George and Oscar Bluth, identical twin brothers, are sitting around one day reminiscing about their mother's famous fried hushpuppies. Oscar tells George he'd love to invent a special machine for making hushpuppies, but quickly gives up on the idea in favor opening a lemonade stand in front of his house.

George, however, decides to build upon Oscar's idea and spends many hours working on a design to invent a fried hushpuppy machine that he names "The Cornballer". The Cornballer is a self-contained frying unit that uses a unique new frying process enabling home cooks to safely prepare low-fat cornballs at home without the use of oil. The machine is decorated with the Cornball logoa smiling cornball with eyes and a baseball hat.

The Cornballer is sold online (at www.cornballer.com) and at all major retailers. It is an instant success. George becomes a millionaire overnight, but Oscar feels that George stole his idea and is not happy about his brother's success. As an act of retaliation, Oscar registers the domain name www.cornballs.com and links the site to one hosting pornographic content. When George confronts Oscar about the site, Oscar offers to sell the domain name to George for $3 million.

In addition to having issues with online sales, George is also having trouble with retail sales of the Cornballer. George has a contract for an order of 1,000 Cornballers for $10,000 to be sent to Kitty's Kitchen Supply Store. However, when the Cornballers arrived, 500 of were damaged in transit. Kitty promptly rejected the entire order of 1,000 Cornballers.

Meanwhile, George's kids are enjoying their father's success. They spend their days at the beach and hanging out on the family yacht. One day at the beach, Michael offers Buster (who has a terrible fear of open water) $500 to swim 50 yards out into the ocean and back to shore. When Buster is almost back to shore, Michael yells that the deal is off and he won't pay Buster the $500.

Later that day Buster goes to visit his girlfriend, Lucille. Lucille tells Buster that she loves him and that they should run away and get married. Buster agrees and the couple drives to Las Vegas. Just before their wedding, Lucille (who is very wealthy) tells Buster that she will not marry him unless he agrees that he would be entitled to none of Lucille's assets in the event of a divorce. Buster really wants to marry Lucille, so he agrees.

Questions: Answer each question based on the above fact pattern, citing the specific laws, statutes, legal terms and/or theories that apply.

1.Oscar comes to you for legal advice. George may have designed the Cornballer, but it was Oscar's idea. Does Oscar have any legal claims against George? If so, please identify those claims and explain.

2.George has just finished inventing the Cornballer and designing the product's exterior. He wants your legal advice on how to best protect his product. What can George do to protect his commercial interests in the Cornballer?

3.Assume that some potential customers who want to purchase the Cornballer online are accidentally ending up at www.cornballs.com (Oscar's pornographic site). Does Oscar have any legal liability for creating the www.cornballs.com site? If so, what?

4.When Kitty returned her entire shipment of Cornballers, George promptly informed Kitty that he was sending a new shipment of 1,000 Cornballers, which would arrive undamaged before the contract expired. Kitty tells George that she changed her mind and no longer wants the Cornballers. George wants to send the units anyway because he thinks Kitty has an obligation under the contract. In a legal dispute between the parties, is George or Kitty likely to prevail and why? In your answer, include the laws, legal principles and/or rules that apply.

5.Buster claims that Michael owes him $500 for swimming 50 yards out into the ocean, but Michael refuses to pay. Did Buster and Michael enter into a valid contract? If so, what kind?

6.In a legal dispute between Michael and Buster, who is likely to prevail and why?

7.Three years after the couple elopes to Vegas, Lucille files for divorce from Buster. Lucille sends Buster the divorce settlement, which leaves Buster with nothing, pursuant to the couple's agreement. Is the couple's premarital agreement valid, why or why not?