Law Offices of Marina Nazarbekian

04/06/2025

You are a small business interested in government grants to help fund your R& D, but who owns the IP if the government is paying for it ?

Before the Bayh-Dole Act was enacted in 1980, the federal government typically claimed ownership of patents for inventions developed with its funding. This often left groundbreaking innovations languishing in bureaucratic limbo, with little incentive for private entities to bring them to market. The...

01/19/2024

Did you know: Texas is the 11th state to provide consumers with comprehensive privacy protection? This was achieved by enacting the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act ( TDPSA) on June 16, 2023. The law itself actually goes into effect on July 1, 2024.

Who does it apply to?

Persons and entities that meet ALL of the following conditions:
 Conduct business in Texas or produce products or services that Texas residents consume.
 Process any volume of personal data or engage in personal data sales.
 Do not qualify as a small business as defined by the US Small Business Administration. However, please note that a small business must still obtain the consumer’s consent prior to selling sensitive personal data.

The following is an example of entities that are excluded from TDPSA :
 State agencies or political subdivisions
 Nonprofits
 Institutes of higher education
 Electric utilities, power generations companies nad retail electric providers
 Employment related data
 Entities or data regulated by other sector-specific laws like HIPAA, GLBA, FCRA and COPPA)

TDPSA considers the following to be sensitive personal data:
 Revealing an individual’s:
o Religious beliefs
o Mental or physical health diagnosis
o Racial or ethnic origin
o Citizenship or immigration status
o Sexuality
 Personal data collected from a known child
 Precise geolocation data
 Genetic or biometric data processed to uniquely identify an individual

What must you as a regulated person/entity do if you fall under TDPSA?

 Minimize data collection to the extent possible
 Maintain transparency by issuing privacy notices with specific disclaimers if you engage in the sale of sensitive or biometric data
 Limit personal data use to purposes reasonably necessary for the disclosed processing purpose unless the consumer agrees to secondary use
 Provide reasonable data security to protect the personal data’s confidentiality, integrity and accessibility
 No discrimination or retaliation if a consumer exercises their rights under TDPSA
 Avoid unlawful discrimination when processing personal data
 Comply with COPPA ( regarding children’s sensitive data)
 Obtain consent before processing sensitive data
 Timely respond to consumer requests to exercise their personal data rights

Make sure to check with your local attorney if you have questions about further details about TDPSA and how it may apply to your business.

violations may result in potential civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation.

05/16/2023

08/17/2022

You are probably aware of employment laws that could create liabilities if your company fails to comply with them. However, even before a person becomes an employee, certain antidiscrimination laws protect them during the application process. Most employers must comply with employment laws enforced....

06/27/2022

06/26/2022

05/10/2022

Did you know:

In the United States, for an individual to be considered an accredited investor, he or she must have a net worth of at least one million US dollars, not including the value of one's primary residence or have income at least $200,000 each year for the last two years (or $300,000 together with his or her spouse if married) and have the expectation to make the same amount this year.

05/05/2022

I've been receiving a lot of questions and inquiries about organizations lately, so I want to share some answers here, as you may be interested as well :

Q: Can the Board of Directors be comprised of Family Members?

A: 51% of the voting members of the board of directors need to be unrelated. The IRS also wants to make sure the organization can form a quorum of majority-unrelated directors in order to conduct an official board meeting.

For example, if the nonprofit has 7 board members and two of them are married, then the overall balance is fine. However, if only 4 directors can attend a board meeting and 2 of those members are the married couple, then a quorum hasn't been achieved. ( This issue of quorum can be addressed in the Bylaws, but you want to make sure that 51% of directors are NOT related, either way.) While there isn't a specific rule that prohibits having multiple family members on the board, it is how it extrapolates its other regulations in making its decisions on this matter.

The IRS wants to be assured that the organization will be free of private benefit ( inurement) and that it will be governed at arms-length from the personal interest of those doing the governing. Based on their Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, court cases and everyday regulatory administration, the IRS has consistently interpreted that public charity boards with more than half of its members related to one another is in violation of this inurement prohibition. Please, take some time to consider who you can have on your board. If more than one family member will be on the board of directors, you will need to have enough non relatives to balance this out.

04/12/2022

When setting up your business, one of the most significant decisions you will make is which type of entity to form. If you have settled on forming a limited liability company (LLC), you must also choose the type of management structure it will have. LLCs can be member-managed or manager-managed. Bei...

04/08/2022

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that registration for its 2022 National Small Business Week Virtual Summit, “Building a Better America Through Entrepreneurship,” is now open. This year’s National Small Business Week (NSBW), held May 1-7, 2022, will acknowledge small businesses from across the country for their resilience, ingenuity, and creativity. It will also recognize SBA partners for their involvement in entrepreneurial development, disaster recovery, government contracting, financial development, and overall support for small businesses and entrepreneurship.

During National Small Business Week, the SBA will hold its NSBW Virtual Summit from May 2-5, 2022, in cosponsorship with SCORE. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required. Visit online at National Small Business Week 4-Day Virtual Summit Registration (onlinexperiences.com) to register.

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