Recap of New(er) to In House Counsel Program

Alex Gwynn is a Black woman with black hair and brown eyes. She is wearing a red and white shirt, black glasses, and dark jacket.Clara CottrellBy Sheila Spence, Alexandria Gwynn, and Clara Cottrell

The New(er) to In House Counsel Program was held on Oct. 27 at the Bar Center. The purpose of the program was to provide firsthand experiences on what it’s like to work in house and to help those who are transitioning to in house within the first seven years of practice. Clara Cottrell opened the session with a warm welcome and opening remarks. Corporate Counsel Section Chair, Tammy Nicholson, spoke on the benefits of joining the section and upcoming events. Sheila Spence introduced the Knowledge Resource Committee and showed the participants how to access the available resources under the NCBA Community Page. Read more

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If You Can’t Find a Path to Follow, Make It

Collins, a person with short brown hair and glasses, wears a pale blue shirt and navy blue jacket.Drew, a white man with brown hair and a beard, wears a white shirt, plaid tie, and black suit.By Collins Saint and Drew Culler

We met on the first day of orientation in law school at Wake Forest when we were welcomed into Professor Garland’s 1B Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research (LAWR) course with talks of ducks and rabbits and the mysterious duck-rabbit. From there, we quickly became involved in OUTLaw, Wake’s LGBTQ+ law student group. By our 3L year, we were co-presidents and excited to continue working together as practitioners. We researched as best we could LGBTQ+ legal professional organizations and found a whopping zero options for us. That would not do. Read more

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Dear July Bar Examinee

Sarah, a white woman with dark brown hair, wears a white shirt and black jacket.By Sarah Spangenburg 

Dear July Bar Examinee,

You’re in the sweet spot . . . kind of. Law school graduation is quickly approaching, and the bar exam is still eight months away. Before you get too comfy though, we suggest you get started on the North Carolina Bar Application.

This application, which opened November 2, is unlike any you’ve completed before, and once you complete it, you may feel that the person reviewing your application will know you better than your own mother.

Fear not: the Bar Exam Committee of the North Carolina Bar Association Young Lawyers Division is here to help you with this process! Read more

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Transforming Transformative Use: A Synopsis of Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith

KimberMarie, a white woman with brown hair, wears a white shirt and green jacket and is smiling.By KimberMarie Faircloth

On October 12, 2022, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.(AWF) vs. Lynn Goldsmith, et al.[1] The main issue revolves around “transformative” use under the Copyright Act[2] and how transformative the work must be to be protected by the doctrine of Fair Use and not infringe another’s copyright.[3] In 1994, the Supreme Court considered a case regarding transformative use, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., in which the Court held that 2 Live Crew’s parody on Roy Orbison’s song, “Oh, Pretty Woman,” was protected under fair use and that the lower court erred in finding otherwise because they solely looked at the commercial nature without weighing the other fair use factors.[4] The Court also defined “transformative” as “add[ing] something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with [a] new expression, meaning, or message.”[5] The more a work transforms the original, the less the other fair use factors will weigh in the analysis because transforming a work emphasizes “the heart of the fair use doctrine’s guarantee of breathing space within the confines of copyright.”[6] Transformative use also came up in 2020 with Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., where the Court found Google’s use of a portion of code from the Sun Java API, a computer program using Java programming language, to be “new” and “transformative” enough to constitute fair use.[7] Read more

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Transferee Liability Under Section 6901

John, a white man with brown hair and blue eyes, wears a blue jacket, white shirt, and blue tie. By John G. Hodnette

In general, operating a business through an entity can provide limited liability in the event the entity is insolvent or goes out of business. Limited liability applies even to business taxes owed by an entity such as a C corporation. Some taxpayers have attempted to take advantage of that by causing a corporation to transfer to its shareholders assets that should be used to pay taxes. Such shareholders liquidate the corporation and ignore IRS attempts to collect. Absent Section 6901, the IRS might have no ability to collect the corporate taxes from the owners of the corporation.  However, Section 6901 imposes transferee liability on the owners of the business who received such assets. Read more

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Pro Bono Committee Update

By Sean, a white man with brown hair, wears glasses, a pale blue shirt and navy suit.Sean Vitrano 

Greetings and happy autumn from the Pro Bono Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section!

Our team has been busy organizing for another successful bar year, and we invite you to participate.

The Pro Bono Committee works to identify projects and programs that provide members of the Dispute Resolution Section meaningful opportunities to use their skills and training to serve the public; support the creation of new pro bono DR opportunities and programs; and encourage section members to engage in pro bono service.

Read more

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SOG Has Updated Its Collateral Consequences Tool – Check It Out

By Ann Wall

The School of Government has updated its Collateral Consequences tool and published an article on the Criminal Law Blog about what the update entails:

C-CAT 2.0 Is Here!

The tool is probably most often used by criminal law practitioners, but all administrative law practitioners should be aware of it:

1. Check its accuracy regarding collateral consequences and your department, agency, board or commission and let the SOG know if there are issues.

2. Consider using the tool to assess collateral consequences when thinking about negotiating settlements and penalties of administrative law cases affecting a licensee, permittee, registrant or client.

Here is how the article describes the most significant changes to the tool:

“The revised C-CAT addresses these needs and includes a complete overhaul of the tool’s search functions as well as a comprehensive update of the tool’s data. Users will also notice added features, such as the ability to bookmark repeated searches, a simpler interface for use on smart phones, and expanded resources linked from the tool, including the annual reports of occupational licensing boards’ treatment of people with a criminal history.”

 

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“The” Ohio State University and the Trademark Protection of Cultural Identity

By Andrew McClain Adams

College football season is upon us, and The Ohio State University is in the hunt for the playoffs. As good as they have been on the field, the school’s first win came before the season started. In June, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Ohio State an unusual trademark: the word “The.”

For those unfamiliar with Ohio State, the attempt to claim ownership of a definite article may seem absurd, but the word “The” holds a special place in the heart of Buckeyes everywhere. While it has been a part of the school’s name since 1878, the university made a push in the 1980s to emphasize the word “The” as part of the college’s brand and to distinguish it from other OSU colleges such as Oregon State University and Oklahoma State University.  Since then, the word has appeared on Ohio State merchandise, promotional materials, and is emphasized in the pre-game introductions of Buckeyes competing in professional sports. The school’s first application for the trademark was denied, since the USPTO was skeptical that the word was being used as an indication of source, but their second attempt was approved after demonstrating the sheer amount of marketing and advertising they had poured into creating a link between the word and the Ohio State brand.

Read more

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