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A case for leaving a paper trail
British entrepreneur Keith Graham, maker of Reggae Reggae Sauce, has won a court battle but had to reveal that his product is not based on a secret family recipe, International Law Office has revealed.
Mr. Graham received £50,000 from the BBC version of Dragon's Den to develop and market his sauce, which he claimed was based on a secret family recipe for making Jamaican jerk chicken. The sauce is sold at a national supermarket chain, with nearly 500,000 bottles moving in the first three months.
Brixton cafe owner Anthony Bailey claimed the recipe was his. Mr. Bailey argued to the British High Court that he had developed the sauce in Jamaica, where he memorized the recipe and destroyed all record of it before moving to Britain. He argued he had entered into an oral agreement with Mr. Graham to share the recipe in return for a share of the profits.
Mr. Graham countered that although Reggae Reggae Sauce is not based on a family recipe, as stated on the bottle, he had developed it himself by experimenting with ingredients to recreate the flavours of the foods his grandmother used to cook.
Judge Pelling QC found in Mr. Graham's favour. There were several legal arguments and key findings presented, but ultimately the judge stated the lack of a paper trail related to development of the sauce - by either the first claimant or the defendant - and any documentation of a commercial agreement meant he had no evidence to support claims of an oral agreement.
"Although it makes for an entertaining read," International Law Office writes in its Comment section, "this case does not make new law.
"However, it demonstrates that when witness credibility is in question, a paper trail on which to base a claim is critical."
'A total absence of sports metaphors'
Why Is the Women Entrepreneurs Festival So Different? read the headline on a Nancy Hechinger column for Huffington Post. Okay, you got me. The festival, held last week at ITP, a two-year graduate program where students earn a masters in imaginative uses of technology at New York University, was organized by Ms. Hechinger and Joanne Wilson, who have been "going to tech conferences for about 25 years." Here are a few sample quotes outlining what she says made it stand out from the others:
- "We called it a festival, not a conference."
- "We had a knockout keynote speaker: Arianna Huffington."
- "No lingering odor of guys who sleep in their clothes, old sneakers and Fritos-scented keyboards."
- "There were lots of leftover baked goods - muffins, bagels and cookies - but the breakfast and lunch platters were scraped clean of fruit and salad."
- "A total absence of sports metaphors in the presentations - but many relationship allusions."
Entrepreneurship flourishes in Egypt
Almost a year after mass protests forced the ouster of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, economic conditions in Egypt remain grim: The risk of a currency devaluation, and continued uncertainty over how much power the military will hand over to a democratic government, are deterring projects by big businesses, including foreign investors, Reuters reports from Cairo. Unemployment sits at 11.8 per cent, according to figures from the second quarter of 2011, and economists estimate unemployment among young people is closer to 25 per cent. But at the same time, the new landscape is encouraging an increase in entrepreneurial activity among some Egyptians. Thousands of young people are developing new ventures or making plans to do so, which might eventually help solve the country's employment problem.
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