Joseph Fedorowsky – Legal Blog

A copyright is a type of intellectual property right which is the basis on which your writings may be protected from use by others without your permission. You automatically have a common law copyright to original materials that you pen and publish, but there are advantages to statutory registration.

A copyright legally protects the unique expression of an author. Protection, however, does not extend to mere ideas. There are alternative ways to handle your original and unique ideas and concepts, however, most of which involve marketing dynamics and positioning.

Once you’ve got your seat belt fastened, take a look at the U.S. Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-810, which is Federal legislation enacted by Congress to protect an author’s intellectual property. This area of law is considered by many practitioners as one of the most complex.

Joseph Fedorowsky / Legal Blog

A top ten misunderstanding: nonprofit corporations are not necessarily nonprofit. The word nonprofit is somewhat of a misnomer. If the operation of any organization (not including the government, of course) results in no profit, it would likely go out of business!

Nonprofits are, essentially, preferred tax organizations, such that certain taxes are not levied on exempt activities. Taxes are levied, however, on non exempt activities (unrelated business income).

While I’m at it, here’s another top ten misunderstanding: not all nonprofits apply for or receive official 501(c)3 status. Many churches fit in this category. There are, however, benefits of being a federally recognized nonprofit . . . more on that later.

Joseph Fedorowsky / Legal Blog

A nonprofit is initially set up as an organized group or entity under state law for exempt purposes. Nonprofit organizations include, for example, churches, schools and other types of charitable organizations recognized under law. Funds collected for approved exempt purposes must be properly applied to those exempt purposes. Generally, members are not paid, although it may be perrmissible to reasonably compensate management personnel. When such an organization is first formed it is designated as a nonprofit under state incorporation laws and, if later qualified under federal law, the entity would not be subject to certain federal taxes.

Before moving forward to actually set up a nonprofit organization, it is critically important to plan out the process and understand what state and federal laws and regulations apply and exactly how to comply with those laws and regulations. A nonprofit organization which is not properly structured may later be forced to involuntarily convert to a for-profit corporation, a result which is likely have serious, direct tax ramifications for the organization, its organizers and control group.

Joseph Fedorowsky / Legal Blog