# Legal and company basics desk

The company, equity, IP and privacy basics to ask your counsel about. Not legal advice.

Canonical URL: https://worldenterprise.org/insights/topic/legal/
Last updated: 2026-10-10
Publisher: World Enterprise, run by World Enterprise Group Incorporated

The documents a company signs in its first year include the entity filing, the equity split, the assignment of code and the legal pages on the product. The articles on this desk describe what each one is for and what the public sources say about it, so that a founder can bring specific questions to their own lawyer.

The eight articles run from the company outward. They cover choosing an entity, founder equity and vesting, the 83(b) election and its deadline, founder IP assignment and confidentiality, open-source licenses, privacy law, the terms of service and privacy policy, and trademark name clearance.

Two limits apply throughout. World Enterprise is not a law firm, and nothing on this desk is legal or tax advice. Each article carries a dated general-information line, reads primary sources such as statutes and agency pages, and ends with what it cannot tell you.

## Articles

- [Choosing an entity: LLC or C corporation](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/choosing-an-entity-llc-or-c-corporation/): What an LLC and a C corporation are, how each is created and taxed in the United States, and the questions to bring to counsel and a tax professional.
- [Founder equity splits and vesting](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/founder-equity-splits-and-vesting/): How founder shares are issued, what vesting is and how a repurchase condition works, with questions for counsel. It gives no recommended split.
- [Founder IP assignment and confidentiality agreements](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/founder-ip-assignment-and-confidentiality-agreements/): Who owns code and inventions made by founders, and what the copyright, patent and trade secret statutes say about assignment and confidentiality.
- [Open-source licenses inside a commercial product](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/open-source-licenses-inside-a-commercial-product/): What the MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL and AGPL license texts say about copying, shipping and offering software, and the questions to bring to counsel.
- [Privacy law basics for a small product](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/privacy-law-basics-for-a-small-product/): What the GDPR, the CCPA, the COPPA Rule and the FTC Act say about personal data, from the primary sources, with questions to bring to counsel.
- [Terms of service and privacy policy: what each document is for](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy-what-each-document-is-for/): A terms of service is a contract and a privacy policy is a notice. What the primary sources say about each, and the questions to bring to counsel.
- [The 83(b) election and its deadline](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/the-83b-election-and-its-deadline/): What the 83(b) election is, what the statute and the IRS say about its 30-day deadline and how it is filed, and the questions to bring to a tax professional.
- [Trademark name clearance before you commit](https://worldenterprise.org/insights/trademark-name-clearance-before-you-commit/): What the USPTO and the federal trademark statute say about similar marks, clearance searches and likelihood of confusion, with questions for an attorney.