4 Key Takeaways | Trade Secret Update 2024 Legal Developments and Trends
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in dismissing a trademark infringement matter under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, ruled that a district court “erroneously assumed the veracity” of the defendants’...more
Late last month, San Francisco resident Kirstin Cobbs initiated a class action lawsuit against poppi after purchasing its product, poppi prebiotic soda, believing the product to be “gut healthy.” Poppi sodas are packaged in...more
On January 10, 2024, a class action lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss a complaint alleging injury due to misleading "carbon neutrality" branding on bottled water. Dorris v. Danone Waters of America, Case No. 22 Civ. 8717...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed, without prejudice, a proposed class action complaint against Tom’s of Maine, Inc, (“Tom’s”) and its majority shareholder Colgate-Palmolive...more
Google has agreed to pay a whopping $155M to resolve a government investigation and a class action lawsuit stemming from its use of location data, including claims that it stored and collected consumers’ location-related...more
The Lanham Act- Lewis v. Acuity Real Estate Services, 6th Cir. 22-1406- In this appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision dismissing the complaint under the Lanham Act because such a...more
An Illinois man has filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings, accusing the restaurant chain of misleading consumers into believing its boneless wings are actually chicken wings. Halim v. Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., No. 23-1495...more
As we discussed in a previous post, the Northern District of California recently dismissed a plaintiff’s claim that the term “vanilla” was misleading on the label of a soymilk product. The Southern District of New York has...more
A review of key legal developments for nonprofit organizations at the federal and state levels in 2019 and 2020. Antitrust enforcement continues against nonprofits. Nonprofits have litigated in other areas, including...more
Judge Edward R. Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently granted Mondelez Global’s motion to dismiss a putative class action challenging the advertising for its signature Oreo cookies....more
In Huskey v. Colgate-Palmolive Company, No. 4:19-cv-02710-JAR (E.D. Mo.), plaintiffs Drew Huskey and Jamie Richard (Plaintiffs) claimed that Colgate-Palmolive Company (Colgate) falsely advertised that its Speed Stick...more
Earlier this summer, the District Court of Vermont dismissed a false advertising lawsuit alleging that Ben & Jerry’s claims that it sources dairy products from “happy cows” on “Caring Dairy” farms were materially misleading....more
In a multidistrict litigation accusing McCormick & Co. of deceptively underfilling the pepper it sells in grinders and tins, a D.C. federal judge preliminarily approved a $2.5 million class settlement last week. Consumers...more
We have previously written about decisions addressing food product labels, and the messages that these labels convey about the products’ ingredients. In Jessani v. Monini, the Second Circuit found that a product label for...more
The maker of the Tieks ballet flat Gavrieli Brands walked away with over $2.1 million when a federal jury found Soto Massini’s competing designs infringed on Tieks’ patents and trade dress....more
In This Issue: - PopSugar Earns the Ire of Two New Fashionistas - Trader Joe’s Alkaline Water Gets the Class Action Hose - Freeze! Drop That Voicemail! - IAB Blockchain Group Helps Technology Come of Age - Six-Year...more
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS & STANDARDS - FDA Commissioner Questions Milk Standards Enforcement - At a speaking engagement, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb reportedly expressed that the...more
In This Issue: - Dyson Appeals NAD Air Purity Rebuke - Court to Kanye Plaintiff: Imma Let You Finish - Are All Bets Off on Free-to-Play? - Instagram Celeb Alleges Link Theft! - Third Circuit Weighs In on Autodialer...more
Proposal Would Move Food Regulation to USDA - As part of a proposal to reorganize several federal agencies, the Trump administration has recommended that food-safety regulatory oversight be shifted to the U.S. Department...more
Newman v. Dierbergs Markets, Inc., No. 1822-CC00194 (Mo. Cir. Ct. – St. Louis): Putative class action asserting violations of Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act, and raising a claim for unjust enrichment. Plaintiff...more
Parties Settle Kombucha False Advertising Action - Retta, et al. v. Millennium Products, Inc., No. 2:15-cv-01801 (C.D. Cal.): The Ninth Circuit entered an order granting Objector-Appellant’s motion for voluntary dismissal...more
NOSB Votes to Continue Allowing Hydroponics - The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has reportedly voted to continue allowing food grown in water-based nutrient solutions to be labeled “organic,” rejecting a...more
The use of beauty products is “an understudied source of environmental chemical exposures” with a disparate effect on women of color, George Washington University and Occidental College researchers argue. Ami R. Zota, et al.,...more
Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Class Action Involving Healthfulness of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - Traction v. Viva Labs, Inc., No. 3:16-cv-02772 (S.D. Cal.): The Court issued an order denying Defendant’s motion to dismiss...more