Retail & E-Commerce

  • August 26, 2024

    'Roller Lash' and 'Lash 'N Roll' Mascaras Face Off In TM Trial

    Benefit Cosmetics told a San Francisco federal judge at the start of a trademark and trade dress infringement bench trial Monday that rival e.l.f. Cosmetics sought the "holy grail" when it created a "Lash 'N Roll" mascara that ripped off Benefit's $300 million-blockbuster "Roller Lash" product.

  • August 26, 2024

    Pool Co. Secures $1.1M In Fees For False Ad Trial Win

    A North Carolina federal judge has granted $1.1 million in fees for attorneys from McCarter & English LLP and Womble Bond Dickinson who represented a swimming pool salt system supplier in a trial against a competitor, finding the case qualifies as exceptional since the opposing company acted "unreasonably."

  • August 26, 2024

    Care.com To Pay $8.5M To Settle FTC's Deception Claims

    Caregiver job website Care.com has agreed to shell out $8.5 million in refunds to put to rest allegations it misled caregivers about wages and job availability and also made it difficult for families to cancel paid memberships, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced Monday.

  • August 26, 2024

    Estate Says Circle K Hid Inspector's Name In Death Suit

    The family of a woman who died at a Circle K gas pump asked a Florida judge to sanction the company for allegedly failing to disclose the name of the contractor that inspected the gas station before the statute of limitations for wrongful death claims had run out.

  • August 26, 2024

    Former Google Execs Fight Ad Tech Trial Subpoenas

    Former Google vice presidents and other company managers have filed a series of motions asking a Virginia federal judge to block U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas trying to force their testimony at next month's advertising technology monopolization trial, arguing their live participation is unneeded and improperly demanded.

  • August 26, 2024

    Store Seeks Coverage For Murdaugh Boat Crash-Related Suit

    A convenience store accused of negligently selling alcohol to disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh's underage son, who later crashed a boat that led to a girl's death, sought coverage from its insurers for a related civil conspiracy lawsuit, maintaining that the suit falls within its policies' scope of coverage.

  • August 26, 2024

    Jury Awards Lashify $31M In Worldbeauty Patent Case

    Lashify Inc., a California company that sells do-it-yourself eyelash extension kits, is entitled to more than $30.5 million in damages from a China-based rival that infringed three of its patents, a federal jury in Texas has found, potentially opening the door to more intellectual property litigation in the beauty industry.

  • August 26, 2024

    Restaurants Seek Grubhub's Revenue, Staff Info For TM Suit

    Restaurants pursuing a proposed class action against Grubhub Inc. for alleged trademark infringement have urged an Illinois federal court to order the food-delivery platform to comply with discovery requests, including information about orders and revenue from establishments that never agreed to partner with Grubhub.

  • August 26, 2024

    Pa. Goodwill Qualifies For Charitable Exemption, Court Says

    A Goodwill store in Pennsylvania qualifies for a charitable exemption from property tax, the state's Commonwealth Court ruled Monday, finding the store satisfies constitutional requirements for the exemption by providing employee training and driver's training.

  • August 26, 2024

    CLE Co. Accused Of Sharing Subscriber Data With Facebook

    A proposed class of legal professionals has hit Lawline with a putative class action in New York federal court, accusing the continuing legal education company of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing subscribers' information, including services and video viewing history, with third parties such as Facebook for targeted advertising purposes.

  • August 26, 2024

    Grubhub Can't Escape Suit Over Judge Killed By Driver

    Grubhub must face a lawsuit brought by the family of a Phoenix-area judge who died after being struck by one of the food delivery service's drivers since the app that allegedly distracted the driver could be considered a "product," an Arizona state court judge has ruled.

  • August 26, 2024

    Texas Cases To Watch In Last Half Of 2024

    Courts across the state are poised to make decisions in several high-stakes cases over the next several months, including ruling on whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can be deposed in a long-running employment retaliation suit and whether a challenge to Texas' floating Rio Grande barrier must be tried before a jury. 

  • August 26, 2024

    Toy Giant Playing Games With Royalties, Suit Says

    Toy maker Spin Master Ltd. is shorting a Massachusetts company on royalties it agreed to pay to use designs for a handful of big-wheeled, remote-controlled monster trucks and other vehicles, according to a state court lawsuit.

  • August 23, 2024

    FTC Notches Win In Amazon Prime Document Battle

    A Washington federal judge said Thursday that Amazon can't force the Federal Trade Commission to hand over internal documents in a case alleging customers were duped into signing up for Prime services, saying the materials were not relevant to the company's defenses.

  • August 23, 2024

    Vaping Co. VPR Says Rival Ashh Infringing E-Cig Tech

    Florida-based e-cigarette manufacturer VPR Brands has slapped a rival with a patent infringement lawsuit, telling a Michigan federal court that its competitor has been making and selling vapes that infringe its patented "electronic inhaler" and atomizer system.

  • August 23, 2024

    Pot Entrepreneur Seeks To Ensure Judgment On Ex-Partner

    A cannabis entrepreneur urged a Colorado federal judge Friday to bar his former business partner from making any equity transactions until after the court has the opportunity to revisit a $6.4 million judgment ruling as part of a recent Tenth Circuit remand.

  • August 23, 2024

    Albertsons-Kroger Deal Tests FTC's Stepped-Up Merger Policy

    The Federal Trade Commission's highly anticipated hearing to block Albertsons' planned $24.6 billion merger with Kroger kicks off Monday in a Portland, Oregon, courtroom in what attorneys say will be a pivotal test of the Biden administration's newly formalized merger policy.

  • August 23, 2024

    Western Union Seeks To Toss Most Claims In $8M Breach Suit

    Western Union looks to shake off the bulk of a point-of-sales device manufacturer's $8.1 million breach of contract case, telling a Colorado federal court that much of the suit arose from purchase orders to which the financial services company hadn't been party.

  • August 23, 2024

    Google Args Don't Erase 'History Is On, Jesus,' DOJ Says

    Google employees were so conscious of hiding evidence of conduct "that leads to law suits" that they reacted quickly when forgetting to let internal chats delete automatically, the Justice Department said, pushing to punish the search giant for those policies in the looming advertising technology monopolization trial.

  • August 23, 2024

    Class Wants $2.1M In Fees In Home Depot Hose Fight

    A class suing Home Depot Corp. and Reliance Worldwide Corp. asked a Georgia federal judge to award them $2.1 million in attorney fees, more than $160,000 in expenses and $35,000 for class representative service awards in connection with a settlement that was preliminarily approved in March.

  • August 23, 2024

    Ga. Worker Received Lewd Pics From Boss's Son, Suit Says

    An Atlanta-area industrial machinery manufacturer was hit with a sex discrimination lawsuit by an employee who says she was berated by her boss after reporting the boss' son for sexual harassment.

  • August 23, 2024

    Illinois Car Dealers Can't Stop Direct EV Sales

    An Illinois state appeals court threw out a suit by franchise car dealerships and trade associations aiming to block two electric vehicle makers from selling directly to customers, saying Friday that neither the Illinois Vehicle Code nor the Motor Vehicle Franchise Act require carmakers to sell through a franchise dealership.

  • August 23, 2024

    The Biggest Texas Trial Rulings Of 2024: Midyear Report

    Trial courts in Texas saw a series of high-dollar verdicts for plaintiffs in suits over patent infringement and personal injuries, but appellate courts tempered some plaintiffs' successes, backing a large retail employer in a harassment suit and tossing a verdict based on a lawyer's remarks. Here's a look at some of the biggest trial decisions in Texas in the first half of 2024.

  • August 23, 2024

    Brokerage Startup Challenges NAR Listing Rules

    A Utah-based residential brokerage startup has accused the National Association of Realtors, an affiliated Utah multiple listing service and several major brokerages including Keller Williams Realty Inc. of engaging in an antitrust conspiracy that involved the defendants blocking the startup from accessing the NAR's MLS because the startup offers cheaper commission fees.

  • August 23, 2024

    Ex-Pot Shop Worker Says Sex Harassment Drove Her From Job

    A former employee at a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary is suing her ex-employer, saying she was subjected to "persistent and horrible" sexual harassment and denied her promised pay and benefits, leading to what she describes as wrongful constructive termination.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Dapper Settlement Offers Rules Of The Road For NFT Issuers

    Author Photo

    The terms of a $4 million settlement in a class action alleging that Dapper Labs sold its NBA Top Shot Moments as unregistered securities may be a model for third parties that wish to avoid securities liability in connection with offering digital asset non-fungible token collectibles, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Opinion

    'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

    Author Photo

    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

    Author Photo

    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

    Author Photo

    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

    Author Photo

    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy

    Author Photo

    Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Anticipating Disputes In Small Biz Partnerships And LLCs

    Author Photo

    In light of persistently high failures of small business partnerships and limited liability companies, mediator Frank Burke discusses proactive strategies for protecting and defining business rights and responsibilities, as well as reactive measures for owners.

  • The Often Overlooked NY Foreclosure Notice Requirements

    Author Photo

    As multifamily real estate defaults mount, New York foreclosing parties should be aware of pitfalls and perils that can await the litigant who is not prepared to ensure adherence with tenant notice requirements under the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Rosenberg & Estis.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

    Author Photo

    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Retail & E-Commerce archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!