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Retail & E-Commerce
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January 29, 2025
5th Circ. Rejects Outside Bid To Defend CFPB Small-Biz Rule
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday stood by its decision to refuse two advocacy groups' request to help defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small business lending data rule, a day after the bureau and the suing banking trade groups pushed back and said they are fine to litigate themselves, without intervention.
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January 29, 2025
USPTO Backlog 'Unacceptable,' Trump's Commerce Pick Says
Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said at his confirmation hearing Wednesday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's backlog of unexamined patent applications is "unacceptable," and pledged to work to reduce it so that patents are issued more quickly.
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January 29, 2025
CPSC Wants Baby Sleep Co.'s Weighted Blanket Suit Tossed
The Consumer Product Safety Commission urged a D.C. federal court to toss a suit brought by Dreamland Baby Co., saying it and one of its commissioners acted within their authorities when warning the public against using weighted blankets for infants, like the ones the company makes.
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January 29, 2025
5th Circ. Says DOT Must Redo Airline Fees Disclosure Rule
The Fifth Circuit has ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to reassess its rule requiring airlines to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, saying the Biden administration failed to properly consider public comments on how costly it would be for airlines to comply with the 2024 mandate.
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January 29, 2025
Co.'s Missing Signature Prevents Arbitration In Wage Row
A former home sales representative for a cosmetics company can keep her wage suit in court, a California state appellate panel ruled, affirming a lower court's ruling that the company failed to show it had a valid arbitration agreement with the worker because it didn't sign the pact.
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January 29, 2025
Retailers Back Intel, OpenSky In VLSI IP Fight At Fed. Circ.
A retail trade association has urged the Federal Circuit to affirm the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision not to throw out a challenge to a VLSI chip patent that ended up being invalidated, saying there was nothing wrong with allowing Intel to join the fight.
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January 29, 2025
Texas-Led States Can Sue Google, Ad Tech Judge Says
A Texas federal judge refused to toss a state enforcer coalition's lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing the display advertising placement technology market, rejecting Google assertions that the states lack standing to sue on behalf of their citizens in a case where trial now appears likely to be delayed.
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January 29, 2025
Amazon Says Docs FTC Wants For Prime Case Are Privileged
Amazon fired back in a discovery dispute in the Federal Trade Commission's case accusing the e-commerce giant of Prime subscription deception, saying the regulator is not entitled to documents tied to a company meeting because the records reflect legal advice and work product.
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January 29, 2025
Japanese Candy Biz Loses Trademark Fight With Rival Seller
A Japanese candy exporter failed Wednesday to sway Federal Circuit judges to overturn a trademark board ruling as part of its fight with a rival company over who can use the Japanese word for "feudal lord" in order to sell candy.
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January 29, 2025
Curaleaf To Pay $31.8M In Pot Farm Contract Row
A Michigan federal jury on Wednesday found that a pair of Curaleaf affiliates breached their contract with a cannabis farm, awarding the farm nearly $32 million in damages, while rejecting Curaleaf's counterclaims.
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January 29, 2025
Ga. Judge Cuts Atty Fees In Home Depot Class Settlement
A Georgia federal judge has granted final approval to a settlement between Home Depot Corp., Reliance Worldwide Corp. and a class suing over allegedly faulty water heater connector hoses but awarded class counsel $1.9 million in fees instead of the $2.1 million initially requested.
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January 29, 2025
Shopper Says Costco Adds Hidden Fees To Online Deliveries
Costco is the target of a proposed consumer class action alleging the membership retailer is reneging on promises to waive online delivery fees by adding hidden charges that make products bought through the company's e-commerce site more expensive than the same products sold in stores.
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January 29, 2025
Trump's Commerce Nominee Backs Maximalist Tariff Approach
President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce voiced support for an expansive use of tariffs Wednesday, repeatedly telling lawmakers that new levies should be imposed to correct the "disrespect" U.S. businesses face in overseas markets.
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January 28, 2025
Trade Groups Dial Up Push For Congress To Pass Privacy Law
A broad coalition of business trade groups on Tuesday called on the newly installed Congress to enact a national data privacy framework that would preempt state laws, arguing that the move was necessary to promote competition and boost consumer confidence in the current age of rapid technological innovation.
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January 28, 2025
Staples Settles Out Of Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fee Battle
Staples on Tuesday settled out of an over decade-long antitrust battle lodged against Visa and Mastercard for allegedly overcharging merchants via swipe fees, leaving the payment card companies with one less retailer to face in trial this year over their alleged anticompetitive fee scheme.
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January 28, 2025
Amazon Says Too Late For Mass. Court's Expense Suit Take
Amazon said a delivery driver missed his chance to seek clarity on whether Massachusetts state wage law requires employers to compensate employees for work-related expenses, urging a Washington federal judge to pass on asking the Bay State's top court to weigh in.
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January 28, 2025
CFPB, Bank Orgs Rebuff Intervention Bid In Data Rule Fight
In a moment of agreement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a group of banking trade groups pushed back on Tuesday against a bid to intervene by two advocacy groups in a suit over the CFPB's small business lending data rule.
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January 28, 2025
Capri Investors Sue Over Scrapped $8.5B Tapestry Merger
Fashion brand giants Capri Holdings Ltd. and Tapestry Inc. misled investors about potential antitrust regulatory issues associated with their planned $8.5 billion merger that ultimately led to the deal's failure and investor losses, according to a proposed securities class action filed Tuesday in Delaware federal court.
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January 28, 2025
19 Republican State AGs Press Costco To End DEI Policies
A group of nearly 20 Republican attorneys general is urging Costco to end its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the wake of President Donald Trump's recent executive order encouraging companies to end them, criticizing the initiatives as "discriminatory" and saying they fly in the face of recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
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January 28, 2025
Dolce & Gabbana Wants 'Worthless' NFT Outfit Suit Tossed
The U.S. division of Italian luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has urged a New York federal judge to toss a proposed investor class action accusing it of abandoning a nonfungible tokens project while retaining the more than $25 million that was used to fund it, arguing that the U.S. arm of the company was not at all involved in the project.
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January 28, 2025
Judge Says The Comfy Sweatshirt Injunction Wasn't Violated
The startup behind The Comfy, a large and heavy sweatshirt featured in an episode of "Shark Tank," failed Tuesday to convince a federal judge in Arizona that a rival was breaking an injunction by deliberately selling infringing sweatshirts on Amazon in an $18 million patent and trademark case.
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January 28, 2025
4th Circ. Wary Of Discrimination Claims In Pot License Row
The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday expressed skepticism about claims that Maryland's cannabis regulator discriminated against out-of-state entrepreneurs when it implemented a social equity program that gave consideration to applicants who attended one of six in-state colleges.
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January 28, 2025
Baker Botts Atty Says Inventor's Defamation Claims Are False
A Baker Botts LLP partner hit back Tuesday against a patent-licensing company executive's claims that she made defamatory statements about him related to infringement litigation over a patent for a mobile restaurant ordering app with personalized suggestions.
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January 28, 2025
Apple Can't Defend Google Revenue Deal In DOJ Search Case
A D.C. federal judge has refused to let Apple intervene to defend the billions it gets from Google to keep the search giant as the default for Safari browser, holding the iPhone maker waited too long to intervene in the Justice Department's monopolization lawsuit, and the company's involvement now would be too disruptive.
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January 28, 2025
Party City Seeks OK For Exec Private Security In Ch. 11
Bankrupt retailer Party City HoldCo Inc. Tuesday asked a Texas judge to approve up to $400,000 in spending on private security for its current and former senior employees, saying the recent killing of UnitedHealth's CEO has spurred threats of violence against the debtor's leadership.
Expert Analysis
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How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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False Patent Marking Claims Find New Home In Lanham Act
While the Patent Act may have closed the courthouse doors for many false patent marking claims, the Federal Circuit, in its recent decision in Crocs v. Effervescent, may be opening a window to these types of claims under the Lanham Act, says John Cordani at Robinson & Cole.
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A Look At Calif. Biz Code And The Fight Over Customer Lists
To ensure Uniform Trade Secret Act security, California staffing agencies and their attorneys should review Section 16607 of the state Business Code, which prohibits contracts that restrain employees from engaging in other lawful types of business, to understand the process for determining whether a customer list constitutes a trade secret, says Skye Daley at Buchalter.
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How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.
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Where Can Privacy Plaintiffs Sue When Injury Is Online?
Website owners need to understand wiretapping laws to understand whether they may be sued for activity tracking in California or Pennsylvania courts, where the statutory damages for violations of half-century-old laws can be substantial — and a recent Third Circuit decision suggests establishing specific jurisdiction is not as easy as 1-2-3, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Short-Seller Implications Of 10th Circ.'s Overstock Decision
The Tenth Circuit's Oct. 15 decision in Overstock Securities Litigation provides clarity on the pleading standard for a market manipulation claim under the Exchange Act, and suggests that short sellers might not be able to rely on the fraud-on-the-market presumption typically invoked by securities plaintiffs, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
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Opinion
Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
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Planning For Cyber Incident Reporting Requirements In Sports
Attorneys at Wiley discuss the proposed rules under the Cybersecurity Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act that would impose extensive reporting requirements on professional and collegiate athletic organizations, universities and sports venues, including defining a covered entity and analyzing the types of events that would trigger reporting.
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Fed. Circ. Ruling May Signal Software Patent Landscape Shift
The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Broadband iTV, despite similarities to past decisions, chose to rely on prior cases finding patent-ineligible claims directed to receiving and displaying information, which may undermine one of the few areas of perceived predictability in the patent eligibility landscape, say attorneys at King & Wood.
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FDIC Guidance Puts Next-Gen ATMs In Regulatory Spotlight
The boring existence of ATMs is changing thanks to the emergence of new-age interactive teller machines, prompting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to sound off in a potentially influential August letter to branches on which services might need regulatory approval, says Thomas Walker at Jones Walker.
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Series
Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.
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Amazon Holiday Pay Case Underscores Overtime Challenges
The recent Hamilton v. Amazon.com Services LLC decision in the Colorado Supreme Court underscores why employers must always consult applicable state law and regulations — in addition to federal law — when determining how to properly pay employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek, says James Looby at Vedder Price.
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Understanding New ACH Network Anti-Fraud Rules
Many of the National Automated Clearing House Association’s recent amendments to ACH network risk management rules went into effect this month, so financial institutions and corporations must review and update their internal policies as needed, says Aisha Hall at Taft.