MZA Legal 2024 Legal Wrap-up

MZA Legal 2024 Legal Wrap-Up

By: M. Zane Johnson, Esq.

We made it to the end of another year, and a celebration is in order!! 🥳🍾🥂

But before you start popping champagne, let’s make sure your business is ready to hit the ground running in 2025 with our end-of-year legal wrap-up. It includes essential reminders, updates, and tips to help you stay compliant and set yourself up for success. Let’s get into it!

The Corporate Transparency Act and BOI Reporting

BOI reporting was a hot topic throughout 2024, and with the r ecent injunction issued by a federal court in Texas blocking its enforcement, it looks like BOI reporting will remain a hot topic as we move into the new year. Here’s what you need to know:

What is BOI reporting? In case you haven’t been paying attention, the BOI (Beneficial Ownership Information) report is a new requirement imposed on business entities under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Essentially, the BOI report is a questionnaire designed to collect information about the owners of corporate entities.
Who does BOI reporting apply to? Under the rules issued by FinCEN, business entities (e.g., LLCs, corporations) registered to do business in the U.S. are required to report. There are exceptions for larger companies with equivalent reporting requirements in place (e.g., publicly traded companies). However, there’s no exception for small businesses
What’s the deal with this injunction? Several cases have been filed across the country to block the BOI reporting requirement. Earlier this month, a federal district court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting FinCEN from enforcing it.
What does this mean for me? The case in Texas is still being litigated, so the injunction is temporary, not permanent. Until the case is decided—or the requirement is repealed—we won’t know whether BOI reporting is gone for good. What we do know is that while the injunction is in place, FinCEN cannot enforce the BOI reporting requirement. For now, there are no legal consequences for not filing. However, that could change depending on the outcome of this case. If you want to play it safe, you can still file your BOI report to ensure you’re covered no matter what happens.

USPTO Increasing Trademark Fees

With an influx of applications over the past few years, the USPTO has decided to increase some of its fees to provide “sufficient resources to administer the U.S. trademark system.” These price increases will go into effect on January 18th, 2025. Here’s what this means for you:

First and foremost, the cost of filing an application will increase by $100 per class (from $250 to $350). This fee hike will be more significant for those who want to protect their trademark in multiple classes. (Here’s an explanation of trademark classes if you’re unfamiliar.) The USPTO is also increasing the fees for filing a statement of use, which impacts those who file under the 1(b) intent-to-use basis.

Not only will the initial application fee increase, but new fees have been added for not including sufficient information in your application ($100 per class) and for using the freeform textbox to describe goods instead of choosing from the Trademark ID Manual. Fees for trademark maintenance documents are also increasing.

What does this mean for you? If you’ve been thinking about applying for a trademark, filing before January 18th could save you a few hundred dollars. These changes also mean that mistakes on your initial application will be more costly to fix than before.

Pennsylvania’s New Annual Reporting Requirement

Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not currently have an annual reporting requirement for its LLCs. That will change in 2025.

Starting next year, LLCs, corporations, and other business entities registered in Pennsylvania will be required to file an annual report with the Secretary of State. Business entities will need to provide the following information:

Business name
Jurisdiction of formation
Registered office address
Name of at least one governor (director, member, partner, etc., depending on the entity type)
Names and titles of principal officers, if any
Address of the principal office
Entity number issued by the Pennsylvania Department of State

The annual report can be filed by searching for your business entity on the Department of State’s business filing website and clicking the “File Annual Report” icon. There’s a $7 filing fee (nonprofits are exempt), and you’ll receive your filed report electronically.

Reporting deadlines vary based on the type of business entity:

Corporations: June 30th
LLCs: September 30th
All other entities and associations: December 31st

The consequences of non-compliance won’t go into effect until 2027, but they’re steep. Entities that fail to comply will face administrative dissolution, termination, or cancellation. Add this requirement to your annual calendar now to avoid any surprises!

AI’s Impact on Copyright Law

AI is transforming the world of business. Because of its ability to help bring ideas to life, AI is also having a major impact on copyright law. Reminder: copyrights protect creative works of authorship—books, music, art, designs, poems, scripts, etc.

AI raises two major questions for copyrights:

Can something created using AI be eligible for copyright protection?
Does AI-generated content infringe upon copyrighted works used to train the AI system?

While we’re still far from concrete answers, a few court decisions in 2024 offered hints about how courts might approach these issues moving forward.

If you want to dive deeper, here are three resources to check out:

New State Privacy Laws

If you have a website or app but haven’t posted an online privacy policy, make that a priority in 2025.

According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals, comprehensive data privacy laws will go into effect in eight states in 2025, including New Jersey. Another three states will follow in 2026. These laws join existing statutes in seven states (California’s being the most well-established).

Most U.S. state privacy laws have thresholds exempting small and micro businesses. Generally, if you don’t:

Sell consumer data,
Process data for 10,000+ residents in a state, or
Generate $25 million+ in annual revenue,

the laws likely won’t apply to you. However, every business should:

Understand what information your website collects, stores, and shares.
Have an accurate, customized online privacy policy.

Beware: An inaccurate policy can expose you to lawsuits for breach of contract.

Non-Compete Agreements

Earlier this year, the FTC issued a rule banning most non-compete agreements. However, a federal court in Texas issued an injunction preventing enforcement. So where do things stand?

The rule is still on the books, but the injunction means the FTC cannot enforce it while the case works its way through the courts.

Ultimately, I think the FTC’s attempt to ban non-competes will be unsuccessful. The incoming Trump administration will likely take a different stance on this issue, and the FTC is likely to shift focus over the next four years.

That said, courts tend to disfavor non-competes in general. So if you are using them to protect your business’s competitive advantage, make sure you consult an attorney for advice.

Something Big is Brewing at MZA Legal ☕

Congratulations to all the business owners and professional freelancers who made it through another year! And cheers to all the successes that await you in the new year! Since 2020, MZA Legal has been here to support your business aspirations. And in 2025, we’re taking it up a notch.

We’ve been cooking up something special, and it’s almost ready to serve. In just a few weeks, we’ll be unveiling a brand-new resource designed to make managing the legal aspects of your business simpler, smarter, and more accessible than ever before. Think tools, templates, and real-time support—all under one virtual roof. So stay tuned!

Want early access? Join our email list to be the first to know when it drops—and get a front-row seat to this game-changing launch.