Starting in January 2024, your small business might be obligated to disclose ownership details to the government as a result of the implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), passed in 2021, seeks to address illicit activities such as tax fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing by increasing the collection of ownership information from specific U.S. businesses engaged in or interacting with the domestic market. According to the new law, businesses meeting specific criteria are required to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Information gathered by FinCEN will populate a national registry containing business formation documents filed with state-level business regulatory offices. Brand owners failing to comply with CTA reporting requirements could face civil penalties and potentially criminal prosecution.

What Businesses Are Required to Comply With the CTA?

In short, the CTA applies to companies in the United States with twenty or fewer full-time employees, formed through the submission of paperwork to the Secretary of State or a similar state-level entity.

This mainly applies to corporations and limited liability companies. But in several states, limited partnerships, professional associations, cooperatives, real estate investment trusts, and trusts are also required to file business formation documents that must be filled with the Treasury Department under the terms of the CTA. Non-US companies registered to operate in the United States must also submit applicable reporting documentation.

What Business Formation Details Must Be Reported Under the CTA?

Qualifying business must submit three key pieces of reporting information:

The Company Name and any applicable DBAs, the address of its principal place of business, state of formation, and taxpayer identification number. The Beneficial Owner’s* full legal name, date of birth, and residential address, along with an identification number from a driver’s license, passport, or other state-issued identification (ID), and a copy of the corresponding ID. A Beneficial Owner is defined as an individual who exercises “substantial control” over the reporting company or holds at least a 25% stake in the business. Senior officers, directors, and stakeholders responsible for making “significant business decisions” likely qualify as “beneficial owners.” The Company Applicant’s* full legal name, date of birth, and residential address, along with an identification number from a driver’s license, passport, or other state-issued identification (ID), and a copy of the corresponding ID. A Company Applicant is defined as anyone who works for a business formation service or law firm and may include accountants or lawyers if they file documents that create or register a reporting company on behalf of a third party.

What’s The Timeline For CTA Document Filing?

Businesses formed before January 1, 2024, have until January 1, 2025, to complete their CTA registration.

Moving forward, businesses formed after January 1, 2024, will have 90 days to complete their CTA registration.

What Are The Penalties For Failing to Submit CTA Documentation?

Business owners who fail to provide documentation or knowingly submit incorrect information can face civil penalties of up to $500 per day. These fines are capped at $10,000 and prisons sentence of up to two years. If you unintentionally submit incorrect information, you can avoid fines and jail time if you submit corrected information within 90 days.

Concerned About CTA Compliance?

Carbon Law Group can help!

If this is the first you’ve heard of the Corporate Transparency Act, you likely have questions about compliance requirements, what materials need to be provided, and how to file necessary documentation.

Don’t worry, Carbon Law Group is here to help! We’re experts in the new CTA requirements. Our Done For You Compliance Services will determine if your business is subject to CTA regulations, gather the necessary data, and submit your compliance package to the FinCEN on your behalf.

Connect with Us: https://carbonlg.com/about-us/#info

Website: carbonlg.com

Connect with Pankaj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pankaj-raval/

Connect with Sahil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahil-chaudry-6047305/

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Your trademarks are essential assets of your business that help you distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors. Protecting your trademark rights does not end with obtaining a federal trademark registration. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) does not take actions on behalf of trademark owners to monitor or enforce trademark rights. It is the trademark owners’ responsibility to detect potential infringements and unauthorized uses of their trademarks and take action to enforce their trademark rights. Enforcing your trademark rights is critical to protecting your brand’s reputation and goodwill.

Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark or service mark on or in connection with goods and/or services in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods and/or services. A trademark watch service is a monitoring service that helps businesses protect their trademarks by detecting potential infringements and unauthorized uses. The trademark watch service monitors various sources, including the USPTO trademark registries, domain names, social media, and online marketplaces, to identify potential threats to a business’s trademark. If a potential infringement is detected, the business is alerted, giving them the opportunity to take action to protect their trademark.

The importance of trademark watch service cannot be overstated, and here are some reasons why:

1. Protecting your brand reputation and goodwill: A trademark watch service helps protect your brand by detecting potential infringements and unauthorized uses and allows you to take action to prevent damages to your brand’s reputation and goodwill.
2. Early detection of potential infringements: A trademark watch service can detect potential infringements early at the onset of infringing activities, giving you the opportunity to take swift action to protect your trademarks, before more costly legal action becomes necessary and before the infringer invest significantly into the infringing brand. This can save you time, money, and resources in legal battles that can arise from trademark infringement.
3. Peace of mind: A trademark watch service provides businesses with peace of mind, knowing that their trademarks are being monitored and protected. This can help businesses focus on their core activities without worrying about potential threats to their trademarks.

Carbon Law is excited to announce the launch of our new trademark watch service, which will help you protect your valuable trademarks from infringement and unauthorized uses. 

With our new trademark watch service, you can rest assured that your brand is being monitored and safeguarded against potential threats. Our team of experienced attorneys will monitor your trademarks for any potentially infringing activity and alert you promptly of any concerns.

Our new service includes three convenient plans based on your budget and the importance of monitoring your mark:

For a limited time, we are offering a 20% discount on our trademark watch service to the first 20 new customers who sign up before October 31, 2025, by using the code TM20. This is a great chance to try out our service and see how it can help you protect your valuable trademarks.

Secure your discount today by scheduling a consultation

The post Introducing Carbon Law’s New Trademark Watch Service appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

The new year is upon us, and if you’re running a business, make sure you are prepared for new laws that will impact your business. In California, the new calendar year also means a fleet of new laws and regulations that go into effect. 2023 is no exception. Here are some new laws that may affect your California business:

1. Assembly Bill 1041 adds a “designated person” to the list of existing permitted family members that an employee can take off time to care for under the California Family Rights Act.
2. Senate Bill 1162 requires companies that employ at least 15 people to include salary ranges in all job postings and provide them to existing employees upon request.  The California Labor Commissioner can issue fines of as much as $10,000 for failure to comply.
3. California raised its minimum wage to $15.50 on January 1st, applying it to all employers, regardless of size. The half-dollar boost resulted from a 2016 law that mandated inflation-related adjustments.
4. Under Assembly Bill 1949, California employers with 5 or more workers must allow them up to 5 days of unpaid, job-protected leave upon the death of a close family member, including a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.

The post <strong>Notable New Laws Affecting California Businesses in 2023</strong> appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

The complaint details an elaborate alleged conspiracy, engineered by Hollywood’s elite talent manager Guy Oseary, to boost the value of Bored Apes with celebrity promotions—all while secretly enriching all involved via a covert payments scheme laundered through a prominent crypto-trading company MoonPay. “Defendants’ promotional campaign was wildly successful, generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales . . . The manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions . . . were able to artificially increase the interest in and price of the BAYC NFTs . . . causing investors to purchase these losing investments at drastically inflated prices,” the complaint reads.

This situation serves as a cautionary tale for celebrities/influencers. It is essential for celebrities/influencers to be cautious about the companies they endorse and make sure they are complying with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s endorsement guidelines. The FTC is a federal agency that is responsible for protecting consumers from fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices. In the case of celebrity endorsements of NFTs, the FTC has specific rules that celebrities must follow in order to avoid misleading consumers. According to the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, celebrities must disclose any material connections they have with a company or product that they are promoting. This means that if a celebrity is being paid to promote an NFT, they must disclose that fact to consumers. And, if a celebrity accepted a free NFT in exchange for promoting it, the celebrity is also required to clearly and conspicuously disclose such a material connection. The same rule applies to celebrities/influencers that get paid to promote products and services. Additionally, the endorsement must reflect the celebrity’s honest opinion and must not be misleading. This means that celebrities cannot make false or exaggerated claims about the NFTs they are promoting. If a celebrity violates the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, they could face legal action from the FTC and/or consumers who were misled by their endorsement.

If an influencer or a celebrity promotes an NFT that turns out to be a fraudulent investment, they could potentially be held liable for any losses suffered by consumers who relied on their endorsement. In such a case, the celebrity or influencer could be sued by the affected consumers.

Therefore, it is important for celebrities and influencers to be transparent and honest about their endorsements and to make sure they are not promoting products that are fraudulent or deceptive to avoid unwanted legal consequences.

The post Celebrities Are Being Sued for Promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

What consumer “personal information” is protected by CCPA? 

CCPA takes a broader view than the GDPR of what constitutes “personal information.” CCPA defines “personal information” to include “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” The words “relates” or “reasonably capable of being associated with/linked” open up a very large class of non-traditional personal identifiers, that goes beyond name, address, social security number, to include information such as email address, online social media handles, IP addresses, biometric information, geolocation data, browsing, and search history.

Who needs to comply to CCPA?

Companies that meet the following criteria  must adapt their privacy policies and reporting to CCPA’s requirements: 

1. companies that serve or hire California residents;
2. have $25 million or more in annual revenue; 
3. possess the personal data of more than 50,000 “consumers, households, or devices;” or
4. earn more than half of its annual revenue selling consumers’ personal data.

What protection does CCPA give to consumers? 

The CCPA gives California residents the following rights:

1. to know what personal information is being collected about them;
2. to know whether their personal information is sold or disclosed and to whom;
3. to say no to the sale of personal information;
4. to access their personal information;
5. to equal service and price, even if they exercise their privacy rights;

The CCPA provides California residents with a right to be informed of the categories of personal information that a business collects or otherwise receives, like smartphone locations or voice recordings, that a company has on them sells or discloses about them; the sources of that data; the purposes for these activities; and the categories of parties to which their personal information is disclosed. CCPA also grants California consumers the right to request detailed information about the personal information a business holds specifically about them, which may include detailed logs of a person’s online activities, physical locations, ride-hailing routes, biometric facial data, ad-targeting data, and the right to obtain portable copies of their personal information from the business. CCPA also gives California consumers the right to prohibit a business from selling their personal information, and to request that a business delete their personal information.

When will enforcement start? 

The CCPA took effect in California on January 1, 2020, with a six months grace period before enforcement of the law begins. Starting in July 2020, offenses of the CCPA will be assessed with fines. 

Does compliance with GDPR ensure compliance of CCPA? 

No. The CCPA and the EU’s GDPR do not share some same key requirements. Compliance with one does not imply or guarantee compliance with the other. The scopes, definitions, and requirements of the CCPA and the GDPR are different. 

What to do if you think a business is misusing your personal information under the CCPA?

Starting July 2020, California consumers may bring a legal action for statutory damages ranging from $100 to $750 per violation or actual damages, whichever is greater. The California Attorney General may bring actions for civil penalties of $2,500 per violation, or up to $7,500 per violation if intentional. No actual damage or specific evidence of identity theft is required. A CCPA plaintiff must inform the California Attorney General of the situation within 30 days of filing a CCPA lawsuit. The California Attorney General is the sole individual who has the power to delay or block such individual litigation under the CCPA. 

Find out how Carbon Law Group can help you prepare for CCPA compliance by scheduling a meeting with us using this link.

The post 6 things to know about the New California Privacy Law – California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

In determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, courts in California generally apply the common law test under which the employer’s right to control the manner and means by which the employee’s work is accomplished, rather than the amount of control actually exercised, is the principal factor in assessing whether a plaintiff is an employee or an independent contractor.

On September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 (“AB5”) into law. Thus, California businesses will soon face new challenges in their use of independent contractors. AB5 raised the bar for companies that otherwise might rely on freelance or contract workers. The new law establishes stricter criteria, known as the “ABC test”, to maintain a worker as an independent contractor. Specifically, a business must prove that:

1. The worker is free from the company’s control.
2. The duties performed by the worker are not central to the company’s core business.
3. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established business, trade, or industry.

Workers that do not satisfy all three criteria will be reclassified as employees, which could allow them to start earning a minimum wage and qualify for overtime pay, paid sick leave, and health insurance benefits.

AB5 is landmark legislation for gig economy workers and employers in California. Yet, the passing of AB5 does not mean that gig economy workers in California who were categorized as independent contractors are now automatically employees. They will still need to challenge their employers in court to apply the ABC test and reclassify them. 

If you need help with your questions about employee and independent contractor categorization, feel free to schedule a consultation with an attorney using this link or calling our office at 323.543.4453.

The post Changes to Independent Contractor Classifications You Need to Know appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

Here are three takeaways that could benefit your brand strategy:

1. International trademarks are more important than ever. 

The world is becoming more global and not thinking about a global trademark strategy for your company early on can spell disaster as you expand into international markets. It is important to not only think about clearance but transliteration and translation issues.  You don’t want to be in a position where your name translates into an offensive term in a foreign country, e.g., “Turn it Loose”, a slogan by beer maker Coors, can mean “get loose bowels/diarrhea” in Spanish.

2. The Supreme Court validated the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Many practitioners don’t always give TTAB hearings much importance because it was unclear how much power the governing body had over trademark disputes. Well, this year the Supreme Court B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc., decided that TTAB decisions related to likelihood of confusion would be binding on federal court litigation. This means a decision by the TTAB concerning likelihood of confusion could not be relitigated in the federal courts.  Therefore, TTAB decisions just got a whole lot more important!

3. Fashion and technology is creating some interesting trademark questions

“Wearables” are everywhere.  With joint collaborations between Tory Burch and Fitbit to Nike and other apparel companies redefining themselves with technology, the joint projects between fashion brands and technology companies are creating some unique issues in trademark registrations. Some of the important questions raised at our table topic discussion on the subject were: (a) How should co-branding be handled? (b) Should you have joint ownership of new brands created by two different companies? (c) Who has enforcement and decision-making rights with co-branding? These were all questions no one had an answer to but will surely require competent counsel to help guide companies engaging in such ventures.

The post INTA 2015 Recap appeared first on Carbon Law Group.

Until then, please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve the website or services. We are here for you.  Our main interest is to provide you with the best service possible.

Sincerely,

Pankaj

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