lawsuit is filed before you have taken steps to properly setup and manage your plan, your options, if any, will be extremely limited because of a set of laws commonly referred to as the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA). This act allows a creditor to challenge a transfer of assets to pay an obligation owed to the creditor.

To be protected, you must properly setup and manage your plan well before any "hint" of a problem. Give us a call if you would like more information or to get started today!

Jackson & Wilson Consulting and Manages Services, LLC was founded to help individuals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, large companies (including officers and directors), services organizations and professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants...) minimize exposure to lawsuits and maximize privacy and asset protection.

Southern California Office (Main Office) 23161 Mill Creek Drive, Suite 150 Laguna Hills, California 92653 Tel No. 949.855.8751 Fax No. 949.855.8752 Toll Free 800-661-7044 Email: admin@jwcms.com Web: http://www.jwcms.com

Northern California Office 2489 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, Suite 25 Lake Tahoe, CA 96150