I first saw Stephanie Christensen’s brief list of mistakes that small businesses make in late 2013, but it’s evergreen.
Numbers One and Two (‘Misunderstanding ownership of creative assets’ & ‘Misunderstanding copyright laws’) are related: they often concern smart, well-educated non-lawyers who mistakenly think the law protects more or less than it actually does.
Very few business people are wholly mistaken or wholly unaware of laws affecting their businesses. It’s in understanding the scope of applicable law that even skillful non-lawyers go wrong.
Sometimes they don’t go wrong by much, so to speak. Still, as with building a bridge, even a few inches of misalignment brings considerable risk.
See, 4 Common Legal Mistakes Small Businesses Make @ QuickBooks.