1) Ron is a limited partner, and Steve is a general partner of Total Financial Management, a limited partnership. Steve manages the firm. Ron has some expertise in the area and believes that he could do a better job than Steve at managing, but he abstains from becoming actively involved. Why might he choose to keep away from management activities?
2) Sally and Tom decide to go into business, selling discounted merchandise through their Web site "e-Buy." They sign a partnership agreement that requires Sally to contribute $12,000 and Tom to contribute $8,000 in capital to start the firm. The agreement also states that only Sally will have the authority to bind the partnership in deals with third parties, but the agreement says nothing about the management of the firm or a division of profits. Without Sally's knowledge, Tom tells United Computer Products, Inc., that he represents the firm and signs a contract with United to buy hard drives for resale on e-Buy. In the first year, e-Buy makes a profit of $50,000. What are the partners' rights with respect to the management of the firm? Is the partnership bound to the contract with United? Do the partners split the first year's profits? If so, how much is each entitled to?
3) College Copy Shop (CCS) compiles, copies, and sells reading materials to students on the instructions of their professors, who indicate which parts of which publications should be included. These include texts published by Deep Topics, Inc. CCS does not obtain the permission of Deep Topics, or any of the other original publishers of the copied materials, and does not pay royalties on the sales of the compilations. Deep Topics and others file a suit against CCS, alleging infringement of the plaintiffs' intellectual property rights. Which type of intellectual property is involved in this situation? What is CCS's likely defense? How is a court most likely to rule? Explain.
4) Precise Engineering Corporation has a contract with Quik Mart Stores to provide customized software for Quik's inventory control system. Retail Outlets, Inc, Quik's competitor, induces Sam, a Precise subcontractor who is writing code for the Quik software, to delay delivery of the code for one week. As a result, Precise's delivery of the software is delayed, and Quik sustains $500,000 in lost profits. On what ground could Quik recover damages from Retail Outlets?