What Is QSBS, and Why Does Entity Choice Decide It?
Qualified small business stock (QSBS) is stock in a domestic C corporation that can qualify for a federal capital gains exclusion under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202. For stock issued before or on July 4, 2025, founders and investors may exclude up to $10 million of gain, or 10 times
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AI Transcription Tools and the Risk of Bad Punctuation
AI Drafting Tools Are Fast. Your Commas Still Need a Human.
Today’s tip touched on how an em dash can quietly change who a clause covers or what it requires. An em dash, the long dash that looks like this — and reads like a small dramatic pause dropped mid sentence, is the punctuation mark AI dictation tools reach for…
Holidays, Deadlines, and Delivery Under California Law
Don’t be too quick to pick a delivery date. California’s default rules on business days, holidays, and breach may not match your deal. Know the difference.
When Is “On Time” Actually Late? What California Law Says About Delivery Deadlines
Don’t be too quick to pick a date. Business owners often treat a delivery date as the easy part of a…
Your Standard Form and Your Unique Addenda: Great Tools that Should Work Together
Using a standard template form is very useful, and for many transactions, it may be completely sufficient without much, if any, addenda or unique terms needed to deviate from it. But when a transaction does call for something more, whether that template governs a real estate deal, a vendor agreement, or something else entirely, the same risk shows up the…
USPTO’s Refusal Rate
The USPTO refuses or fails to register up to 50% to 64% of trademark applications. A vast majority of these don’t get approved initially; less than half pass the first examination, while the rest are issued “Office Actions” requesting corrections or issuing outright registration denials. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office…
Business Succession Planning: Two Attorneys, One Plan
Most California small business owners have at least thought about estate planning. Some have a will. Many have a revocable living trust. A smaller number have a buy-sell agreement or a shareholders agreement on the business side. Very few have sat down with both their trust and estate attorney and their business attorney in the same room, or even had…
The Shield Returns: What Tesla’s New Roadster Trademark Tells Us
Tesla fans, it’s time to get excited. After years of “Elon time” delays and speculation, we finally have a tangible sign that the second-generation Tesla Roadster is inching closer to reality. Tesla recently filed a new trademark application for a hexagonal shield badge, specifically designed for its upcoming supercar.
While a logo might seem like a small detail, in…
Your AI Conversations Are Probably Not Protected — A Federal Court Just Said So
A federal court just answered a question that millions of AI users probably never thought to ask: Can the things you tell your AI be used against you in court?
The answer, at least for now, is yes.
What Happened in the Heppner Case
In United States v. Heppner, decided February 17, 2026, the United States District Court for the…
The Five Things Buyers Miss in a Business Acquisition (That Cost Them Later)
Buying a business is one of the most significant financial decisions a person can make. You’ve found a business that looks right — the revenue is there, the owner is motivated to sell, and you can already picture yourself running it. The excitement is real.
So is the risk.
In our M&A practice at BMBR, we’ve worked with buyers at…
The Digital Land Grab: How Cybersquatters Are Using AI to Hijack Your Brand
In the early days of the internet, cybersquatting was a manual, opportunistic game. A “squatter” would sit at their keyboard, guess that a brand like Google or Apple might forget to register a specific variation of their name, and hope for a payday.
Fast forward to 2026, and the landscape has shifted from a manual hobby to a high-speed, AI-driven…