Susan Burns, Author at She Owns It

P.S. A Grammar Update by @LegallySavvySBO

November 7, 2017 by Susan Burns Leave a Comment

by Susan Burns | Featured Contributor

There has been a lot of discussion on social media about my post on reading fine print when installing apps, specifically focused on the Grammarly app. Some people have responded with the interpretation that Grammarly can only use your content to correct your grammar and not for anything else.

I disagree.

The TOS allow you to keep ownership of your content, BUT they still have an unlimited, perpetual, royalty-free right to use it. I won’t repeat the prior post, but do urge you to read it.

Someone argued that this is just typical SaaS (software as a service) language, and they don’t really mean that they are going to use your content. Really? Then say so in a clearly-drafted, user-friendly contract a/k/a TOS. (Also, that argument doesn’t usually work in Court.)

Others have suggested that because the TOS are typical of SaaS agreements that, somehow, that makes it okay. The TOS may be similar, but the products aren’t. Grammarly, in my experience, crawls through everything you type. Everything.

I don’t choose to give Grammarly access to everything I type. As one person put it, “everything ever typed on the computer, so while it runs in the background, it gathers password, credit card data, shopping habits, text conversations from Facebook, messenger services, anything you do… recorded and stored.”

I am not telling you what to do. But I do want you to be clear in your decision making. One of my major focus points with clients is clarity. Fabulous decisions come from clarity. Make a decision that’s right for you.

I love a great discussion! Keep the comments coming.

Susan Burns

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Susan Burns, Attorney and Business Strategist is the CEO and Founder of Small Business Legal School Ltd.

Susan is a business strategist, attorney, and a champion of big ideas. She believes that a business worth building is a business worth protecting. Her focus is on providing practical legal information to women business owners to support business growth and optimize success. Susan is passionate about leveling the playing field for access to critical legal information that can make or break small businesses.

After 30 years of a diverse background in practicing law — from the largest firm in Minnesota, to in-house general counsel for a global company, and to starting her own firm – and continuously seeing the legal problems that crippled small businesses, Susan decided that there had to be a better way to provide access to critical legal information. She researched, interviewed her clients, surveyed women business owners and then devised a strategy based on survey results. That strategy is Small Business Legal School – teaching women business owners an effective way to support their business success and #CoverYourAssets.

Connect with Susan on Social Media:

Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin

Explore Small Business Legal School and Susan’s boutique private practice:

http://www.smallbusinesslegalschool.com/

http://www.susanburnsllc.com/

Susan Burns

You May Not Enjoy Grammar, But Is It Worth Giving Away YOUR Content? by @LegallySavvySBO

October 30, 2017 by Susan Burns 33 Comments

by Susan Burns | Featured Contributor

Recently I was engaged in a Facebook exchange among a group of successful business women. Someone asked for opinions on using Grammarly—an app that is marketed as “A FREE, ACCURATE GRAMMAR CHECKER BUILT FOR EVERYONE.”

The comments started rolling in: “love it!” “best thing I have used in a long time.” “Cuts my writing time significantly.” And more like that.

I actually had installed the free app a few weeks before to give it a test run. I found it to be a nuisance because that little app was popping up and sticking its grammar-nose in every single thing I wrote. My emails. My blog posts. My word documents. That spelled danger to me, and I immediately deleted it.

Smelling a rat, I checked the Terms of Service (which, admittedly, I should have done first). Here is what I found:

By uploading or entering any User Content, you give Grammarly (and those it works with) a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable and sublicensable, perpetual, and irrevocable license to copy, store and use your User Content (and, if you are an Authorized User, your Enterprise Subscriber’s User Content) in connection with the provision of the Software and the Services and to improve the algorithms underlying the Software and the Services. (emphasis added)

Here’s what you need to know:

Grammarly, Inc. is a Delaware corporation. They include in the definition of “Grammarly” not only the corporation, but also all of its subsidiaries AND other affiliates.
The definition of “Software” is “the software.
The definition of “Services” is … wait for it … “services.”
And, although it is poorly drafted, it seems to be attempting to include any future Software and Services provided by Grammarly, which you recall also means any subsidiary or affiliate.

What does this mean for you?

It means that if you install Grammarly, whether it’s a free service or a paid service, you are specifically giving an unlimited perpetual license to your content to Grammarly and any company they affiliate with and any of their subsidiaries basically for any service they provide now and decide to use in the future.

That means that if you use Grammarly, instead of your own brain or a copy editor, you are no longer the exclusive owner of your content. That also means they can republish, provide to third party affiliates, and use your data and materials any way they see fit.

The bottom line is that Grammarly has access to—and the unlimited, forever—right to use your content. Period.

And, once you install Grammarly, it is everywhere. It pops up in every document you create. Every. Single. One. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself.

Of course, lawyers and other professionals with a confidentiality responsibility to their clients are ethically prohibited from using Grammarly. But even if you don’t have an ethical responsibility to keep information confidential, do you really want to give up the right to your content?

Think about it! And next time, read the fine print. … or call me, and I’ll read it for you.

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Susan Burns, Attorney and Business Strategist is the CEO and Founder of Small Business Legal School Ltd.

Connect with Susan on Social Media:

Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin

Explore Small Business Legal School and Susan’s boutique private practice:

http://www.smallbusinesslegalschool.com/

http://www.susanburnsllc.com/

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Susan Burns

Copyright: Avoiding Copycats … and Avoiding Being One by @LegallySavvySBO

January 27, 2017 by Susan Burns Leave a Comment

by Susan Burns | Featured Contributor

One area of the law that has become significantly LESS complicated over the last 35 years is copyright law. Even though it is much easier to comply, it is an area where even the most experienced business owners make mistakes.

Learn how you can easily avoid two of those mistakes:

Incorrect copyright notice
Using material created by others, like music, photos and copy

Copyright Notice

Raise your hand if this is you: You take the time and trouble to put a copyright notice at the bottom of your website, AND you do any of the following things:

update your copy and don’t update your copyright notice –

Example: ©Small Business Legal School Ltd

use your url or Twitter name as the copyright holder –

Example: ©2017 smallbusinesslegalschool.com – or ©2017 @LegallySavvySBO

use your company name, but don’t use the legal name (“Inc” or “LLC”) –

Example: ©2017 Small Business Legal School

Take your image up a professional Legally Savvy notch and do it properly:

Update your copyright notice when you update your copy … and it’s a new year, so put this on the top of your list.

Example: © 2017 Small Business Legal School Ltd

Use your company name as the copyright owner (unless you own it personally).

Example: © 2017 Small Business Legal School Ltd (© 2017 Susan Burns)

When you use your company name, use the entire legal name and include “Inc” “LLC” or appropriate designation.

Example: © 2017 Small Business Legal School Ltd

Tip #1: if you want to include a copyright notice[1] on your website or other materials you create, follow these three simple steps:

After the © insert a space and type in the year of publication. If you published earlier and are republishing, designate year of first publication and current year: “2014, 2017.”
Add a space after the year and insert the legal name of the copyright owner – either your company “Small Business Legal School Ltd” or your personal name “Susan Burns.”
Other rules apply for books, movies, recordings, software, so check with your favorite lawyer on that.

Using Other People’s Material

Did you hear the one about the business owner who wrote a blog post and used a photo of a green pepper without obtaining permission and ended up paying something to the tune of $13,000?

Yes. It does happen. To people like you and me.

I don’t know how this rumor was started, but I hear it all the time. You know the one I’m talking about. You’ve probably said it yourself.

Oh, it’s okay, I acknowledged that it was their photo (or their copy).

Or, how about this one: well, it’s not like everyone doesn’t know the “Happy” song isn’t Pharrell’s.

Does that save you? Hell NO!

If you want to keep your business behind out of some hot water on this issue, the general rule is this:

Only the owner of the copyright has the right to authorize your use.

In other words, you must have permission of the owner of the copyright to use their material.

There are limited exceptions for materials in the public domain, which can be used according to permissions given, and under the fair use doctrine–but this is a fairly nuanced area of the law so you should call your favorite lawyer on this one.

Tip #2: If you want to use other people’s material, obtain their permission.

That permission should be in writing, of course. Sometimes you will be required to sign a licensing agreement and pay a fee. Other times, the person may be pleased as punch you are using their material as long as you give them attribution. The key is permission.

If you’re serious about growing your business and you are tired of the legal boogeymen under your bed, join us at Small Business Legal School to make sure you have your website and other business operations up to legal snuff http://bit.ly/BeLegallySavvy

[1] The copyright notice is no longer legally required but it is a good reminder to others that your work is protected and may not be published or copied without your permission. Also, is anyone does copy your work, they can’t claim that they didn’t know it was protected.

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Susan Burns, Attorney and Business Strategist is the CEO and Founder of Small Business Legal School Ltd.

Connect with Susan on Social Media:

Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin

Explore Small Business Legal School and Susan’s boutique private practice:

http://www.smallbusinesslegalschool.com/

http://www.susanburnsllc.com/

Susan Burns