Our Insights
The legal world is a complicated one. The laws, regulations, and policies that govern every jot and tittle of our lives are voluminous and wrought with subtleties and open to interpretation. It can be both daunting and deceptive, which is why the world needs attorneys who, all jokes aside, are trained to understand and make sense of legal matters that apply to you or your organization. We offer these original articles to give you a basic understanding of recent or more subtle rulings and decisions that apply to the areas we focus on. They are not a replacement for the services of a good attorney, so please contact us about a specific matter you are facing. We’d like to help.
Intellectual Property
Business
A sampling of recent articles
USPS Updates Postmark Procedures: Impact on Nonprofits
In December 2025, the United States Postal Service (USPS) updated its procedures for how mail will receive a postmark. The postmark generally includes the date and location where the postmark was applied and has previously been used to demonstrate when a piece was mailed. Under these new practices, mail will receive a postmark at the […]
Anthropic Copyright Settlement Provides Relief to Authors and Publishers, but Questions Still Remain
As artificial intelligence permeates our society, copyright law continues to protect the rights of authors and publishers against infringement by generative artificial intelligence systems and the companies who create them. Generally, copyright law protects creator’s rights to the works that they create. For published books, authors and publishers determine how a book is produced, distributed, […]
The Return of the IRS Group Exemption: What Nonprofits Need to Know
After a wait of nearly six years, the IRS is now accepting group exemption applications for nonprofit organizations with multiple subordinates under a modernized standard and procedure. The old process was paused after forty years of use due to being outdated and inconsistent as well as administratively burdensome. That process has been replaced by new […]
Trademark Modernization Act Provides New Tools to Cancel or Stop Trademark Registrations
The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the Act), signed into law on December 27, 2020, will give trademark owners powerful new tools to cancel improperly granted trademark registrations and to stop pending registrations from being granted. By no later than December 27, 2021, the Act requires the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to implement […]
Force Majeure Clauses Gain Prominence During COVID-19
The COVID-19 epidemic brought to the forefront a contractual concept known as “force majeure.” The term “force majeure” is a French phrase that means “superior or irresistible force.” In contract law, a force majeure clause excuses or delays a party from performing its contractual obligations under the contract due to unforeseen events or circumstances. This […]
Avoid the Pitfalls of Careless Contract Drafting
Each day millions of businesses, individuals, and non-profits make law that spells out their rights, duties, and obligations. They do this by entering contracts. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties containing legal obligations that carry the force of law. It can be surprising how little attention is paid to contracts before […]
California and Europe Lead the Way on Data Privacy – More States to Follow
You may have heard that the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA is the first major attempt by a state government in the United States to regulate the use of consumer personal information. Following California’s lead, other states have started considering similar data privacy laws. The CCPA […]
Beware of Work-for-Hire Nuances
The term “work-for-hire” is often loosely used to refer to an agreement with an author, musician, or other independent contractor to create a copyrighted work. “Work-for-hire” agreements are routinely entered for the purpose of vesting ownership of the work with the party paying for the work. The term “work-for-hire” has a precise meaning under the […]
Act Promptly to Respond to a Data Breach
If you own or operate a business or non-profit organization, then it is likely not a matter of if, but when, you will experience a data breach. News stories proliferate of high-profile data breaches involving sensitive data of millions of people. A recent data breach of a major online fundraising platform has had far-ranging implications, […]