Legal Question in Business Law in Arizona

I am a massage therapist. Due to a back injury I turned over my practice to another therapist to make sure my clients were taken care of. I agreed to let her have the cliental for an agreed upon amount which she paid over 6 months. This agreement was for the cliental only. She wanted the business name and I told her she could use the business name but it was not part of the agreement.

We never had a written contract that was signed. She used the name for 4 years while renting my massage therapy shop that I own. She is now leaving and wants to take the business name, which she registered with the state of Arizona, without my knowledge. She also held the city business license in the business name. I realize that I have been naive and should have had something in writing....mixed business with personal and friendship.

Do I have any rights to keep my business name? I have never registered it with the State but held a license for 6 years in that name.


Asked on 12/09/09, 3:53 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Donald Scher Donald T. Scher & Associates, P.C.

You can sue for damages for breach of contract, conversion of your intellectual property and unfair competition. Any such suit can be expensive and that may be prohibitive. You are quite correct, that you should have had a written agreement, it would have been much less expensive than the lesson you are now learning or the cost of bringing legal action to protect your rights and property.

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Answered on 12/14/09, 9:12 am


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