In order to initiate an infringement action in federal court, the Copyright Act requires the litigating party to hold a copyright registration. While the circuits are split on what constitutes a copyright registration, the Ninth Circuit recently joined the Fifth and Seventh Circuits in Cosmetic Ideas v. IAC in holding that anapplication for copyright registration suffices for a…

The Department of Labor recently published a poster listing employees’; rights under the National Relations Labor Act (NRLA). The notice, which Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to display in a conspicuous location, informs employees that under the NRLA they are guaranteed: the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers; the right to engage in…

Forming an LLC or a corporation is an important first step to achieving tax benefits and protection from liability.  In order to preserve these important benefits, however,  it is very important that your company is maintained properly. Otherwise, you run the risk that the separate nature of your company will be ignored by the IRS…

An LLC can be treated as an S-Corporation for tax purposes if it makes an S-Corporation election as long as the entity meets the IRS criteria to be taxed as an S-Corp, files an S-Corp election and gets approved by the IRS to be taxed as an S-Corporation. Without an S-Corporation election, single member LLCs…

In order to be classified as an S-Corporation, a company must: be domestic, have no more than 100 shareholders, have one class of stock, all shareholders must be individuals, decedents’ estates, bankruptcy estates, trusts or tax-exempt charitable organizations, or wholly owned by another S corporation, and all shareholders must be residents of the United States…

Many small business owners incorporate their businesses not only for legal protection, but also to reduce owners’ payroll taxes through S-Corp tax election with the IRS. One advantage of an S-Corp is that it gives business owners the ability to reduce their self-employment taxes. Any small business owner who has not made an S-Corp election…

Dow Jones VentureSource is one of the most popular nationwide venture capital date reports in the United States. VentureSources published its latest data on the development of venture capital investments in the third quarter of 2009. Below are some overviews observed by VentureSource. With 616 venture deals and $5.1 billion invested, Q3 is a 6%…

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a September 10, 2009 ruling, held that an employer can be held liable for discriminatory hiring decisions made by its independent contractors. The case involved an independent contractor acting on behalf of the employer, telling the plaintiff that “they were looking for someone younger”.…

So, you have this great idea, you are sure that it is going to be at least the next Google/Monster/Microsoft/Facebook. Now what? Well, having a great idea is just the first step (and some say the easiest one) in a long long journey towards establishing your own living and kicking business. Since this platform of…

Lots of young entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley these days hope to begin their business, let people know their companies, and furthermore, draw the attention of venture capitalists, who will devote money to their new enterprise. Something that an entrepreneur must keep in mind is something that he must give up to VCs when getting money…