Law Office of Eugene R Curry

05/03/2025

With website accessibility lawsuits numbering in the thousands each year, business owners turn to business that offer website remediation services to make sure that their websites comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. One such company is AccessiBe, which claimed its plug-in accessWidget can make any website compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). On April 21st, the Federal Trade Commission approved a consent order that bars accessiBe from representing that its automated products can make any website WCAG-compliant or can ensure continued compliance with WCAG over time, unless it has the evidence to support such claims and requires AccessiBe to pay 1 million dollars.

03/02/2025

"On Thursday, FinCEN, which is in charge of CTA compliance and BOI reporting, issued the following statement:
WASHINGTON––Today, FinCEN announced that it will not issue any fines or penalties or take any other enforcement actions against any companies based on any failure to file or update beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act by the current deadlines. No fines or penalties will be issued, and no enforcement actions will be taken, until a forthcoming interim final rule becomes effective and the new relevant due dates in the interim final rule have passed. This announcement continues Treasury’s commitment to reducing regulatory burden on businesses, as well as prioritizing under the Corporate Transparency Act reporting of BOI for those entities that pose the most significant law enforcement and national security risks.
No later than March 21, 2025, FinCEN intends to issue an interim final rule that extends BOI reporting deadlines, recognizing the need to provide new guidance and clarity as quickly as possible, while ensuring that BOI that is highly useful to important national security, intelligence, and law enforcement activities is reported.
FinCEN also intends to solicit public comment on potential revisions to existing BOI reporting requirements. FinCEN will consider those comments as part of a notice of proposed rulemaking anticipated to be issued later this year to minimize burden on small businesses while ensuring that BOI is highly useful to important national security, intelligence, and law enforcement activities, as well to determine what, if any, modifications to the deadlines referenced here should be considered."

12/08/2024

There has been a significant development in Corporate Transparency Act ("CTA") compliance requirements. Last week, a federal District Court judge issued an injunction enjoining enforcement of the CTA and its reporting rules.The court stated that "reporting companies need not comply with the CTA's January 1, 2025 BOI reporting deadline pending further order of the Court" and stated that the CTA and reporting rules were "likely unconstitutional." As a result, if you have not already filed a BOI report, you do not have to do so unless the Court’s order is overturned.

10/06/2024

As a reminder, every non-profit corporation organized under the laws of Massachusetts must file a non-profit annual report with the Corporations Division on or before November 1st of this year.

09/14/2024

As you may be aware, the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) went into effect on January 1st. The CTA requires many small businesses including corporations and limited liability companies (“Reporting Companies”) to report beneficial ownership information (a “BOI Report”) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the Department of Treasury. For reporting businesses established before January 1, 2024, BOI Reports are due by January 1, 2025. The BOI Reports are not difficult to file.However, the process of determining what to report and assembling the necessary information can be time consuming. Therefore, I recommend that you not wait until the last minute to prepare a report if your business is a reporting company.

The FinCEN has published guidance for small businesses available at: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/BOI_Small_Compliance_Guide.v1.1-FINAL.pdf.

12/31/2023

Over the years I have prepared a number of conservation easements for clients who wished to preserve their property. The Washington Post has an article about how W.S. Merwin, one of my favorite poets, used a conservation easement to preserve a 19 acre forest in Maui. It includes a virtual tour. Enjoy.

W.S. Merwin set out to build a sanctuary on Maui. It continues to provide refuge years after his death.

12/26/2023

Beginning on January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) will require many small businesses, including corporations and limited liability companies, to report beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the Department of Treasury.

Specifically, businesses subject to the CTA (“Reporting Companies”) will need to provide information about the business and about beneficial owners and company applicants. A beneficial owner is an individual who owns or controls at least 25 percent of a company or has substantial control over the company, and a company applicant is an individual who directly files or is primarily responsible for the filing of the document that creates or registers the company.

Reports will be filed via the FinCEN’s secure after January 1, 2024. The deadline for filing depends on the date that the Reporting Company was formed:

• Reporting Companies created or registered to do business before January 1, 2024 will have until January 1, 2025 to file.
• Reporting Companies created or registered on or after January 1, 2024 and before January 1, 2025, will have 90 calendar days after receiving actual or public notice of registration.
• Reporting Companies created or registered after January 1, 2025 will have 30 days from actual or public notice of registration to file.

Tax exempt organizations that are described in Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code are exempt from the CTA reporting requirements.

There are severe penalties for willful noncompliance with the CTA, including penalties of up to $10,000.0 and up to 2 years in prison.

The FinCEN has published guidance for small businesses available at: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/BOI_Small_Compliance_Guide.v1.1-FINAL.pdf.

This post is being provided for informational purposes only. Specific legal advice will depend on a client’s individual circumstances.

12/24/2023

Is "It's A Wonderful Life" part of your holiday celebrations? If so, it is because of a copyright mistake. I recently learned that the movie, which lost money when it came out, came into the public domain in 1974 when the copyright registration was not renewed due to a clerical error. Local televisions began showing the movie and it achieved a popularity that it failed to achieve in movie theaters. Maybe Clarence had something to do with it.

08/26/2023

The AIs don't have it. A Federal District Court Judge recently upheld the refusal of the Copyright Office to register a copyright for a work generated entirely by AI without any human involvement stating "[h]uman authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright". Thaler v. Perlmutter. The Copyright Office's position is consistent with previous rulings and has significant implications for businesses that plan to use AI to generate content.

08/22/2023

The US Patent and Trademark Office is offering a free webinar: "Do you have a brand name, slogan, or logo? Do you know how to protect it? Join us for a discussion about what all entrepreneurs, small businesses, and startups should know about trademarks on Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 2-3:30 p.m. ET."

Do you have a brand name, slogan, or logo? Do you know how to protect it? Join us for a discussion about what all entrepreneurs, small businesses, and startups should know about trademarks.

07/08/2023

A Supreme Court decision about a dog toy? Woof! The Supreme Court recently decided a case that involved a Bad Spaniels dog toy that parodied a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. The case turns on the extent that parodies might be considered to dilute a famous trademark and will ultimately be resolved by the trial court. It will be interesting to see how the trial court will consider the dog p**p jokes on the Bad Spaniels toy in its likelihood of confusion analysis.

06/02/2023

The Georgia Supreme Court recently declared a statute that would have deprived Certified Lactation Counselors and other lactation care providers of the right to pursue their profession unconstitutional on due process grounds. I am honored to have played a small part in achieving this victory.

ATLANTA—This morning, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously ruled that a law requiring lactation care providers to obtain a state-issued license is unconstitutional and violates […]