Retail & E-Commerce

  • October 01, 2025

    USPTO Tells Fed. Circ. To Reject Ineligibility Rule Petition

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the Federal Circuit to reject a software company's argument that the office violated due process by rejecting challenges to patents a court has found ineligible, saying that decision is entirely in the office's discretion.

  • October 01, 2025

    Economist Says Google's Ad Tech Fix Enough To Boost Rivals

    Google's expert economics witness urged a Virginia federal judge Wednesday not to break up the search giant's advertising placement technology business, arguing the company's counterproposal would free up rivals without the "market reengineering" threatened by the Justice Department's proposed remedies.

  • October 01, 2025

    Squires Jumps Right Into Patent Eligibility Reform

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires used his first week at the agency to make bold statements about what should be eligible for patenting, with patent owners celebrating his support of diagnostics, crypto and machine learning technologies.

  • October 01, 2025

    Amazon Must Cough Up Return Records In Consumer Suit

    Amazon must hand over certain information about its returns system to a group of consumers who claim that the company wrongfully denied them refunds for products they sent back, a Washington federal judge has determined, calling some of the company's objections "evasive" and "borderline frivolous."

  • October 01, 2025

    Fashion E-Commerce Co. Beats Securities Suit

    A New York federal judge has tossed a proposed shareholder class action accusing fashion e-commerce company Farfetch Ltd. and its top brass of misleading investors about the company's prospects, finding that the complaint's claims were cursory and failed to allege knowledge of wrongdoing.

  • October 01, 2025

    Temu Antitrust Claims Nixed, Copyright Claims Get Go-Ahead

    Major fast fashion company Shein has convinced a D.C. federal judge to slim down a lawsuit brought by its main rival Temu, which accuses Shein of spamming it with copyright takedown requests.

  • October 01, 2025

    Inventor's $11M Award Slashed To $5M Over Pet Device IP

    A New Jersey federal judge has hit two pet supply companies with a $5 million damages bill for misappropriating a woman's idea for a skin medicine applicator for dogs and cats, more than four years after the Federal Circuit faulted the original $11 million award in the long-running case.

  • October 01, 2025

    LA Pot Cos. Kept Tips, Denied Breaks, Budtender Claims

    The owners of the Herbarium chain of dispensaries in Los Angeles fired a budtender after she spoke up about unpaid overtime, the lack of lunch breaks and stolen tips, according to a wrongful termination suit and a proposed class action she filed in state court.

  • October 01, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Federal Trade Commission put the final tweaks on its deal allowing a $13.5 billion merger of marketing companies to move ahead and pushed its bid to block a merger in the medical device coatings industry, while U.K. enforcers launched a number of merger probes.

  • October 01, 2025

    AutoZone Prevails In Class Action Over 401(k) Fees

    AutoZone defeated a class action claiming it cost employees millions of dollars in retirement savings by failing to remove costly investment options from its 401(k) plan, with a Tennessee federal judge ruling the workers failed to show the company shirked its duties to monitor the plan.

  • October 01, 2025

    NY Judge Undoes Order Freeing NFL's Lions From IP Suit

    A New York federal judge has reversed an order that let the Detroit Lions football team out of a suit brought by a photographer who says the team modeled a statue of Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders on his photo.

  • October 01, 2025

    Calif. Importer, Son Both Get Prison For $8M Customs Fraud

    A California federal judge sentenced a Los Angeles Fashion District business owner and his son to more than eight years and seven years in prison, respectively, after they were found guilty of ducking more than $8 million in customs duties and failing to report over $17 million in cash transactions on tax returns.

  • October 01, 2025

    FCC Sets Furlough Plan In Motion With Government Shutdown

    The Federal Communications Commission's staff halted most regular operations Wednesday as Congress failed to reach a deal to continue funding agencies after the end of the government's fiscal year.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ex-Market Basket CEO Says Sisters, Board Plotted Ouster

    The former CEO of New England supermarket chain Market Basket on Wednesday accused his own sisters and the firm's board members of colluding to take control over the $8 billion-a-year company by setting up a "sham" investigation to justify his firing.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ill. AG Backs Workers In Amazon COVID Screenings Fight

    The Illinois attorney general backed two workers claiming Amazon owes them for the time they spent on COVID-19 screenings, arguing to the state's Supreme Court that Illinois wage law is more expansive than the Fair Labor Standards Act and includes no exception for preliminary and postliminary activities. 

  • October 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Nixes Cannabis Entrepreneur's Rehearing Bid

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a California cannabis entrepreneur's request for an en banc rehearing of her case after a panel rejected her bid to upend Maryland's marijuana social equity licensing program.

  • October 01, 2025

    Elf On The Shelf Maker Lands On Font Creator's Naughty List

    A Wisconsin-based retro font designer has sued the company behind The Elf on the Shelf brand in Georgia federal court, accusing it of infringing copyrighted font software by using it without authorization in connection with more than 70 products.

  • October 01, 2025

    EU Clears Prada's €1.25B Deal To Buy Versace

    The European Commission has given the thumbs-up to Prada's acquisition of Italian designer brand Versace in a transaction worth approximately €1.25 billion ($1.47 billion).

  • September 30, 2025

    Google Ad Tech Judge Says Court Order Is 'Elephant In Room'

    A Virginia federal judge again wondered Tuesday how far she must go to address Google's advertising placement technology monopolies, asking if a breakup is needed since, no matter what happens, the company will be under a court order banning efforts to put its thumb on the scales of competition.

  • September 30, 2025

    Feds Finalize Rules To Speed H-2A Filing, Limit Some Wages

    The Trump administration finalized two separate rules on Tuesday aimed at streamlining the H-2A temporary visa process for seasonal farmworkers, one allowing employers to file petitions earlier and another revising annual wage hikes for certain agricultural jobs.

  • September 30, 2025

    Amazon Settles $1.2M Lawsuit Over Immersion Heater

    Amazon and a Colorado church's insurer have reached a settlement in the insurer's suit alleging that an immersion heater the church purchased from the e-commerce giant's platform to heat a baptismal font caused a fire amounting to $1.2 million in damages.

  • September 30, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Largely Unravels $4M Judgment In Curtain IP Fight

    The Federal Circuit overruled most of a New York federal judge's $4 million infringement judgment against two hospitality providers on Tuesday, in a multifaceted appeal over hookless shower curtains.

  • September 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Unwinds $312K Fees In Labor Suit Against Walmart

    While a former Sam's Club worker is entitled to fees for the $22,000 settlement of her individual labor claims against the chain and its parent Walmart, the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday vacated the $312,429 in fees and costs she was awarded by the lower court because it simply granted the fee award without sufficiently explaining why.

  • September 30, 2025

    Blue Cross Insurers Sanctioned For 2-Year Discovery Drawout

    An Illinois federal judge has ordered a host of Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers to pay the fees and costs Walgreens incurred in an overbilling suit while helping to work through discovery production, which took two years to remediate with a special master.

  • September 30, 2025

    PFAS Testing Concerns End Coca-Cola Class Action

    A New York federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action against Coca-Cola's Simply Orange Juice Co. subsidiary alleging its juices were falsely marketed as all-natural when they actually contain PFAS, saying that the plaintiff didn't show that the juices tested were the same as the ones he bought.

Expert Analysis

  • Trump's 2nd Term Puts Merger Remedies Back On The Table

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    In contrast with the Biden administration, the second Trump administration has signaled a renewed willingness to resolve merger enforcement concerns through remedies from the outset, particularly when the proposed fix is structural, clearly addresses the harm and does not require burdensome oversight, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • AI Infrastructure Growth Brings Unique IP Considerations

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    The explosive rise of artificial intelligence has triggered an equally dramatic transformation in the supporting infrastructure required to meet growing AI demand, and the technology used in these data centers has its own intellectual property considerations to navigate, says Vincent Allen at Carstens Allen.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Influencer Marketing Partnerships Face Rising Litigation Risk

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    In light of recent class actions claiming that brands and influencers are misleading consumers with deceptive marketing practices — largely premised on the Federal Trade Commission's endorsements guidance — proactive compliance measures are becoming more important, say attorneys at Olshan Frome.

  • Mulling Worker Reclassification In Light Of No Tax On OT

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's no-tax-on-overtime provisions provide tax relief for employees who regularly work overtime and are nonexempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, but reclassifying employees may lead to higher compliance costs and increased wage and hour litigation for employers, says Steve Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.

  • 5 Consumer Protection Compliance Issues In NY State Budget

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    Companies that engage with New York consumers should promptly familiarize themselves with new state budget provisions that require finance and retail companies to make certain business practices more transparent and easier for customers to execute, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • How Cos. In China Can Tailor Compliance Amid FCPA Shifts

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently updated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement guidelines create a fluid business environment for companies operating in China that will require a customized compliance approach to navigate both countries’ corporate and legal systems, say attorneys at Dickinson Wright.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Ultra-Processed Food Claims Rely On Unproven Science

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    Plaintiffs' arguments that ultra-processed foods are responsible for the nationwide increase in certain chronic illnesses, though a novel approach to food-based personal injury claims, depend on theories that are still being tested, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • How US Cos. Should Prep For Brazil's Int'l Data Transfer Rules

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    Brazil's National Data Protection Authority's new rules concerning the processing and storing of Brazilians' personal data carry significant reputational risks for the e-commerce, financial services, education and health sectors, so U.S. companies with business in Brazil should prepare ahead of the Aug. 23 compliance date, says Juliane Chaves Ferreira at Guimarães & Vieira de Mello.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far

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    The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.

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