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A Breakdown of Fair Use

Is your small business trying to spruce up your website by adding some new pictures? Want to raise money for your nonprofit by hosting a community movie night? Trying to update your marketing materials with a brand-new promotional video with cool background music? If so, you could be opening yourself up to potential copyright lawsuits and should read up on the doctrine of fair use! An important aspect of starting a small business or nonprofit is exposure, and as organizations work to market themselves and increase awareness of their goals and activities in the communities they serve, they could open themselves up to legal danger. Litigation is expensive, and the cost can be especially devastating to small businesses and nonprofits. In all promotional or informational materials (including brochures, flyers, websites, etc.), organizations need to be sure that they are legally protected from copyright infringement claims.   What is Fair Use? Fair use is a legal doctrine that per...
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BIPOC Executive Leadership Representation in Nonprofits

  Halloween has already passed, but as a lowly law student with arithmophobia, I feel compelled to provide you all with some spooky statistics in November. It is no secret that the upper ranks of America’s professional workforce have a diversity problem, and in particular, a racial diversity problem. Unfortunately, this remains true in the nonprofit sector: -           Studies have shown that just 20% of nonprofit executive directors and CEOs are people of color, and 66% of nonprofit Board members are white. [1] -           Another study reported that between July 2019 and January 2024, “ 47% of all staff… 70% of CEOs/Executive Directors (EDs)... as well as 66% of Board members identify as white.” [2] Compare these figures with the general population per USAFacts: over 40% of the U.S. population identified as non-white in 2023, a figure that has grown over 17% since 1990. [3] ...
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Michigan Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C): Mixing Social Impact and Profit

              Given the variety of legal structures, it is essential to pick the one that is best for your business and the goals you’ve laid out for them. And, in this age of conscious consumerism, businesses have looked towards merging both societal benefit and profit. [1] With that in mind, businesses are looking towards the sort of entity forms that provide a structure to achieve this dual-pronged purpose. One such entity in particular that has gathered attention is the relatively new statutory business entity the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) . [2] An L3C is considered an entity for entrepreneurs who “value purpose and profits,” and is intended to provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to form an entity that caters to both these goals. [3] The L3C is the states’ response to the demand of a growing number of social entrepreneurs that seek to combine the financial benefits of a traditional for-profit entity with the social benefi...
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