It’s easy to forget during a relatively sleepy primary (though it’s not a sleepy primary for the candidates!):
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Election Day, May 18, 2010: Turn in Your Ballots!
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Public Domain and those “Can I Copyright a ‘PowerPoint’ Presentation?’ Questions
Public Domain:
Just when you think you figured out when a document was in the public domain, and no longer copyrighted, your instincts tell you to keep searching. From the May 8, 2010, LibraryLaw blog: The search for the oldest copyrighted work in the U.S. goes on…
Excerpt: “I knew when I wrote my post speculating as to what is the oldest work still protected by copyright in the U.S. that I was likely to get it wrong. Copyright is just too complicated for anyone to get right the first time around…
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Oregon Law of the (Searched and Seized) Purse
The Oregon Supreme Court has decided State v. Morgan (CA A134236; SC S057279)
Excerpt: “This is a criminal case in which defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of heroin, ORS 475.854,(1) which a police officer discovered in defendant’s purse. Defendant reached into the purse after the officer indicated that he needed to search it for weapons. The officer, concerned that defendant was reaching for a weapon, seized the purse and saw drug paraphernalia inside it. The trial court refused to suppress the evidence found in the purse, and a divided panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed. We allowed defendant’s petition for review and now affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the trial court….” (Link to full case.)
May 13, 2010, Oregon Supreme Court Media Release
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Unclaimed Property: A Career Choice?
Every once in a while people ask us about jobs as unclaimed-property brokers.
(Note: As for tracking down your own “unclaimed-property” — you can do that yourself. The “National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators” (NAUPA) and their state affiliates offer these exact same searching services free. These are government offices, not private businesses. They link you to state and federal government offices that will search for you for no charge.)
There are private businesses that offer, for a fee, to search for unclaimed property, but I’m not sure they have a specific name, job title, or occupational heading. I have heard them called unclaimed-property brokers or asset recovery businesses, but there may be others. These businesses may work with attorneys, debt collectors, law enforcement, or private investigators, among others.
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Small Claims Court: Is (Self) Help on the Way?
Anyone who works within the Small Claims Court world appreciates it, but also knows it has a long way to go to be really (self) helpful. In Oregon, for example, self-help litigants could use:
1) Assistance preparing for Small Claims Court
2) Assistance writing demand letters
3) Assistance or advice also with post-judgment collection procedures
I’ve blogged before about Oregon Small Claims Courts so won’t repeat myself, but read the announcement from HALT:
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What to keep in your employee files: A small law firm’s guide
Jim Calloway blogs about and links to his guide: “What to keep in your employee files: A small law firm’s guide”
Link to Jim’s homepage for more law practice tips.
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Read All About It, Oregon: Government Documents News
Read All About It, Oregon: Government Documents News
“Read All About It, Oregon, is a service of the Oregon Documents Depository Program and the Oregon State Library. The blog’s goal is to provide easy access to Oregon state government documents that are in the news, or relevant to current news topics….” (Link to blog.)
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HIPAA and HITECH: Medical / Health Record Privacy Laws
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17 (plus 6) Things to Do When Your Loved One Dies
An Oregon lawyer blogger has this daunting, but useful list:
What to do when your loved one dies
Thank you to Candice Aiston for the blog post and to Justia Blawgsearch for its easy Oregon blawg search capabilities.
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Important Tax Law Reminders for Nonprofits
Oregon nonprofits on the free TACS mailing list may already know this, but if not, here’s a reminder from the IRS about tax exempt organizations:
Excerpt: “…The Internal Revenue Service today reminded tax-exempt organizations to make sure they file their annual information form on time. In 2010 the tax-exempt status of any non-profit that has not filed the required form in the last three years will be revoked.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires that non-profit organizations that do not file a required information form for three consecutive years automatically lose their Federal tax-exempt status. This requirement has been in effect since the beginning of 2007.