Business Law VII: Agency, Federal Personal Property Laws Flashcards
Special Agent
One authorized to conduct single transaction/series of related transactions on principal’s behalf
General Agent
One authorized to conduct all necessary personal/business transactions for principal
Universal Agent
One authorized to do all acts that can be legally delegated to an agent
Power of Attorney
Formal written creation of agency relationship that lists authority granted
Independent contractor
Someone who acts on behalf of a principal, but principal does not control agent’s day-to-day activities and scope of independent contractor is limited
Express Agency Relationship
One in which principal orally or in writing delegates authority to another
Apparent Agency Relationship
Agent does not have express agreement but still has authority to act as an agent for a principal because of the appearance of having that authority.
Duties of Principal to Agent
- To comply with agency agreement
2. To reimburse reasonable expenses
Duties of Agent to Principal
- Fiduciary - supreme duty of loyalty, cannot make profit at principal’s expense
- Duty of obedience - follow principal’s instructions
- Reasonable care - theoretically liable in negligence to principal for damage caused by carelessness
- Accounting
- No co-mingling
- Disclosure - must inform principal important info
- Loyalty (no competition, no conflict of interest)
Termination of Agency Relationships by act of parties
- Fulfillment
- Lapse of Time
- Specified Event
- Mutual Agreement
- Unilateral act of one party
Agency couple with an interest
Unique agency relationship created in writing that gives the agent some interest vested in the property that is the subject matter of the agency relationship
Termination of Agency Relationship by operation of law
Termination by:
- Death of principal or agent
- Insanity of the principal
- Bankruptcy
- Change of law
- Circumstances such as loss/destruction of subject matter
Disclosed Principal
3rd party is aware that the agent is acting for principal and 3rd party knows who principal is
Disclosed Principal with actual authority
Principal is ONLY liable to 3rd party
Disclosed Principal with apparent authority
Principal is ONLY liable to 3rd party, but agent is also liable to principal for acting without express/implied authority
Agent’s Tort Liability
Agents are liable for the torts they commit
Principal’s Tort Liability through Conduct
- P liable for A’s torts if A was doing as P instructed/ordered
- P liable if P hires A not qualified to perform job assigned
- P liable for torts of A if P failed to supervise properly
- P liable for torts of A if P was negligent in hiring/retention
Vicarious Liability
- Master-Servant relationship
- Scope of employment
- “extra-harzardous activity”
- “nondelegable duty”
Antitrust Law: Sherman Act (1890)
- prohibits “contracts, combinations, conspiracies in restraint of trade”
- prohibits ‘monopolization, attempts to monopolize, conspiracies to monopolize”
Antitrust Law: Clayton Act (1914)
- prohibits price discrimination
- prohibits some tying/exclusive dealing arrangements
- forbids anticompetitive mergers
- prohibits interlocking directorates among large corporations that compete w/ each other
Antitrust Law: Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)
- created by FTC to enforce antitrust laws
2. prohibits “unfair methods of competition”
Antitrust Law: Robinson-Patman Act (1936)
amends Clayton Act to make law against price discrimination more effective
Antitrust Remedies
- Dept. of Justice Antitrust Div. can bring criminal/civil lawsuits against violators
- FTC can enforce Clayton, Robinson-Patman, FTC acts
- Private parties can file civil lawsuits claiming violation of Sherman, Clayton or Robinson-Patman acts and seek 3x damage
Antitrust Exceptions
- Labor union collective bargaining activity generally exempt from antitrust laws
- Public utilities/common carriers generally exempt b/c of separate regulation
Sherman Act Section 2 Violation elements
- Overwhelming market power
2. Intent to monopolize
Antitrust and Mergers (Clayton Act 7)
- Horizontal - especially likely to diminish competition, will draw regulatory attention if combined market shares exceed 30%
- Vertical - between companies in dist. chain, less likely to diminish competition
- Conglomerate - (mfg buys chain of ice cream stores) highly unlikely to face antitrust challenge
Copyrights
Designed to protect “original works of authorship”
To be protected, expressive work must be:
- fixed in some tangible medium of expression
- creative
- original
Length of Copyright Protection
- life of author, plus 70 years
2. work-for-hire: shorter of 95 years from date of publication or 120 years from creation
Patent
Government-granted exclusive right to make, use or sell an invention.
Governments protect patents in order to encourage inventive activity.
Patents are recognized for:
- Processes
- Machines
- Products
- Compositions of matter
- Any improvements on the above.
- New plant species
An invention may be patented if:
- It is patentable subject matter
- It is useful
- It is novel (new/created by inventor seeking patent)
- Nonobvious to a person with ordinary skill in that area
Patent Filing
U. S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)
“first-to-file” gets the patent
Length of Patent Protection
- Utility patent = 20 yrs from filing
2. Design patent = 14 yrs from filing
Money Laundering
Process by which one conceals existence, illegal source, illegal application of income, and disguises income to make it appear legitimate
Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (BSA)
Requires record keeping/reporting by banks to trace movement of currency into and out of country
- report cash transactions over $10K
- identify persons conducting all transactions
- maintain traceable paper trail
31 U.S.C.
Helps prevent evasion of BSA by making it illegal to break large transactions down in to pieces smaller than $10K
Money Laundering Control Act of 1986
Section 1956 Prohibits:
- transaction money laundering
- transportation money laundering
Section 1957 addresses monetary transactions in criminally derived property over $10K
