Retail & E-Commerce

  • July 30, 2024

    Trade Court OKs Erasure Of Duties On Chinese Xanthan Gum

    The U.S. Court of International Trade blessed the U.S. Department of Commerce's decision to wipe out antidumping duties on Chinese xanthan gum.

  • July 30, 2024

    Pot Cos. Can't Push RICO Claims Against Calif. City

    A California federal judge has thrown out racketeering claims by six cannabis companies that accuse the city of Cudahy of illegally assessing fees, saying that because Congress listed cultivation and sale of cannabis under the definition of racketeering, they can't recover damages.

  • July 30, 2024

    Dyson Can't Dispose Of SharkNinja Vacuum Patent Suit

    Dyson can't sweep away a patent infringement suit by Massachusetts-based competitor SharkNinja, a federal judge said Tuesday in denying the high-end vacuum maker's motion to dismiss the case.

  • July 30, 2024

    Pickleball Paddle Co. Says Error, Not Fraud, Led To 'False' Ads

    Joola-brand pickleball paddle maker Sport Squad Inc. is blasting accusations that it falsely marketed its equipment as approved for tournament play, instead blaming an administrative error that has given rise to a sprawling proposed class action.

  • July 30, 2024

    What Mass. Attys Will Be Watching In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    Two potentially sweeping Massachusetts high court rulings and a long-awaited employment bill lingering in the State House are among the issues Bay State attorneys say they are monitoring closely heading into the latter half of 2024.

  • July 29, 2024

    Live Nation Judge Tightens In-House Counsel's Access To Docs

    A New York federal judge imposed new restrictions Monday on Live Nation in-house counsel's access to documents and testimony from witnesses from its rivals in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit, tightening a days-old two-tiered system after hearing concerns from those competitors.

  • July 29, 2024

    'Speculative' Harms Thwart Customs Broker's Bid For TRO

    The U.S. Court of International Trade refused to bar the U.S. Customs and Border Protection from requiring a customs broker to remedy alleged violations of two trade programs without first providing facts concerning the purported violations, saying the broker's claimed injuries were "speculative" at best.

  • July 29, 2024

    S. Africa Advances WTO Citrus Cases To Panel Stage

    South Africa is advancing legal challenges against measures the European Union imposed on citrus imports to guard against infestation by both a specific species of moth and a fungus that blemishes fruit rinds, calling for the establishment of two World Trade Organization dispute panels.

  • July 29, 2024

    Avon Hit With $24M Verdict For Janitor's Talc Exposure

    A Cook County Circuit Court jury has awarded more than $24 million to the family of a former janitor who worked in one of Avon Products' Illinois facilities in the 1980s, finding the company negligently exposed him to asbestos-contaminated talc that caused him to develop mesothelioma.

  • July 29, 2024

    CFPB Says Lease-To-Own Co. Acima Misled Vulnerable Users

    Lease-to-own fintech company Acima had customers paying more than twice the retail price of home goods by deceptively locking them into high-cost "virtual rent-to-own" financing plans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged in a new lawsuit filed Friday in Utah federal court.

  • July 29, 2024

    Conn. Justices OK Vrbo Host's Short-Term House Rentals

    A divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Vrbo host in Branford was allowed to rent out his property to vacationers under a set of regulations passed in 1994, before the local zoning board changed the rules in 2018 to ban his activities.

  • July 29, 2024

    Blind Fan Says Baseball Apparel Website Is Inaccessible

    The website for a popular baseball-themed apparel dealer is inaccessible to visually impaired viewers, a blind fan has claimed in a proposed class action filed in New York federal court on Monday.

  • July 29, 2024

    Amazon Defeats Class Status Push In Military Leave Suit

    A Washington federal judge refused Monday to greenlight a class action accusing Amazon of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military service, saying they hadn't shown the thousands of would-be class members had enough in common.

  • July 29, 2024

    Trademark Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2024

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a trademark infringement case regarding disgorgement of profits from corporate affiliates, and The Pennsylvania State University is headed to trial against a sports apparel retailer in a case with potentially huge ramifications for merchandise licensing. Here is a look at the trademark cases to watch for the rest of the year.

  • July 29, 2024

    Ga. Auto Salvage Chain Hit With Suit Over Harassing Texts

    Pull-A-Part LLC on Friday was slapped with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court that accuses the Atlanta-based junkyard and auto salvage chain of sending unsolicited promotional text messages to consumers even after they asked to stop receiving them in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

  • July 29, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Undo $6.4M Award In Cannabis Biz Fight

    A Tenth Circuit panel has rejected a cannabis entrepreneur's attempt to undo a $6.4 million judgment in a dispute with an ex-business partner, but it ordered a district court to revisit an enforcement order that could require the entrepreneur to violate federal drug law to pay the damages.

  • July 29, 2024

    Mo. Menards Store Ruled Properly Valued At $17M

    A Missouri Menards home improvement store was properly valued at $17 million by a county assessor because the store's appraiser failed to use comparable properties in his valuation, the state Tax Commission affirmed.

  • July 29, 2024

    Mich. AG Drops Remaining Case Against Carhartt Heiress Atty

    Prosecutors will not retry a Michigan attorney they claim stole from his wealthy client, the late Carhartt company heiress Gretchen Valade, and have agreed to toss similar embezzlement charges in a separate case. 

  • July 29, 2024

    Reebok Rips Shoe Rival's 'Underhanded' Conduct In TM Case

    Reebok asked a Massachusetts federal judge to sanction an Italian shoemaker and strike nearly three dozen witnesses who were disclosed at the last minute in a trademark case, the latest claim by the shoe and apparel giant of "underhanded" tactics.

  • July 29, 2024

    Mich. Man Fights LA Bid To Toss Pot License Lottery Suit

    A Michigan man who owns several cannabis retailers is pushing back on a bid by Los Angeles to throw out his suit challenging its social equity license lottery.

  • July 26, 2024

    State Street Inks $7.5M Deal Over Russia Sanctions Violations

    Financial services giant State Street has agreed to pay nearly $7.5 million to resolve apparent violations by its investment management solution subsidiary Charles River Systems Inc. of Obama-era sanctions targeting Russian actions against Ukraine, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Friday.

  • July 26, 2024

    DC Circ. Axes Agriculture Department's $1M Fine On Amazon

    E-commerce giant Amazon doesn't owe $1 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the D.C. Circuit on Friday undid an order concluding Amazon facilitated unlawful plant and animal product importation, finding that the online retailer didn't knowingly assist the purported infractions.

  • July 26, 2024

    Assa Abloy Resolves DOJ Merger Monitor Dispute

    Assa Abloy told a D.C. federal judge that it's agreed "in principle" on how a monitoring trustee will review its compliance with a U.S. Department of Justice merger lawsuit settlement, resolving a simmering dispute over its complaints of an open-ended multimillion-dollar investigation.

  • July 26, 2024

    WTO E-Commerce Deal Launches Without US Support

    World Trade Organization members announced a historic agreement on digital trade on Friday, but the U.S. said the deal "falls short" of its expectations.

  • July 26, 2024

    EU Calls For Dispute Talks Over Taiwan's Wind Farm Policy

    The European Union challenged Taiwan's domestic sourcing requirements for offshore wind energy projects in the World Trade Organization, saying Friday that Taiwan was violating its duty not to discriminate against imported goods.

Expert Analysis

  • ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports

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    While a recent U.S. International Trade Commission decision is a win for trade secret owners who can show injury to a U.S. domestic industry, the decision also means that companies operating in foreign jurisdictions will be subject to the requirements of U.S. trade secret law, say Paul Ainsworth and Cristen Corry at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Best Practices To Accommodate Workplace Service Animals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Since the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently pledged to enforce accommodations for people with intellectual, developmental and mental health-related disabilities, companies should use an interactive process to properly respond when employees ask about bringing service animals into the workplace, say Samuel Lillard and Jantzen Mace at Ogletree.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Opinion

    State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E

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    Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.

  • 4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule

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    If the Federal Trade Commission adopts its comprehensive proposed rule to ban unfair or deceptive fees across the U.S. economy, many businesses — including those in the lodging, event ticketing, dining and transportation sectors — will need to reexamine the way they market and price their products and services, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?

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    Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

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