2 Peer or Not 2 Peer? A Question of Whether Your Employees are Illegally Sharing Music

Exit Strategy for the Poorly Performing Charitable Remainder Trust

2 Peer or Not 2 Peer?
A Question of Whether Your Employees are Illegally Sharing Music

The onslaught of copyright enforcement lawsuits brought against individuals by the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) has garnered a great deal of media attention in both household and business publications and reports, and has given business owners reason to be alarmed.  In a recent ruling which similarly generated media attention, the Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit found that the RIAA cannot compel Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reveal the identities of Internet users suspected of peer to peer file sharing.  Instead, the court reasoned that the subpoena power under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applies only to situations where users are storing infringing content on the ISP servers.  The media buzz, of course, has prompted many to wonder how this affects their business.

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HSAs Provide New Health Funding Opportunity

On December 8, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (the Act).  One exciting feature of the Act is its addition to the Internal Revenue Code of a new section that authorizes certain individuals to establish health savings accounts (HSAs).  HSAs are tax-favored vehicles that, beginning on January 1, 2004, certain individuals may use to set aside money for the payment of out-of-pocket medical expenses. 

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CAN-SPAM or Not?

The Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 became effective January 1, 2004.  The Act was heralded by some as a triumph for those e-mail users whose in-boxes are deluged with unwanted e-mail solicitations commonly known as "spam."  Critics suggest the Act is overly burdensome on businesses.  Proponents of the Act suggest it will result in a net savings given the cost of managing and filtering unwanted e-mails.  Regardless, the result could be harder for legitimate businesses to digest than a box full of spam.

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New and Improved Medicine Law

Signed into law on December 8, 2003, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (the "Act") has been called the largest overhaul to the Medicare Program since its inception nearly 40 years ago.  In addition to establishing a voluntary prescription drug benefit, the Act provides for prescription discount drug cards, creates health care savings accounts, and places a moratorium on new specialty hospitals.

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Exit Strategy for the Poorly Performing Charitable Remainder Trust

In the last decade, many donors established charitable remainder trusts from which the donor expected to receive an annual payment.  As investment returns have declined, however, the annual payments from charitable remainder trusts have fallen dramatically, with little or no hope that the shortfall will ever be made up.  Now, in a series of private rulings, the IRS seems to be offering an escape tactic by allowing the early termination of charitable remainder trusts.

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