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Retail & E-Commerce
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July 23, 2024
Kroger And Colo. Talks To Avoid Merger Hearing Stall Out
Negotiations between Kroger Co. and Colorado enforcers to avoid an injunction hearing in the state's challenge to a $24 billion merger with Albertsons appeared to have stalled, prompting the grocers Tuesday to pitch a state judge on other options to avoid the fast-approaching proceeding.
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July 23, 2024
Cooperator In Cannabis Bank Fraud Case Dodges Prison
A U.K. national who testified against two businessmen accused of fooling banks into processing federally illicit transactions worth $150 million for California cannabis delivery company Eaze Technologies Inc. on Tuesday was spared from serving any time in prison.
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July 23, 2024
FTC Won't Delay Challenge To Handbag Merger Either
The Federal Trade Commission has declined to pause its administrative challenge to the $8.5 billion handbag merger between the owners of Coach and Michael Koors, saying that even a district court refusal to temporarily enjoin the merger might not end the FTC's in-house case.
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July 23, 2024
Microsoft Calls FTC Price Hike Claims 'Misleading' At 9th Circ
Microsoft pushed back against the Federal Trade Commission's contention that an increase in the company's gaming subscription pricing is evidence of the anticompetitive effects of the software giant's $68.7 billion acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc., calling the commission out for trying to "reinvent" its case against the merger on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
Laser Sights Not 'Arms,' Judge Rules, Backing Chicago Ban
An Illinois federal judge Monday upheld the constitutionality of Chicago's laser sight ban and refused to entertain a resident's "eleventh-hour request" to pursue nominal damages, ending the 14-year-old case.
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July 23, 2024
US Cos. Say Italian Tube Biz's Duty Must Cover Romanian Co.
Domestic tube producers have urged the U.S. Court of International Trade to order the U.S. Department of Commerce to redo an Italian manufacturer's duty rate, claiming the department needed to take a Romanian affiliate's production activities into account.
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July 23, 2024
FTC Attys On Kroger Case Get Extensions After IT Outage
The administrative law judge overseeing the Federal Trade Commission's in-house challenge to Kroger and Albertsons' $25 billion merger has given the agency and the grocery behemoths two extra days on a couple of filing deadlines after the FTC said the worldwide Microsoft outage left several counsel laptops unusable.
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July 23, 2024
Yamaha Sinks Defective WaveRunner Watercraft Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday threw out a proposed class action alleging Yamaha Motor Corp. USA sold WaveRunner-brand personal watercraft with defective fuel gauges and trip computers, saying the complaint fails to properly allege a breach of warranty or fraud.
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July 23, 2024
Judge Won't Force Meta To Run Bankrupt Rubio's Ads
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday denied a temporary restraining order requested by fast-casual seafood chain Rubio's Coastal Grill against Meta Platforms Inc., which alleged Meta violated an automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case by not running Rubio's ads after the company didn't pay fees it had incurred prepetition.
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July 23, 2024
CFPB Sued Over Its Probe Of Lease-To-Own Fintech Co.
Lease-to-own fintech company Acima has accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of trying to overextend its authority with an unconstitutional investigation into the company's transactions that fall outside the bureau's purview.
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July 23, 2024
Ikea Sanctioned For Destroying Evidence In Age Bias Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge hit furniture retailer Ikea with nearly $567,000 in sanctions on Tuesday for deleting emails requested for discovery in a suit filed by a putative class of store workers challenging company policies for alleged age discrimination.
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July 23, 2024
Amazon Fights To Arbitrate Sellers' Misclassification Claims
Amazon urged a California appellate panel on Tuesday to compel arbitration for individual claims from two sellers accusing the online retailer of misclassifying them as independent contractors, and to direct the trial court to toss their representative claims under the state's Private Attorneys General Act.
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July 23, 2024
The Biggest Trademark Rulings Of 2024: A Midyear Report
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a California attorney's arguments that registering "Trump Too Small" as a trademark constituted speech protected by the First Amendment, and a split Ninth Circuit concluded district courts have the power to cancel trademark applications during litigation. Here's a look at some of the most notable trademark decisions so far this year.
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July 23, 2024
General Mills Settles 2012 Suit Over 'All Natural' Kix Cereal
Consumers have reached a settlement with General Mills Inc. to resolve a 2012 suit alleging it lied about Kix cereal being "all natural" even though it contains bioengineered ingredients, according to a New Jersey federal court order.
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July 23, 2024
India Eyes End Of Digital Tax For E-Commerce, But Not Ads
Foreign e-commerce companies would be exempted from India's equalization levy, a 2% digital tax, but online advertisers would continue to pay a 6% rate on gross revenues sourced to Indian customers under a budget bill presented Tuesday by the government.
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July 23, 2024
Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
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July 23, 2024
Mass. Pig Farming Law Survives Pork Industry Challenge
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday shot down a suit from out-of-state hog farmers and food producers challenging a state law that bans the sale of pork from pigs that are kept in tightly confined spaces, saying nothing in the law conflicts with federal statutes.
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July 23, 2024
Wyoming Hemp Regulations Not Preempted By 2018 Farm Bill
A Wyoming federal judge won't block enforcement of a newly enacted law regulating hemp-derived intoxicating products, saying the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp products doesn't preempt the regulation.
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July 23, 2024
Whole Foods Settles With Ex-Worker In BLM Mask Dispute
Whole Foods Market has reached a tentative settlement with a former employee at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, store who says she was fired in 2020 in retaliation for wearing a Black Lives Matter mask, a month before the case was set to go to trial.
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July 22, 2024
Beauty Co. Misled Investors Ahead Of Its $424M IPO, Suit Says
Israeli beauty and wellness products company Oddity Tech Ltd. has been hit with a potential class action in New York federal court by an investor who alleges that the company overstated its artificial intelligence technology capabilities before its $424 million initial public offering last year.
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July 22, 2024
Texas Man Cops To Laundering Nearly $8.5M In Scam Hauls
A Texas man has pled guilty to conspiring to launder funds totaling nearly $8.8 million obtained in schemes ranging from romance scams to a phishing attack on a Maryland County treasurer's office, prosecutors announced.
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July 22, 2024
House Dems Urge Tai To End Investor-State Dispute Deals
House Democrats are urging the U.S. Trade Representative to nix a mechanism allowing foreign investors to challenge government policies outside Western Hemisphere countries' judicial systems, saying corporations have used it as "ransom" to gain more industry-friendly results.
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July 22, 2024
Trade Court Nixes Steel Duty Case Filed Years Too Late
The U.S. Court of International Trade dismissed an importer's efforts to escape a duty on Turkish steel, saying Monday it should have sued once the duty was greenlighted, even if the legal grounds to do so weren't yet available.
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July 22, 2024
Nebraska AG Stops Shops From Selling Synthetic THC
Six Nebraska smoke shops have agreed to stop selling synthetic THC products, according to an announcement by the state's Attorney General's Office, which has sued more than a dozen retailers for violations of state consumer protection and food safety laws.
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July 22, 2024
99 Cents Only Pivots To New Buyers After $8M Bid Rescinded
Discount retail chain 99 Cents Only asked a Delaware bankruptcy court to approve alternative sales for two California real estate parcels after the winning bidder who submitted a $8 million offer failed to close the deal over the last two months.
Expert Analysis
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How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports
The Biden administration's recent proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana use raises questions about how U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement policies may shift when it comes to enforcing a separate federal ban on marijuana accessory imports, says R. Kevin Williams at Clark Hill.
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Trademark In Artistic Works 1 Year After Jack Daniel's
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court's Jack Daniel's v. VIP Products ruling, courts have applied Jack Daniel's inconsistently to deny First Amendment protection to artistic works, providing guidance for dismissing trademark claims relating to film and TV titles, say Hardy Ehlers and Neema Sahni at Covington.
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Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ
Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.
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Legal Battles Show Brands' Dilemma In Luxury Resale Trend
Recent litigation, such as Chanel's pending case against The RealReal, underscores the intricate balance luxury brands must strike between protecting their trademarks and embracing the burgeoning secondhand market that values sustainability, says Prachi Ajmera at Michelman & Robinson.
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How Federal And State Microfiber Pollution Policy Is Evolving
Growing efforts to address synthetic microfiber pollution may create compliance and litigation issues for businesses in the textile and apparel industries, so companies should track developing federal and state legislation and regulation in this space, and should consider associated greenwashing risks, says Arie Feltman-Frank at Jenner & Block.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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Best Practices For Responding To CBP's Solar Questionnaire
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recently introduced questionnaire to solar importers imposes significant burdens, with the potential for supply chain disruptions and market consolidation, but taking certain steps can assist companies in navigating the new requirements, say Carl Valenstein and Katelyn Hilferty at Morgan Lewis.
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A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps
The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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Calif. Web Tracking Cases Show Courts' Indecision Over CIPA
Several hundred cases filed to date, and two recent conflicting rulings, underscore California courts' uncertainty over whether the use of web analytics tools to track users' website interactions can give rise to a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, says Patricia Brum at Snell & Wilmer.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
US Solar Import Probe's Focus On China Is Misguided
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation focuses on the apparent Chinese ownership of solar device importers in four Southeast Asian countries — a point that is irrelevant under the controlling statute, says John Anwesen at Lighthill.
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'Food As Health' Serves Up Fresh Legal Considerations
The growth of food as medicine presents a significant opportunity for healthcare organizations and nontraditional healthcare players to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, though these innovative programs also bring compliance considerations that must be carefully navigated, say attorneys at McDermott.
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FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.