My last blog post ended with a cliffhanger: but what about Jack Daniel’s and dog toys? For those of you on the edge of your seats, thanks for waiting. There are others probably thinking, “What is this guy’s deal? First, it was shoes and socks, and now it’s whiskey and dog toys?” For those readers, I ask for a little patience. I will get to the point.
For those unaware, the U.S. Supreme Court in June issued a
Continue Reading Poking Fun or Making a Buck?
Very often we get questions from clients regarding “authorized” – “issued” – and “outstanding” shares and what the terms mean in the context of corporations and raising money. Below is a quick explanation of the terms; thanks for reading.
Authorized Shares means the total (read, total ever that could be) shares a Corporation can create or “cut itself into.” If you imagine a pizza, Authorized Shares are like the total number of slices the pizza will ever be cut up into. There is
Continue Reading Authorized, Issued, and Outstanding
A recent New York Times article discussed hidden costs associated with remote work, as well as some benefits that can be intangible and thus hard to measure. I have been thinking about the ups and downs of remote work for a while— this is logical for me considering I have experienced various remote professional and academic scenarios since the onset of the pandemic, as have many other workers and students.
In this time, I have had to grapple with
Continue Reading A Close-Up on Working Remotely
We’ve all done it. We’ve said we are going to do something…later. Then it never gets done. We are going to go to the gym. We are going to call our mom. We are going to write that thank you card, article, novel, etc. But it doesn’t get done. Or it gets done only after oh, say, we wake up at 1:37 in the morning remembering it hasn’t been done. (Too oddly specific? There’s a reason for that.) Want
Continue Reading Implementation Isn’t Implied
Friday May 12, 2023 was a big day here at the office. Thanks to the efforts of City Brewing and Wisconsin Brewing Company, the Department of Revenue issued a declaratory ruling that approved contract production (through Alternating Proprietorships, or straight contract) between distilleries (and by extension and our reading of the statute, wineries too). This is huge for any distillery with capacity, as well as upstart distillers looking to dip a toe in the industry prior to committing the
Continue Reading Contract Distilling? Sure, We Can Do That!
As marijuana becomes big business, it may be time for Wisconsin lawyers to take another look at the industry.
As Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Shawn Johnson wrote in a Dec. 21, 2022, article, “Wisconsin is on its way to becoming an island among Midwest states when it comes to recreational marijuana. Already, marijuana is legal in Illinois and Michigan, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said his state would pass a bill to legalize marijuana by May.”
Continue Reading Legalizing Marijuana: Its Impact on Lawyers – and Insurance
My staff teases me a lot about certain phrases that I repeat over and over (and over). They should. I would tease me a lot, too. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t keep repeating those things, though. A lot of the repeat-isms are things I say to myself even more often than I say to them. One such gem? “How do you eat a brontosaurus?” All together now. “One bite at a time.” (They made me stop saying elephant.)
Continue Reading Brontosaurus Bite Pie
Today’s post revisits something discussed several years ago on this blog: fair use. If you are looking for background or further reading, check out Erin’s posts here, here, and here, as well as Collin’s post here. As a quick TL;DR to those previous posts, fair use is a defense to copyright infringement claims for a use of a copyrighted work that would otherwise be considered infringement. Courts use a four-factor test to determine whether fair
Continue Reading Poking Fun or Making a Point?
As a business owner, you are no doubt very busy: you are building your brand, perhaps considering applying for applicable trademarks, contracting with clients and vendors, or even considering selling or buying a business. Some of the small details associated with these events can seem trivial and unnecessary. When clients approach business lawyers with these situations, they sometimes ask about certain aspects of the processes: “Is this necessary? Can I just skip it?” I will detail in this post
Continue Reading “Can I Just Skip It?”
This post is about Chapter 4 of the Distilled Spirits Beverage Alcohol Manual (“BAM“). The BAM is the classification guide the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB“) will use to classify a distilled spirits product into a category (whisky, gin, vodka etc.) depending on its formula. This post is pretty short, but pretty nerdy. You’ve been warned.
Link to the BAM: https://www.ttb.gov/images/pdfs/spirits_bam/chapter4.pdf.
Before I started reading the BAM for fun (professionally), I was under the impression that to
Continue Reading My Gin was Made from Vodka?
Wisconsin farmland values rose an average of 11% in 2022, according to the Seventh Federal Reserve District Ag Letter. The 2022 increase came on the heels of a 22% increase in 2021, and was the second largest in the past 10 years. Let’s explore what effects this increase will likely have on Wisconsin farmers. Obvious Benefits: The Good Higher land values increase net worth. This, in turn, can help farmers access and obtain credit. Farmers will get more money
Continue Reading Increases in Wisconsin Farmland Values: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
There has been a bit of upheaval over the past few years, and it doesn’t look like 2023 is going to suddenly calm itself down. That means we continue to have the choice on how we view the external world and act upon our assessment. I propose that there are two dichotomies of options presented that maybe aren’t so opposite as they first seem. The first is the question of Opportunity versus Threat. The second is reactive versus proactive
Continue Reading CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
Three years ago, I went on vacation. When I came back, COVID started, my son Noah was born, our team grew, and shrank, and grew again; time became a vortex. I cannot believe three years has gone by, but it has; time really flies. A lot of things have changed in both our business and personal lives – but not much has changed as far as your rights at the border – you still don’t have any! I’ve dusted
Continue Reading The Border Revisited
Those following the news in Wisconsin may have heard about a December 2022 court decision, which ordered the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) not to enforce Wisconsin law against producers of certain kinds of homemade goods. This blog post intends to break it down a little more to provide the context in which the decision exists, as well as what it does.
What Went Down in Court?
Under Wisconsin law (Chapter 97 of the
Continue Reading Will it Mix?: Wisconsin Law and Homemade Goods
Many of the readers of this blog are busy people—and life only seems to get busier by the day. As Erin discussed in her recent post about delegation and its benefits, time is finite, and taking time to do one task means you can’t do another at the same time. That ties into an idea we discuss often at OG+S— “opportunity cost”—that for every opportunity you embrace and every choice you make, there is a cost, an infinite amount
Continue Reading Time Management Takeaways
We’ve talked about why we should delegate and what and when we should delegate. All of that is great unless we don’t actually do it or do it poorly. So today, we’ll provide some pointers on the how we can delegate successfully.
First, choose the correct person for the correct task. Each team member has a role and a strength. Just because they “can” doesn’t mean they should. Match the task and the delegate.
Second, build parameters and guidelines.
Continue Reading Where The Rubber Meets The Road