In the 21st century, it doesnt necessarily take much to start a business – you can set up on your own, with just an idea and a website or social media account. However, as most aspects of business today are highly regulated, either at the state or federal level, advice as to which business structure is most appropriate for a new or existing business venture will be fundamental to its success or failure. This chapter examines potential business structures in relation to a number of key factors and provides examples for you to consider the impact of each business structure in practice. In this chapter, seven business structures will be examined in detail: sole trader, partnership, joint venture, franchise, trust, unincorporated association and incorporated association. The chapter will also briefly introduce the corporation, which is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 14.

Meinhard v. Salmon found a heightened duty of loyalty among joint adventurers: the duty of finest loyalty. Famously, Chief Judge (and later, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court) Cardozo wrote that trustees are held to “not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive.” Professor Christine Hurt comments on the missing history surrounding the relationship of Meinhard and Salmon and the condition of the United States at the time the underlying transactions took place. Professor Dalia Mitchell, rewriting the Meinhard opinion as Justice Mitchell, reaches the same conclusion but through vulnerability theory and the feminist widening the lens method. In doing so, she considered the history, context, and persons affected by the outcome in a way unique to the rewritten opinion. The original opinion is critiqued for essentially providing the utmost care or no duty whatsoever with nothing in between. Notably, the initial decision only takes the contractual relationship between Meinhard and Salmon into account. Under vulnerability theory, the opinion should consider the overall context of joint adventurers’ relationships to reach more equitable decisions.

Chapter 9 explores the many situations in which new IP is developed under a licensing or other agreement, and how that IP is owned and licensed. Attention is given both to licensee developments (improvements and derivative works of licensed rights), which may be subject to grantback and license-back arrangements (Kennedy v. NJDA) and new IP developed by a licensor under a services arrangement (e.g., commissioned works, customizations) (IXL v. AdOutlet) and the incorporation of third party components in developed technologies. The chapter also addresses the complex issues that arise from joint development of IP, including treatment of foreground, background and sideground IP, and how IP is used in the context of joint ventures (Pav-Saver v. Vasso). The chapter concludes with a discussion of the allocation of responsibility for IP management, maintenance and prosecution.

Entering into new and developing markets often involves partnership with economically and politically powerful persons with influence in that country.These joint ventures are not without peril, however.In international investment law, a co-venturer can expose partners to issues of potential illegality, such as whether influence peddling and bribery were among the animating purposes of that partnership.This chapter explores an emerging norm that molds over-arching principles of good faith and fair dealing into a very specific requirement that foreign investors engage in a high level of “due diligence” throughout their relationship with local partners or else be denied recourse to investor-state arbitration even if the host State injures the investment in violation of international law.While it was traditionally necessary to demonstrate that the foreign investor was complicit in any illegality the local partner may have committed, recent cases seem to be moving towards a stricter regime of “due diligence” that puts much of the onus on the foreign investor to ensure that national law is complied with, and that no fraud, corruption, or other illegality exists or persists. This chapter explores the implications of that expansion.