Intellectual Property: Trademark Fees To Increase January 10, 2000. Effective January 10, 2000, the filing fee for a Federal Trademark Application for Registration will increase from $245 to $325. All other fees, including those for Extensions for Filing a Statement of Use, Renewals and Objections will also increase. If you are contemplating applying for Federal Trademark Registration, contact us as soon as possible to apply before the price increase.
Intellectual Property: Long Dot Com Names Going Fast. When Network Solution's exclusive government contract to register domain names ended, so did its 26-character limitation. Competitors have been registering domain names up to 67 characters long, packed with keywords and hyphens to attract search engines. For example, a cellular phone company might want to register "CellPhone-CellularAccessories-CellularBatteries.com." If you have an idea for a long domain name for your business, register it now.
Federal: Tax Credit for Research and Development Renewed. With President Clinton's signing of the Tax Relief Extension Act of 1999, Public Law 106-170, http://thomas.loc.gov/ (which was attached to an unrelated disabilities bill HR 1180), the business tax credit for Research and Development which had expired on June 30, 1999, was renewed and extended through June 30, 2004. The credit equals about 20% of qualified research expenses, and extends, for the first time, to companies located in Puerto Rico.
International: Saskatchewan Adopts E-Commerce Law. Hoping to promote e-commerce in Canada, Saskatchewan, the first Canadian province to do so, has enacted the Electronic Information and Documents Act http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/ . "Anything we can do to encourage electronic commerce is important," Justice Minister Chris Axworthy said.
New Illinois Legislation: Automatic Renewal of Contract. Senate Bill 1085 (Philip, R-Addison; DeLeo, D-Chicago), creates the Automatic Contract Renewal Act," which requires that automatic renewal clauses appearing in a contract must be "clear and conspicuous" (changed from 14-point type). http://imsweb.state.il.us/scripts/imstran.exe?LIBSINCWSB1085. If a contract does not comply with the Act, the automatic renewal provisions are not enforceable by the party preparing the contract. Federal, State, and local government units and school districts are exempt from the provisions of the Act. Effective upon the Governor's certification of amendatory vetoes, now believed to be June 1, 2000, the Act's application will be prospective only.
State Senator Wants to Tax Internet Purchases. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state could not require out-of-state companies with no retail stores in that state to collect sales tax on its sales to their residents, saying it would impose an undue burden on interstate commerce. But with the boom in e-commerce, some legislators are trying to change that rule. Speaking before the federal Congressional Advisory Panel studying Internet commerce tax, Illinois State Senator Steven Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) has been promoting a plan which would have third party companies calculate and collect the sales tax on items sold by out-of-state companies over the Internet or through the mail. The Advisory Panel is to make its recommendation to Congress in April.
Farmers & Related Businesses Face Tough Year Ahead. American farmers and the companies that sell them seed, chemicals and equipment face hard economic times in the year ahead. Market demand for farm equipment has fallen by 40 percent in the past 12 months, and there is even less demand for such big-ticket items as combines. The combination of bountiful harvests worldwide, with the economic collapse of the Asian markets means that supply is high, while demand is low, forcing prices downward. And the trend of corporate agribusiness and consolidation continues, giving a few large agribusinesses more power to set prices. Genetically modified crops, which were to rejuvenate the farm economy, have instead met with public controversy and increased costs. Look for a farm support bill from Washington in the coming year.
Photographers Claim Copyright, Sue K-Mart. Under Federal Copyright laws, a professional photographer or studio usually owns the copyright on a picture it has taken. Customers own the prints they buy, but not the right to make reprints without written permission of the photographer. For years, photographers have taken photographs for K-Mart customers, and K-Mart has sold the reprints. Now, however, the Professional Photographers of America has sued, claiming copyright infringement on behalf of its members, and also saying that the retailing giant has no right to sell reprints of the photos. They've asked for more than $600,000 in damages, plus an injunction, an order prohibiting K-Mart from selling reprints in the future.
IRS Will Waive Penalties and Interest for Y2K Tax Problems. If a Taxpayer finds he cannot comply with the tax laws due to a legitimate Y2K computer glitch, the Internal Revenue Service promises it will waive penalties and interest for late payment. However, the Commissioner warned, the Taxpayer must make a reasonable effort to comply with the tax law. For information on how to file your 941's online, go to http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/. Incidentally, the IRS reminds you that there are only 106 days until April 15th!
Y2K: So Far, So good; And the Best is Yet to Come. After all that preparation, after all that spending, the Year 2000 arrived across the globe with only minor glitches. Some say the real test will be Monday morning when businesses open across the world. Even so, it is expected that if we made it through 01.01.00, then 01.03.00 will be a piece of cake. Money wasted? Hardly. Even if no major problems arise, the money was well spent. All across the world, small businesses have upgraded their computer equipment in unprecedented numbers all at the same time, and now we're roaring into the 21st Century. Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.