Constitutional Law, Commercial Law & Contracts, Communications & Media Law

Let Them Eat Cake! (And Then Write an Online Review about It)

by Laura Rogal | Jaburg Wilk on 5/16/2013

Arizona's restaurant scene is buzzing these days with last Friday's season finale of "Kitchen Nightmares". Just Google "Amy's Baking Company" and a proliferation of stories about the featured business appears, including a...more

Energy Drink Regulatory Update: Monster Sues City of San Francisco in Federal Court, City Fires Back in California State Court

by Fuerst Ittleman David & Joseph, PL on 5/16/2013

The FDA announced that it is conducting an investigation into the use of caffeine in foods and beverages. Since the FDA’s announcement, the energy drink industry has continued to receive significant media attention. On May 6,...more

Are "Click-Through" Internet Marketing Tax Laws Constitutional?

by Kirk Jenkins | Sedgwick LLP on 5/2/2013

Our preview of the oral arguments at the Illinois Supreme Court during the May term concludes with Performance Marketing Association, Inc. v. Hamer. PMA will be heard by the Court during the 9:00 a.m. session on Thursday, May...more

The First Amendment and Off-Label Promotion: United States v. Caronia

by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP on 4/11/2013

For years, the U.S. Department of Justice has aggressively pursued and brought charges over “off-label promotions”—the promotion of drugs for uses that have not received FDA approval—by pharmaceutical manufacturers and their...more

4th Circuit Issues Two Standing Opinions on the Same Day

by Ellis, Lawhorne & Sims, P.A. on 4/11/2013

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had the opportunity to consider constitutional standing requirements in two very similar cases. The opinions offer some insight into the application of the Lujan test....more

Court Upholds Executive’s Conviction Stemming from Off-Label Drug Promotion

by Christopher R. Hall, Gregory G. Schwab | Saul Ewing LLP on 3/25/2013

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld the wire fraud and misbranding convictions and sentence of InterMune Inc. founder W. Scott Harkonen. United States v. Harkonen, No. 11-10209 (9th Cir. March 4, 2013)....more

LinkedIn Data Breach Lawsuit Dismissed For Lack Of Standing

by Amelia Gerlicher, James McCullagh | Perkins Coie on 3/19/2013

A federal judge in the Northern District of California recently added to the growing list of cases rejecting attempts to recover damages resulting from data breaches. In In re LinkedIn User Privacy Litigation, Case no....more

Ninth Circuit Off-Label Marketing Decision Suggests More Prosecutions Will Be Coming

by David Douglass | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 3/8/2013

The Ninth Circuit has reopened a door for off-label marketing prosecutions, and it is important to review your compliance and risk management programs in light of this recent decision. Last December, the pharmaceutical and...more

Donald Trump Sues Bill Maher for Monkeying Around on Late-Night Talk Show

by Dan Nabel | Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger... on 2/21/2013

Here at Law Law Land, there are a few pearls of wisdom we like to repeat — perhaps to a fault — just because they are so helpful and right. Copyright law doesn’t protect ideas, only the expressions of ideas. Being legally...more

NLRB Gets Busy – Part 2 NLRB Incursion Into Non-Unionized Workplace

by Michelle Bush, Charles Einsiedler, Jr. | Pierce Atwood LLP on 2/12/2013

In January, we told you about recent activity by the National Labor Relations Board that overturned or departed from settled precedent. As promised, in Part 2 of this Alert series we summarize recent decisions where the...more

2012 Media Year in Review Media Law Bulletin - January 2013

by John Stephens | Sedgwick LLP on 1/23/2013

Now that 2013 has arrived, we look forward to a new year of media cases. However, in order to orient ourselves for 2013, it is important to stop and take a look back at some of the relevant entertainment and media cases of...more

Telling People They Can Use A Drug In A Way Different Than How The FDA Says They Can Use A Drug Is Not A Crime, Says the Second...

by Matthew G. Kaiser | The Kaiser Law Firm PLLC on 1/3/2013

Alfred Caronia was a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. And, despite what you might think by reading some of the literature, being a pharmaceutical sales rep is not a crime. It's even more emphatically not a crime after...more

Second Circuit Vacates Off-Label Promotion Conviction on First Amendment Grounds in U.S. v. Caronia

by King & Spalding on 12/22/2012

On December 3, 2012, a panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the November 2009 conviction of Alfred Caronia for conspiracy to introduce a misbranded drug into interstate commerce...more

Off-Label Marketing Questioned as a Viable Criminal Theory – But Stay Tuned

by Jeffrey L. Bornstein, Michael R. Gordon, Leanne E. Hartmann, Michael H. Hinckle, Steven M. Kowal, Megan C. Lambert, Suzan Onel, Michael D. Ricciuti, Mark A. Rush, Paul W. Shaw | K&L Gates LLP on 12/17/2012

On December 3, 2012, a divided Second Circuit held in United States v. Caronia (“Caronia”) that the misbranding provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) do not criminalize “the truthful off-label...more

Second Circuit Rules That Certain Speech Regarding the Off-Label Use of Drugs Is Protected Under the U.S. Constitution

by Stuart M. Gerson, David C. Gibbons, Wendy C. Goldstein, Daniel G. Gottlieb, Benjamin S. Martin, Natasha F. Thoren | Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. on 12/13/2012

In a long-awaited decision, on December 3, 2012, a divided panel (2–1) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the conviction of Alfred Caronia, a former pharmaceutical sales representative for Jazz...more

Short Wins - Off-Label Drug Use And the First Amendment In The Second Circuit; Machine Guns And Grenades In The Eighth Circuit

by The Kaiser Law Firm PLLC on 12/12/2012

It's an odd week for wins in the federal appellate courts. The Second Circuit ruled that the First Amendment protects (some kinds of) promotional activity for off-label use of drugs. Any time the First Amendment is...more