Retail & E-Commerce

  • 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.

  • November 08, 2024

    General Atlantic, Stripes Plug $825M Into Vuori Clothing Biz

    Lifestyle performance brand Vuori on Friday revealed that it has secured an $825 million investment led by growth investors General Atlantic, advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP-advised Stripes, bumping the brand's valuation to $5.5 billion.

  • November 08, 2024

    Logan Paul's Drink Co. Blasts Olympic Committee's TM Suit

    Prime Hydration, a sports beverage company co-founded by social media influencer and wrestler Logan Paul, has struck back at a trademark infringement complaint from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, accusing it of taking a "shotgun pleading" approach without supporting its claims.

  • November 08, 2024

    NC Furniture-Maker Demands Hurricane Helene Coverage

    A North Carolina furniture manufacturing facility is blaming its insurer for wrongfully using a flood damage exclusion to avoid covering more than $75,000 of damage to its premises following 2024's Hurricane Helene.

  • November 08, 2024

    US Exec To Sell Homes In Settlement With Swedish Airgun Co.

    The chief executive of a North Carolina airgun company left in shambles over allegations of gross mismanagement has agreed to fork over $950,000 by selling two residences as part of a settlement ending the contentious yearlong litigation brought by his Swedish partner.

  • November 08, 2024

    NLRB Ups Scrutiny Of Employer Statements On Union Impact

    Employers that tell workers during organizing drives that having a union would cut off direct relationships with managers may violate federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday in a decision reversing nearly 40-year-old precedent. 

  • November 07, 2024

    OpenAI Beats Copyright Suit By 2 News Websites, For Now

    OpenAI preliminarily escaped one of the many copyright suits it's facing from journalism publishers on Thursday, as a New York federal judge found that two alternative news websites didn't sufficiently allege harm from the removal of author information in ChatGPT training sets.

  • November 07, 2024

    Nike Nabs Injunction In Air Jordan Knockoff Suit But Not $4M

    A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday barred a small clothing company and its founder from selling knockoffs of Nike's iconic Air Jordan 1 High sneakers but declined to grant Nike $4 million in statutory damages, saying Nike hadn't yet given him enough information to assess the damages.

  • November 07, 2024

    DLA Piper Chile Adds New Dispute Resolution Partner

    DLA Piper Chile has welcomed a new partner from Chilean law firm Albagli Zaliasnik to its dispute resolution practice, saying she will focus on civil litigation and arbitration in sectors including energy and finance.

  • November 07, 2024

    How Penn State Trial Against Retailer Could Upend TM Law

    The Pennsylvania State University and an online retailer of goods bearing retro logos and images of schools and sports teams are set to clash in a trademark trial next week that could upend how courts examine infringement claims.

  • November 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Finds No Jurisdiction In LG Chem Battery Suit

    The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit against LG Chem Ltd. over a lithium-ion battery used in an e-cigarette that allegedly burned a California man, finding that the lower court was correct in holding that it had no jurisdiction over the case.

  • November 07, 2024

    ITC Finds Dell, ASUSTeK, Acer Imports Don't Infringe Patent

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has found that various computer hardware companies, including Dell, never infringed claims in an X1 Discovery Inc. patent related to indexed searching by importing consumer products with certain Microsoft software.

  • November 07, 2024

    Strip Mall, Insurer Agree To End Repair Payments Dispute

    A Tennessee strip mall owner and its insurer agreed to bury the hatchet Thursday and resolve claims the insurance company withheld costs for building repairs via wrongful depreciation, Wisconsin federal court filings said.

  • November 07, 2024

    Eye Drop Maker To Pay $3.6M To Settle Class Claims

    A maker of homeopathic eye drops has agreed to pay nearly $3.6 million to settle claims its products are being sold as drugs without U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and don't meet manufacturing safety standards, according to a preliminary settlement agreement filed Wednesday.

  • November 07, 2024

    LeBron Eyes Media Merger, AI Startup IPO, And More Rumors

    Basketball star LeBron James wants to merge his TV and film production company with a British studio, while AI-focused startup CoreWeave has selected investment banks to manage an initial public offering planned for 2025, plus a women's clothing retailer and a generic-drug maker are planning a pair of listings that could revive Canada's dormant IPO market.

Expert Analysis

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Finding Coverage For Online Retail Privacy Class Actions

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    Following recent court rulings interpreting state invasion of privacy and electronic surveillance statutes triggering a surge in the filing of privacy class actions against online retailers, companies should examine their various insurance policies, including E&O and D&O, for defense coverage of these claims, says Alison Gaske at Gilbert LLP.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Obviousness In Director Reviews

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    Three July decisions from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office favoring petitioners indicate a willingness by the director to review substantive issues, such as obviousness, particularly in cases where the director believes the Patent Trial and Appeal Board provided incorrect or inadequate rationale to support its decisions, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • How Cos. Can Leverage IP In Corporate Bankruptcy

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    In light of an increase in year-to-date Chapter 11 filings, businesses must understand the importance and value of intellectual property in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, from contributing to enterprise value, to providing leverage in negotiations and facilitating recovery, says Gregory Campanella at Ocean Tomo.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

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    Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.

  • IP Hot Topic: The Intersection Of Trademark And Antitrust Law

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    Antitrust claims – like those in the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent case against Apple – are increasingly influencing trademark disputes and enforcement practices, demonstrating how antitrust law can dilute the power of a trademark, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • Avoiding Retail Bankruptcy As Economic Uncertainty Persists

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    Amid record retail bankruptcies and continued economic uncertainty in 2024, retailers can take specific steps like building stronger cash-flow models, managing inventory wisely and reassessing cost structures to avoid financial distress, say consultants at BRG.

  • Navigating The Uncertain Landscape Of Solar Tariffs

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    Solar cell and module manufacturers, exporters and importers must navigate an uncertain compliance landscape, given ongoing challenges to U.S. Department of Commerce antidumping and countervailing duty determinations, which have been mounted both by U.S. and non-U.S. manufacturers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

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    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • What BIPA Reform Law Means For Biometrics Litigation

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    A recently signed Illinois law amending the Biometric Information Privacy Act limits defendants' liability exposure on a per-scan basis and clarifies that electronic signatures constitute a valid written release, establishing additional issues that courts will need to address in future BIPA litigation, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

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    Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.

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