Retail & E-Commerce

  • November 12, 2024

    Web App Antitrust Suit Backed By Epic-Apple, 9th Circ. Told

    A proposed class of iPhone buyers urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to revive their antitrust claims over Apple's barriers against advanced web-based apps, saying a California federal judge's dismissal order directly contradicts binding precedent from Epic Games' landmark monopoly suit against the tech giant.

  • November 12, 2024

    Roblox, WowWee Settle Avatar Toy Infringement Case

    Online game platform Roblox Corp. has agreed to drop a suit alleging WowWee Group Ltd. sold toys based on Roblox's avatars, saying the two companies have reached a settlement to end the trademark and copyright infringement case.

  • November 12, 2024

    Weedmaps Execs Named In Derivative Action Over SEC Fine

    Current and former executives and directors of Weedmaps' parent company face shareholder derivative claims following an investor class action and a regulator's fine over the digital cannabis marketplace's alleged use of "willfully inflated" user metrics.

  • November 12, 2024

    Tempur Sealy Merger 'Surprisingly Bold,' Competitor Testifies

    The CEO of a Utah-based mattress company told a Houston federal judge Tuesday that Tempur Sealy's proposed remedies under its $4 billion planned Mattress Firm purchase were "surprisingly bold" as the Federal Trade Commission began its case in opposition of the merger.

  • November 12, 2024

    Hertz Investors Urge Chancery Not To Toss Stock Warrant Suit

    An attorney for two Hertz Inc. institutional investors told a Delaware judge Monday that the vehicle rental giant relied on an impermissible reinterpretation of a warrant agreement to reject a redemption demand purportedly triggered by the company's post-Chapter 11 recapitalization.

  • November 12, 2024

    Designers Can Pursue RICO Claims Against Shein In IP Suit

    A California federal judge has ruled that a group of independent designers can pursue racketeering claims against Shein Distribution Corp. and other defendants in a lawsuit where the plaintiffs accuse the online retailer of copyright and trademark infringement for allegedly copying and selling the designers' works.

  • November 12, 2024

    Penn State TM Jury Asked To Ponder Sponsorship Confusion

    A central Pennsylvania federal jury will have to weigh whether consumers are likely to be confused by a Seattle-based online retailer's use of historic logos and art associated with Pennsylvania State University, with opening arguments Tuesday promising dueling experts on consumer surveys and interpretations of trademark law.

  • November 12, 2024

    Chipotle's Portions Are Eating Away Profits, Investor Suit Says

    Fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging the company downplayed concerns about meager portion sizes, an issue the company later acknowledged it would correct, sacrificing profitability.

  • November 12, 2024

    Valve Can't Speak Directly With Gamers In Antitrust Row

    A Washington federal judge has rejected a bid by Valve Corp. to directly contact 624 game buyers named in its suit seeking to block them from further arbitrating antitrust claims, saying the video game seller hasn't pointed to "exceptional circumstances" warranting the clearance to reach out to the defendants outside the presence of legal counsel.

  • November 12, 2024

    Pencil Importer Rebuts Commerce's Transformation Analysis

    A pencil importer told the U.S. Court of International Trade that the federal government was wrong to implement duties on pencils made from Chinese raw materials when they are made into finished products in the Philippines.

  • November 12, 2024

    Amazon Harassing Drivers Via Discovery Demand, Court Told

    Amazon is harassing delivery drivers with an overly broad request for documents, including a decade's worth of tax returns and cellphone records, and its request should be tailored to reflect that many claims in an 8-year-old lawsuit were recently nixed, the workers told a Washington federal court.

  • November 12, 2024

    Indian Food Delivery Giant Swiggy To Debut After $1.3B IPO

    Shares of Indian e-commerce giant Swiggy Ltd. are set to begin trading on Wednesday after the company priced a $1.3 billion initial public offering, marking the latest test of the country's IPO market following a blockbuster listing of Hyundai's Indian unit.

  • November 12, 2024

    NY Costco Junior Managers' Wage Statement Claim Tossed

    Three junior Costco managers' declarations contradicted their proposed collective action claiming that the retail company's wage statements didn't allow them to determine whether they worked overtime, a New York federal judge ruled, trimming their suit.

  • November 12, 2024

    High Court Turns Away Appeal From 'Insider' Hedge Fund

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up hedge fund Raging Capital Management LLC's petition to review whether its status as a large investor in 1-800-Flowers should leave it vulnerable to a derivative suit claiming it made illegal swing-trades.

  • November 08, 2024

    Ill. Assault Rifle Ban Struck As Unconstitutional, AG To Appeal

    An Illinois federal judge Friday overturned the state's law banning AR-15 rifles and other semiautomatic weapons, pointing to U.S. Supreme Court rulings interpreting the Second Amendment to give individuals the broad right to keep and bear firearms, and opining that the debate over guns is a matter of perspective.

  • November 08, 2024

    8th Circ. Flips $12M Verdict Against Jagermeister's US Arm

    The Eighth Circuit has overturned a jury's verdict that Jägermeister's U.S. importer must pay a distributor $11.75 million after terminating their deal, saying Friday the jury was misinstructed and a new trial is required.

  • November 08, 2024

    Fla. Apparel Distributor Sues Gap Over $378M Bait-And-Switch

    A South Florida-based apparel distribution company has brought a $378 million counter-complaint against Gap Inc. in California state court, alleging the clothing retailer threatened to sabotage an initial public offering after pulling a bait-and-switch by sending millions of dollars of oversized, unsellable garments and ruin relationships with existing customers.

  • November 08, 2024

    Pawn Shop Must Face CFPB's Military Law Claims, Judge Says

    In a matter of first impression, a Texas federal judge has ruled that national pawn shop company FirstCash Inc. cannot use a "bona fide error" defense to argue that its alleged violation of the Military Lending Act was an unintentional mishap, saying the defense only applies to private borrower claims, not federal agency suits.

  • November 08, 2024

    Apple's Cited Rulings Just Cement Old Precedent, Epic Says

    What Apple contends are new rulings from a California appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court are really just affirmations of existing precedent that change nothing about the injunction blocking the iPhone maker's rules against steering users to alternative payment systems, Epic Games has told a California federal judge.

  • November 08, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Wonders If Italian Pasta Duties Are Bad Math

    The Federal Circuit had semolina on its mind Friday, and it didn't seem convinced the U.S. Department of Commerce had made the right call when relying on what two pasta manufacturers have said are faulty calculations to set antidumping duties for their imports.

  • November 08, 2024

    Cannabis Shops Sue DC To Halt Enforcement Actions

    A coalition of Washington, D.C., recreational marijuana shops has launched a federal lawsuit against a slew of District entities, including the mayor, cannabis regulator and police department, seeking to halt the government's enforcement actions against their stores.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Lets Plaintiffs Drop Kroger Pain Patch Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday allowed two customers who sued supermarket chain Kroger over the effectiveness of lidocaine patches to ditch their class claims after he denied certification last month, and ultimately dismiss the individual claims with prejudice.

  • November 08, 2024

    Justices Urged To Review Amazon Patent Program Case

    A company alleging patent infringement through Amazon's patent evaluation program is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its appeal of a Federal Circuit ruling that said it had to face a declaratory judgment suit in the purported infringer's home state.

  • November 08, 2024

    Italy's Finance Minister Says EU Must Adopt Digital Tax

    The European Union must adopt a digital services tax despite the threat of retaliatory trade measures by the U.S., Italy's finance minister told the country's Parliament as it seeks to widen the scope of its own measure to domestic companies.

  • November 08, 2024

    Experienced Dealmakers Lead 3 SPACs Raising $365M Total

    Three special purpose acquisition companies began trading Friday after pricing initial public offerings that raised $365 million combined under guidance from four law firms, marking the latest sign that more SPACs, particularly those with prior deals under their belts, are willing to test an improving market.

Expert Analysis

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

  • Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing

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    Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Remedy May Be Google's Biggest Hurdle Yet In Antitrust Case

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    There are difficulties ahead in the remedies phase of the antitrust case against Google in District of Columbia federal court, including the search engine giant's scale advantage and the fast-moving nature of the tech industry, setting the stage for the most challenging of the proceedings so far, says Jonathan Rubin at MoginRubin.

  • Opinion

    The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

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    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

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    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry

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    The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Vendor Rights Lessons From 2 Chapter 11 Cases

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    A Texas federal court’s recent critical vendor order in the Zachry Holdings Chapter 11 filing, as well as a settlement between Rite Aid and McKesson in New Jersey federal court last year, shows why suppliers must object to critical vendor motions that do not recognize creditors' legal rights, says David Conaway at Shumaker.

  • Lessons From Rising Fake Discount Consumer Class Actions

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    Ellen Robbins and Scott Allbright at Akerman discuss the rise of false reference price consumer class actions and outline key strategies to minimize legal risk and protect businesses.

  • Classwide Calculations May Get Price Premium Damages Wrong

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    In many consumer class actions, plaintiffs assert that they overpaid for a product because of a misrepresented or defective product feature, and that a single price premium estimate can be applied classwide — but failure to account for differences in price premiums across a putative class may lead to improper damage awards, say economists at Ankura Consulting.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Short-Swing Claims Have Standing

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Packer v. Raging Capital reversing the dismissal of a shareholder's Section 16(b) derivative suit seeking to recover short-swing profits for lack of constitutional standing settles the uncertainty of the district court's decision, which could have undercut Congress' intent in crafting Section 16(b) in the first place, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses

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    Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.

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