The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has issued a notice announcing relief for certain retirement plans that do not have a written plan in place by January 1, 2009. More...
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has laid down an expedited process that will make it easier for financially distressed homeowners to avoid having a federal tax lien block refinancing of mortgages or the sale of a home. More...
The Senate has passed by unanimous consent and sent to the U.S. President legislation that would temporarily waive the excise tax on seniors who fail to make the required minimum withdrawal from their defined contribution retirement accounts More...
Holding: The U.S. Tax Court has affirmed the deficiency determination made by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) against a couple, and held them liable for self-employment taxes. The issue here was whether petitioners were liable for self-employment tax on funds that were distributed from their law firm to their PLCs to their trusts and then to them. The Tax Court found that the trusts lacked economic substance and concluded that they were not recognizable for federal tax purposes. Petitioners offered no reason other than that their trusts were the owners of their PLC interests and proper receptacles for their earnings from the law firm to explain why the net income from their law firm was not self-employment income to them. The income represented petitioners’ distributive share of profits of a business conducted by a partnership of which they were, indirectly or directly, members. Petitioners were liable for self-employment tax on that income for the years at issue. More...
After Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont filed in April 2007 a bill entitled "Patent Reform Act of 2007," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona filed his own bill that he called "Patent Reform Act of 2008. More...
Following are Pdf Law Commentaries elaborating on the significance of the most important of the Pdf Law Summaries.
Commentary: In E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, Inc., 547 F.3d 1095 (9th Cir. 2008), the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals confirmed that when trademark rights clash with the First Amendment, the First Amendment usually wins – at least in cases involving artistic or creative endeavors. The court affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the creators and publishers of the Grand Theft Auto series of video games against the owner of a Los Angeles strip club who claimed that the game infringed on the club’s trademark and trade dress. Specifically, the court applied the Rogers v. Grimaldi two-prong analysis to find that the First Amendment protects the game’s use of the club’s mark in the face of a Lanham Act challenge. More...
Related summary: Ninth Circuit Dismisses Trademark Infringement Claim Against "Grand Theft Auto" Video Games Maker
Commentary: In a closely-watched decision, the California Supreme Court has confirmed California’s bright line prohibition against post-employment restrictions such as covenants not to compete. Edwards v. Arthur Anderson, 44 Cal. 4th 937 (Cal. 2008). The Court rejected the 9th Circuit’s deviations from this rule in which the 9th Circuit upheld “narrow restraints” on employment in California. The Court also held that employment contracts releasing “any and all” claims cannot by definition encompass nonwaivable statutory protections. More...
Related summary: CA Court Issues Ruling on Non-Compete Clauses and Other Employment Restraints in Edwards II Case
Commentary: In Guyden v. Aetna, 544 F.3d 376 (2nd Cir. 2008) – a case of first impression in the federal circuit courts -- the Second Circuit confirmed that arbitration provisions are enforceable against an employee who claims that her termination violated the whistleblower protections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The opinion confirms the federal court’s strong support of arbitration provisions, and provides some guidance for employers seeking to implement arbitration agreements. More...
Related summary: Whistleblower Claims Arbitrable under Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Second Circuit Says
Commentary: In an opinion seen as a major development in open source jurisprudence, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Jacobsen v. Katzer, 535 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2008), open source licenses create conditions on the scope of the license, and failure to comply with those conditions may constitute copyright infringement. More...
Related summary: Federal Circuit Holds That Open Source Code Licensors Are Entitled to Copyright Protection Governing Use of Code
Commentary: In Douglas Millowitz v. Citigroup Global Markets et al (“In Re Salomon Analyst Metromedia Litigation”), 544 F.3d 474 (2nd Cir. 2008), the Second Circuit extended the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance, first set forth in Basic v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), to analyst reports. The Court also stated that defendants should be afforded the opportunity to rebut that presumption at the class certification stage in an effort to prevent certification. The opinion may make it harder to pursue class actions in some securities fraud cases. More...
Related summary: Second Circuit Remands Metromedia Case, Rules that Liability Presumption Now Applies to Stock Analysts as Well
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ADA Regulation for Title II (pdf, 209kb)
ADA Standards for Accessible Design. (pdf, 4.6mb)
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (pdf, 96kb)
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (pdf, 167kb)
Civil Rights Act of 1991 (pdf, 57kb)
Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, as amended (pdf, 619kb)
Copyright Act of 1976 (pdf, 1.4mb)
Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004 (pdf, 102kb)
Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (pdf, 494kb)
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (pdf, 633kb)
Equal Pay Act of 1963 (pdf, 49kb)
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (pdf, 337kb)
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - Regulations (pdf, 52kb)
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - Statute (pdf, 124kb)
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (pdf, 422kb)
Intellectual Property Protection and Courts Amendments Act of 2004 (pdf, 72kb)
Internal Revenue Code (pdf, 16.8mb)
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (pdf, 131kb)
Investment Company Act of 1940 (pdf, 400kb)
Lanham Act of 1946 (pdf, 263kb)
Manual for Patent Examining Procedure (pdf, 56mb)
McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended (pdf, 408kb)
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, as amended (pdf, 194kb)
Patent Act (pdf, 1.4mb)
Patent Rules (pdf, 3.4mb)
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (pdf, 195kb)
Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004 (pdf, 3.7mb)
Securities Act of 1933 (pdf, 241kb)
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (pdf, 927kb)
Trademark Manual of Examination Procedure (pdf, 12mb)
Trademark Regulations (pdf, 734kb)
Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (pdf, 154kb)
Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, as amended (pdf, 62kb)
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