1. That Law Doesn’t Apply To
Me, Does It?
Cayce Myers, Ph.D., LL.M., J.D., APR
Virginia Tech
mcmyers@vt.edu
@CayceMyers

2. Overview of Presentation
• Common Legal Issues Facing Religious
Organizations
• Intellectual Property
• Social Media
• Privacy

3. Legally what is a Church?
• U.S. provides a broad definition of church
• 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is determined by the following factors by the IRS
• Distinct legal existence
• Recognized creed and form of worship
• Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
• Formal code of doctrine and discipline
• Distinct religious history
• Membership not associated with any other church or denomination
• Organization of ordained ministers
• Ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study
• Literature of ist own
• Established places of worship
• Regular congregations
• Regular religious services
• Sunday schools for the religious instruction of the young
• Schools for the preparation of ist members
• Source: Publication 1928, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Orgnaizations

4. So…what about liability?
• There is no common law charitably immunity
• Some states recognized immunity for charitable
organizations, which protects churches from
negligence
• Volunteer Protection Act of 1997: provides immunity
to volunteers who are acting in the scope of their
volunteer responsibilities
• NOTE: these immunities are really set up for
tortious issues, e.g. slip and fall cases.

5. Limitation of Legal
Intervention
• Civil Courts will not enter into disputes based on
ecclesiastical issues (known as abstention doctrine)
• Rooted in First Amendment protection of religion
• Courts can result church disputes if the dispute can be
resolved using neutral laws
• What the “law” is during these disputes frequently
looks at:
• Church policies/guidelines
• Ecclesiastical doctrine
• Membership

6. Common Issues Facing Religious
Organizations
• Premises liability
• Employment issues with church staff
• Estate issues
• Counseling
• Fundraising/Securities
• Liability of Church Leaders

7. Liability in Religious
Organizations
• Church Leader Liability Can Extend to Multiple
Situations
• Tort Liability
• Intellectual Property Infringement
• Employment Lawsuits
Many of these liability issues are addressed by religious
organizations with insurance policies, and by
organizational structure.

8. Intellectual Property
• Copyright
• Trademark
• Trade Dress
• Patent
• Trade Secrets

9. Copyright Definition
• Original work: very low standard but cannot be “scene
of faire” such as the idea of the villain or hero.
Remember that copyright originality means that you can
have a strong or weak copyright.
• Fixed in a tangible medium: this means the concept
cannot just exist in your mind. It has to be put down on
paper, in film, on a tape recorder, in digital form.
Something that makes its permanent. That doesn’t mean
the tangible medium cannot ever disintegrate (like rotting
paper) it just means the concept needs to be put down
somewhere.

10. Copyright Rights
• Reproduction rights
• Derivative works
• Distribution
• Performance
• Display
• Digital Display

11. What Can Be
Copyrighted?
• Literary works
• Musical works
• Dramatic works
• Pantomime and choreographic works
• Pictorial works
• Graphic Works
• Sculptural Works
• Motion Pictures
• Audio Recordings
• Architecture
Source: Source: 17 U.S.C. §102(a)(1)-((8)

12. What Cannot be
Copyrighted?
“any idea, procedure, process, system, method of
operation, concept principle, or discovery, regardless
of the form in which it is described, explained,
illustrated, or embodied in such work.”
Source: 17 U.S.C. §102(b)

13. Copyright Duration
Duration depends upon these formalities in these
statutes
• 1909 Statute
• 1976 Statute

14. Public Domain
• Duration of modern copyright post-1978 is Life of the
author plus 70 years. This is from the 1976 Copyright
Act.
• Duration of copyrighted material with no author/work for
hire is 120 years from creation or 95 from publication.
• Pre 1976 copyrighted material have two types of
duration. Under 1909 Act the duration was 28 years and
then another 28 years if the copyright holder filed a
renewal. If the copyright holder was still under their first
28 years in 1976 their renewal was for an additional 67
years.
• Works prior to 1923 are in public domain and have no
federal copyright protection.

15. Special Issues for
Churches
• Copyright of worship leaders’ sermons can present a
complex issue of ownership
• Is the sermon a work for hire? Meaning the church
owns the sermon. These are “charitable assets.”
• Is the sermon’s rights retained by the worship leader?
Royalties from copyrighted sermons or music can be a
significant revenue. If worship leader uses church
assistance to profit from his or her personal copyright of
the material then inurement issues may arise, which can
affect non-profit status.

16. Copyright Infringement
• The elements for copyright infringement are:
• The plaintiff owns the copyrighted work
• The defendant (infringer) had access to the plaintiff’s
work (this can be proved by how popular a work is)
• The two works are substantially similar.
• In an infringement suit there are both damages that can
be sough and impoundment (seizing the infringing
materials) and disposition (destruction of infringing
materials). The court can also make a defendant cease
his or her manufacture or distribution of their materials.

17. Defenses to Infringement
• Innocent infringement
• Statute of limitations
• License
• Fair Use

18. Fair Use
• The purpose and character of the use/it this non-
profit or commercial use?
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• How much of the copyrighted work was used
• The effect of this use on the potential market for
or value of the copyrighted work (this is the
most important because copyright is all about
market impact)

19. Trademarks
• Trademark is a broad concept that basically means
that there is a word, symbol or device that is
identified with a product.
• Trademarks are created by an organization and
usually are registered with the U.S. government
Patent and Trademark office.
• Unlike patents or copyright, trademark lasts forever
if the organization keeps their possession of the
trademark known.

20. Religious Organizations Trademarks
• Church names and logos may be trademarked and
registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO).
• Elimination of confusion
• Allows for more controlled branding
• May decrease levels of misuse/reputational damage
• Formal registration is an option that many
organizations utilize to secure their trademark

21. Social Media and Intellectual
Property
• Be careful of posting on social media IP that you
want to protect
• Social media agreements may allow for sharing of
social media content
• Social media site’s user agreement may allow them
some ownership rights
• Social media platforms are immunized from liability
for infringement

22. Privacy issues Online
• Privacy issues are frequently avoided by obtaining
permission either written or verbal.
• Avoid providing “too much information” about individuals’
specific conditions.
• Know how federal laws may apply:
• HIPPA
• FERPA
• Consent can avoid potential privacy claims.
• Implied
• Express

23. Questions?
Cayce Myers, Ph.D., LL.M., J.D., APR
Virginia Tech
mcmyers@vt.edu
@CayceMyers