Our Insights

Where to Incorporate?

Posted on under Articles, Business, Churches and Religious Organizations, Nonprofits.

An early decision founders of new non-profit organizations must make is where to incorporate. A U.S. charitable, religious, or educational organization has its choice of incorporating in any of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. With this many choices, founders may ask if it is advantageous to incorporate in one state over another. When it comes to for-profit companies, it is common for them to incorporate or organize in Delaware due to tax or regulatory issues. We recently ran across an article advising non-profits to incorporate in Delaware. We thought it would be helpful to address if non-profits derive any advantage from incorporating in Delaware or another state in particular.

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Proposed Legislation Would Create a Small Claims Court for Copyright Disputes

Posted on Friday, November 8th, 2019 under Copyright and Trademark, Intellectual Property.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would create a small claims court for copyright disputes.  If enacted into law, the U.S. Copyright Office would house a dispute resolution system known as the Copyright Claims Board as an alternate forum to resolve copyright disputes when the amount in controversy is less than $30,000. Under the legislation as currently worded, the Copyright Office would be responsible for setting up a filing system, enacting rules to govern proceedings, and appointing panels of copyright experts, called Copyright Claims Officers, to decide disputes.  Many details still need to be worked out, but all disputes would be decided based upon written submissions and Internet-based communications with no in-person appearances in court. Intellectual property practitioners are likely familiar with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), which decides federal trademark registration disputes.  Trials before the Copyright Claims Board could share similarities with the TTAB.

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Beware of Copyright Trolls

Posted on under Articles, Copyright and Trademark, Intellectual Property.

Have you ever copied a photograph from a website thinking that the photograph was free to use?  You may have thought this because the photograph did not contain a watermark or copyright notice. Maybe the photograph claimed that it was “royalty free,” and you assumed that meant it was free to use for no charge.  Or, perhaps you were aware that using the photograph was not authorized, but you figured it would never be discovered. These are common mistakes that can prove to be costly.

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States Rush to Pass Economic Nexus Legislation

Posted on under Articles, Business, Taxes.

Following the Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states have acted quickly to enact economic nexus laws to require remote sellers to pay sales tax.  “Economic nexus” is the power of a state to compel remote sellers to pay sales tax on their transactions with purchasers in the state.  As of October 1, 2019, economic nexus laws have gone into effect in all states with a statewide sales tax, except Missouri and Florida. States are using economic nexus laws to compel remote sellers, or sellers with no physical presence in the state, to collect sales tax if the seller’s economic activity in the state reaches a pre-determined threshold. Previous laws required the seller to have a physical presence within the state, such as a brick-and-mortar store, office, or warehouse.

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New Rule Requires U.S. Counsel to Represent Foreign Trademark Applicants and Registrants

Posted on under Articles, Copyright and Trademark, Intellectual Property.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a new rule that requires foreign trademark applicants and registrants to be represented by an attorney licensed in the United States. Under the U.S. counsel rule, codified at 37 C.F.R. § 2.11(a), any trademark applicant or registrant domiciled outside of the United States must retain U.S. counsel to file any document before the USPTO.  This rule change is an effort to combat the unauthorized practice of law as well as the use of fake or suspicious specimens. The rule change was prompted by the USPTO’s examination of foreign trademark applications. In some cases, foreign applicants filed hundreds of trademark applications in their own names.  After reviewing those applications, the USPTO discovered that those applications were, in fact, filed by foreign practitioners.

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New Proposed Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Rules

Posted on under Articles, Business, Employment.

The Department of Labor (DOL) finalized its proposed rules for overtime eligibility. As some may recall, the DOL attempted to issue new overtime rules back in 2015, but those overtime rules were enjoined by a federal district court in 2016. Below is a summary of the final 2019 overtime rules:

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Nonprofits and Taxable Parking Expenses

Posted on under Articles, Business, Employment, Taxes.

Navigating the Possibility of Incurring UBTI

Nonprofit organizations that provide employee parking benefits may be surprised to learn that they may be subject to incur unrelated business taxable income (UBTI). In addition, organizations with no UBTI may now be required to file form 990-T.   

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act) amended Section 274 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to disallow for-profit employers from deducting certain expenses related to transportation fringe benefits provided to their employees. The Act added IRC Section 512(a)(7) to what constitutes UBTI for nonprofits and other tax-exempt entities. The Act states that tax-exempt entities are required to increase their UBTI by expenses related to transportation fringe benefits provided to their employees. The transportation fringe benefits subject to this tax include expenses associated with:

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Receipting Donations

Posted on under Articles, Business, Nonprofits.

Don’t be complacent.

Each year tax-exempt organizations in the United States receive hundreds of millions of dollars in donations.  Donors contributing to 501(c)(3) organizations are able to deduct their own contributions from their taxes, subject to IRS limitations.  Recently, a higher standard deduction has been put in place through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  This will likely diminish the number of taxpayers and donors who itemize their deductions, making it tempting for charities to assume that receipting donations is no longer important.  However, charities should continue to exercise care in receipting donations for the benefit of the donor. Continue reading “Receipting Donations” →

Law Suit Shows the Danger of Disregarded Employment Law

Posted on under Articles, Business, Employment.

President Trump Sued for Unpaid Overtime

In July 2018, President Donald Trump learned the danger of disregarding employment law when he was sued by his long-time, personal chauffeur for unpaid overtime. In this case, Trump did not abide by state and federal wage and hour rules.

Reportedly, chauffeur Noel Cintron was “forced to work thousands of hours of overtime without compensation,”1 anywhere from 50-55 hours per week.  He would begin at 7:00 a.m., five days a week, and stay until Trump, his family, or business associates no longer needed Cintron’s services. Continue reading “Law Suit Shows the Danger of Disregarded Employment Law” →