UPDATE 4/25/2024: In March 2024, a U.S. District Court judge in Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act was unconstitutional in an opinion ruling on a motion for summary judgment. The ruling was critical of Congress’s choices in constructing the Act, but not of its aims. The Court discussed Congress’s failure to narrow the […]
From choosing the right business structure and filing for intellectual property protection to handling contract issues and resolving disputes, the legal issues affecting entertainers and athletes can be similar to those of any new or growing company. However, there are also some legal concerns that are specific and custom to sports and entertainment law. Below […]
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s “Booking.com” decision, the US Trademark Office continues to grapple with the protectability of domain names as registered trademarks. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court held that under certain circumstances a domain name containing a generic word may be a protectible trademark, rejecting the per se rule that had […]
Our blog entry earlier this year discussed the “Booking.com” decision, in which the US Supreme Court struck down the per se rule that a generic mark followed by .com was not registrable under any circumstances. That blog entry cautioned that the news may not be as good as may first appear. Recent interpretation of the Booking.com […]
On August 26, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved amendments to the “accredited investor” definition1, thereby increasing the number of persons that can participate in private offerings of securities2. Previously, individuals that wanted to participate in private offerings generally had to be high earning or high net-worth individuals to qualify as “accredited […]
Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker signed into law recreational marijuana legislation this Tuesday, after the Illinois legislature voted by large margin to approve the landmark 700-page Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“the Act”). A copy of the bill voted upon is located here but the Act has yet to be fully published online. The new […]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted “Regulation Best Interest” (“Reg BI”) on June 5, 2019, requiring broker-dealers to act in the best interest of their retail customers when recommending securities or a particular investment strategy. Additionally, the SEC adopted a new Exchange Act Rule 17a-14, 17 CFR § 240.17a-14, that requires broker-dealers to […]
On Friday, May 31st the Illinois House approved a law legalizing recreational cannabis, or marijuana, in the state, making Illinois the 11th of the United States to do so. The law, referred to as the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“CRTA” or the “Illinois law”) is on the desk of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who […]
On April 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, a.k.a. the SEC FinHub, released its “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets,” (the “Framework”)[note]The Framework “is not a rule, regulation, or statement of the Commission, and the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content. . […]
Effective April 1, 2019, every National Futures Association (“NFA”) member commodity pool operator (“CPO”) that handles customer funds must implement an internal controls system (“ICS”) that “is designed to deter fraudulent activity by employees, management, and third parties” to ensure that each Member CPO properly safeguards customer funds, provides accurate and timely financial reports, and […]