Listen to this post

March Madness, the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, is a significant event for basketball fans worldwide. But it’s also a time of year when employers may face some challenges in terms of employment law. Productivity can take a hit with millions of employees tuning into the games. Employees may request time off or engage in other behaviors that can pose legal risks for employers.

In this blog post, we’ll explore some employment law issues employers may face during March Madness and ways to handle them legally.

Continue Reading March Madness Mayhem: Navigating Employment Law Issues in the Workplace
Listen to this post

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced the launch of a new Green Energy Category as part of their Incentive Program. The program is designed to encourage innovation and development of green technologies and energy solutions, and the new category is specifically aimed at recognizing and incentivizing inventors and businesses that are working on solutions to combat climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

The USPTO is the federal agency responsible for granting patents and trademarks to inventors and businesses. The Incentive Program is one of their initiatives to support and promote innovation by offering various benefits to patent applicants who meet certain criteria. These benefits include expedited examination, reduced fees, and more.

Continue Reading USPTO Launches Green Energy Category for Incentive Program
Listen to this post

Deadline Extensions

Last fall, Governor DeSantis signed Executive Order 22-242 on October 20, 2022, extending ad valorem property tax filing deadlines for Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian and called for a special session to address further relief. The special session concluded toward the end of the December and Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill 4-A, which codified the extended deadlines in section 197.3182 of the Florida Statutes. The deadlines are exactly the same as the ones in the Executive Order; the details about those deadlines may be found here.

This was not all the Governor was able to offer Hurricane Ian victims, that same bill provided for ad valorem property tax refunds and how to qualify.

Property Tax Refunds

Continue Reading Ad Valorem Property Tax Refunds Available for Those Affected by Hurricane Ian
Listen to this post

tax cut The short answer is “yes.” On October 18, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2022-38 (the “Procedure”). This Procedure adjusted certain dollar amounts related to tax items due to inflation. What you may not know is that certain dollar amounts contained in the tax code are subject to inflation. This means the IRS will adjust these items on a yearly basis to take into account inflation.

As we all know, inflation has hit an all-time high this year, and costs continue to rise with no end in sight. However, one piece of good news is that the Procedure adjusts the individual tax brackets and many more items for the 2023 tax year to take into account this inflation. This means there is a possibility that you may see a slightly larger refund or slightly less amount due when you file your 2023 tax return.

The Standard Deduction

The standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly increased to $27,000, which is up $1,800 from the previous year.

For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, the standard deduction increased to $13,850, which is up $900.00.

For head of households, the standard deduction will be $20,800, which is up $1,400 from last year.

The Individual Tax Brackets

Continue Reading Did inflation just save me money on my taxes?

Listen to this post

IRSAs you may recall from our previous post, Hurricane Ian extended certain due dates with respect to tax returns for those affected. There is also relief for certain taxpayers who have an ongoing Section 1031 Exchange. Under the Revenue Procedure 2018-58 (“Rev. Proc. 2018-58”), two sections grant relief to taxpayers involved in a Section 1031 Exchange and who are Affected Taxpayers.

Section 6 Relief

Section 6 of Rev. Proc. 2018-58 (“Section 6 Relief”) states that if a taxpayer has a deadline (the 45-day or 180-day deadline) that falls between the Relief Period prescribed by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), the taxpayer may extend that deadline date to the end of the Relief Period.

Calculating the Relief Period

Let’s unpack this; the Relief Period is September 23, 2022 through February 15, 2023 as stated in the IRS’s notice FL-2022-19, dated September 29, 2022 and updated on October 5, 2022. Therefore, if the 45-day or 180-day deadlines fall between the Relief Period, the taxpayer may extend such deadline to February 15, 2023. An Affected Taxpayer includes individuals who live, and businesses (including tax-exempt organizations) whose principal place of business is located, in the state of Florida.

For example:

Facts: Taxpayer has its principal place of business in Lee County, Florida and is therefore classified as an Affected Taxpayer. Taxpayer relinquished their property on June 15, 2022, the 45-day deadline ends July 30, 2022 and the 180-day deadline ends December 12, 2022.

Analysis: The 45-day deadline does not fall between the Relief Period and, therefore, cannot be extended. However, the 180-day deadline does fall between the Relief Period and can be extended until February 15, 2023.

Section 17 Relief

The other section that provides relief in Rev. Proc 2018-58 is Section 17. Section 17 states that if the relinquished property was transferred or parked on or before the date of the disaster, the 45-day and 180-day deadlines that have not yet lapsed, may be extended 120-days from the last day of such deadline or to the last day of the Relief Period, whichever is later (“Section 17 Relief”).

Continue Reading Did Hurricane Ian extend deadlines with my Section 1031 Exchange?

Listen to this post

Last week, Southwest Florida felt the wrath of Hurricane Ian. With the surplus of vessels around the Southwest Florida area, property owners are finding vessels washed up on their properties or left abandoned in the waters around them. This spurs the question,

“What do I do if a vessel is on my property due to Hurricane Ian?

First, a property owner can always attempt to locate the registration number on the vessel’s side to ascertain who the owner is. Once the owner is determined, the property owner can demand the vessel’s rightful owner remove the vessel from the property.

Additionally, a property owner can report the vessel to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). FWC will collect a fee for beginning an investigation, conduct an investigation under Section 705.103, Florida Statutes, and determine the vessel’s owner. If the vessel’s owner does not remove the vessel, it could be declared “derelict” by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In Florida, a vessel is considered derelict when it is left stored or abandoned in a wrecked, junked or demolished condition on public waters or private property without the consent of the property owner.

Continue Reading Hurricane Clean-Up: Tips for Handling Abandoned Vessels on your Property

Listen to this post

It’s funny the vast differences acronyms have. On Instagram, “FTO” stands for “flexible time off,” and on Facebook, it stands for the game “Faery Tale Online.” For purposes of this article and in the patenting world, an FTO is an assessment of the ability to make, use, and/or sell products/services without infringing another party’s rights.

Do I need an FTO performed if I already have a patent?

Now for my favorite attorney answer…it depends. First, we must understand what rights a patent gives.

A registered patent provides the owner of a useful, new, and non-obvious invention of patentable subject matter with the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented invention for a limited period of time.

Isn’t “legal right to exclude” just a fancy legal way of saying that I have the right to make, use or sell my patented invention?

No! The right to exclude does not mean the same as the right to make, use, or sell.

To illustrate this, suppose inventor Sue Yoo develops and patents a system – that has not been previously invented – for preventing the sinking of a boat with a breached hull. The patented invention involves manually or automatically deploying helium-filled balloons which provide the boat with the ability to remain afloat. From these basic facts, it appears that Sue Yoo’s invention met the requirements for patentability, it is useful (prevents boats from sinking), new (hasn’t been previously invented), non-obvious (debatable but hey, for our purposes it’s not obvious), and of patentable subject matter (trust me on this one).

Continue Reading What is an FTO?

Firing their first shot on June 6, 2022, Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, heirs of Ehud Yonay, took aim at Paramount by filing a complaint in Federal Court asserting that the movie Top Gun: Maverick, infringes upon a copyrighted story written by Ehud Yonay (“Story”). Shosh and Yuval claim that in May of 1983, Paramount obtained from Ehud, exclusive motion picture and allied rights – creation of merchandise or a television series – to the Story. Shosh and Yuval assert further that in January of 2018, they notified Paramount of their election to terminate those rights as of January of 2020.

On May 27, 2022, flying high over complaints from Shosh and Yuval and well after the termination date, Paramount released Top Gun: Maverick domestically bringing in over $120,000,000 during its opening weekend. Have Shosh and Yuval found their cash cow??

Do Shosh and Yuval have legal standing?

First, can Shosh and Yuval ‘elect to terminate’ rights in which they did not give? 17 U.S.C. § 203(a)(2)(A-B) states that in the case of any work other than a work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of copyright or of any right under a copyright, executed by the author on or after January 1, 1978, otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under the following conditions:

[w]here an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned, and may be exercised, as follows: [t]he widow or widower owns the author’s entire termination interest unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author, in which case the widow or widower owns one-half of the author’s interest and [t]he author’s surviving children, and the surviving children of any dead child of the author, own the author’s entire termination interest unless there is a widow or widower, in which case the ownership of one-half of the author’s interest is divided among them.

This means that Congress provided copyright owners with the ability to recapture their works thus allowing the copyright owner to take actions such as renegotiating an agreement or creating their own works based on the original work.

Here, there is no indication that the work is for hire, the grant does not appear to be by will and allegedly occurred after 1977, plus Shosh is the widow and Yuval is the son of Ehud. It is clear that in this case, as the grant of rights occurred after 1977 and that Shosh and Yuval are widow and son, respectively, of Ehud, that they had the right to terminate the extension of rights to Paramount.

Did Shosh and Yuval provide Paramount with proper notice?

Continue Reading Copyright Claim Soars Over Top Gun: Maverick

Patent SearchA patentability search allows a patent practitioner to assess the likelihood of successfully obtaining a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). The USPTO may issue a patent to whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, subject to certain conditions and requirements.

A patentability search allows a patent practitioner to better understand the scope of the state of the art, the level of skill of a person in the art, and the potential for obtaining a peiroatent registration that protects the new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.

What does it mean to be “novel” and “non-obvious”?

To be patentable, the new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter (“invention”) must be novel and non-obvious. In assessing novelty, a patent practitioner searches and reviews the universe of prior art, such as issued patents, expired patents, patent applications, and other non-patent literature, to determine if the exact invention has already been disclosed. In general, a prior disclosure by a third party is a complete bar to patentability, and a prior disclosure by the inventor is subject to specific timing as set by statute regarding such previous disclosures.

Continue Reading What is a patentability search and why should I have one conducted?

If you have not yet filed your 2021 tax return, the Internal Revenue Service provides a plethora of guidance. Below is a summary of few of the items taxpayers should know before filing:

Cryptocurrency

Did you receive, sell, exchange or buy any virtual currency? All taxpayers filing Form 1040, Form 1040-SR or Form 1040-NR must check one box answering either “Yes” or “No” to the virtual currency question. The question must be answered by all taxpayers, not just taxpayers who engaged in a transaction involving virtual currency in 2021. Click here for more information.

Tax Breaks for Teachers

Teachers or other educators can deduct the unreimbursed cost of books, supplies, computer equipment, software and COVID-19 protective items used in the classroom. For 2022, they will be able to deduct up to $300 of out-of-pocket classroom expenses when they file their federal income tax return next year. If they are married and file a joint return with another eligible educator, the limit rises to $600. Click here for more information. For those teachers and educators filing their 2021 tax returns due in April, the deduction is limited to $250. The limit will rise in $50 increments in future years based on inflation adjustments.

Need more time to file?

Continue Reading Important Reminders as 2022 “Tax Day” Approaches