Retail & E-Commerce

  • December 05, 2025

    Rent-To-Own Retailer Buddy Mac Hits Ch. 11 In Texas

    Rent-to-own furniture and appliance retailer Buddy Mac Holdings and several affiliates have filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court with up to $50 million in debt.

  • December 05, 2025

    3 Firms Advise On Netflix's Planned $82.7B Warner Bros Buy

    Netflix said Friday it has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming business in a cash-and-stock deal valuing the assets at $82.7 billion, including debt. 

  • December 04, 2025

    Google Asks 5th Circ. To Transfer Monopoly Suit To Calif.

    Google on Thursday urged the Fifth Circuit to transfer mobile analytics software company Branch Metric's lawsuit accusing the search giant of monopolizing several markets related to mobile device searches, saying a lower court was wrong to keep the suit in Texas since California is the "clearly more convenient forum."

  • December 04, 2025

    Starbucks Hit With Another Suit Over Uniform Reimbursement

    Starbucks employees sued the coffee giant in California federal court Thursday accusing it of refusing to reimburse them for hundreds of dollars they spent to buy apparel that comply with the company's new uniform requirements and for using their personal mobile devices for work-related matters.

  • December 04, 2025

    Pot Shop Associate Doubts Judge's Neutrality In RICO Case

    A landlord accused of allowing an unauthorized cannabis shop to operate within the Cayuga Nation is asking a New York federal judge to recuse herself less than a week before trial is set to begin, suggesting that the jurist might not be unbiased because counsel for the tribe "helped" her "son get a job."

  • December 04, 2025

    Live Nation Customers Appear Poised For Antitrust Class Cert.

    Consumers accusing Live Nation of monopolizing the live entertainment industry were in a good position Thursday for class certification after a California federal judge issued a tentative ruling that would approve the request and appeared skeptical of the entertainment giant's arguments at a hearing.

  • December 04, 2025

    EU To Probe Meta's WhatsApp Restrictions On AI Providers

    European enforcers have launched an investigation into recent changes Meta made to its WhatsApp policies over concerns that they block artificial intelligence providers from communicating with their users on the messaging platform.

  • December 04, 2025

    LA Fitness Says FTC Can't Expand Online Shopping Law

    LA Fitness urged a California federal judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit alleging the gym has burdensome cancellation methods, arguing Wednesday that it fails to state a claim under the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, which doesn't apply to brick-and-mortar businesses and only regulates online commerce.

  • December 04, 2025

    Del. Justices Nix Challenge To $1.1B Smart & Final Sale

    A three-justice Delaware Supreme Court panel has rejected with little comment a bid to revive a stockholder suit alleging disclosure failures and conflicted moves ahead of the $1.1 billion April 2019 sale of Smart & Final Stores Inc. to interests of Apollo Global Management.

  • December 04, 2025

    Google Fights Unlockd's Judge Recusal Bid In Antitrust Case

    Google is opposing a move by Unlockd Media seeking the recusal of U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in an antitrust lawsuit in California federal court, arguing that the judge's close relationship with Google's vice president for litigation and discovery doesn't require him to step away from the case.

  • December 04, 2025

    26North Scoops $885M Kitchen Unit Stake As 2 Firms Advise

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP are advising on 26North Partners LP's agreement to buy a 51% stake in the residential kitchen business of The Middleby Corp. at an $885 million value, according to a Thursday announcement. 

  • December 03, 2025

    USPTO Gets Earful On Plan To Restrict Patent Reviews

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed new rules to limit America Invents Act patent reviews have generated scores of forceful comments, with supporters saying the proposal will curb redundant challenges and opponents arguing it would bar legitimate reviews and exceed the office's power.

  • December 03, 2025

    Chemours Monopolizing Refrigerant Market, Court Told

    DuPont spinoff The Chemours Co. FC LLC is clutching on to monopolistic control of the refrigerant gas market in order to fend off a competitor's emerging gas reclamation business, the competitor's counsel told a North Carolina federal court in a Wednesday hearing.

  • December 03, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Adidas Investors' Suit Over Ye Collab

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed an Oregon federal court's decision to toss investors' proposed class action accusing Adidas of failing to disclose the risks of relying on the rapper Ye for a multibillion-dollar fashion partnership, concluding a lower court properly tossed the dispute.

  • December 03, 2025

    Hagens Berman Must Give Apple, Amazon Ethics Pros Docs

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP must give Apple and Amazon all the communications it shared with outside ethics experts as the firm fought allegations that it hid a consumer plaintiff's desire to exit an antitrust case, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

  • December 03, 2025

    ITG Urges Del. Justices To Snuff $250M Reynolds Award

    An attorney for ITG Brands LLC told Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday that a Chancery Court ruling in April effectively rewrote contract terms, which resulted in the tobacco company's liability for more than $251 million in payments to Florida that ITG never agreed to assume under a settlement covering acquired cigarette brand liabilities.

  • December 03, 2025

    Amazon, Walmart Sued Over Fatal Big Rig Pileup In Wash.

    The estate of a Washington man killed in a multivehicle collision is suing Amazon, Walmart and other companies, claiming they were negligent in hiring and training the commercial drivers who were involved in the fiery crash.

  • December 03, 2025

    Rag & Bone Gets Temporary Relief In Suit Over 'Miramar' Mark

    Fashion brand Rag & Bone secured a temporary restraining order on Wednesday against an intellectual property holding company from asserting ownership over a trademark of the term "Miramar," saying Rag & Bone had shown it was likely to suffer irreparable harm without court intervention.

  • December 03, 2025

    Okla. Cos. Hit Simon Property Group With Antitrust Suit

    A group of Oklahoma-based companies accused retail-focused real estate investment trust Simon Property Group Inc. of waging "an anticompetitive campaign" to take down their competing mixed-use project in Oklahoma City.

  • December 03, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs Axed Claims In Heart Rate Monitor Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Utah federal court's decision that claims in a wireless heart rate monitor patent owned by Finnish sports tech company Polar Electro Oy were invalid under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice test.

  • December 03, 2025

    Party City Franchisees Want To Revamp Monopolization Case

    Party City franchisees want to file an amended complaint in their case accusing the corporate retail chain of monopolizing the market before the court rules on a dismissal bid, the franchisees told a New Jersey federal court. 

  • December 03, 2025

    GOP Expects G7 Side-By-Side Tax Deal Details This Week

    The House Ways and Means Committee's top Republican expects negotiations to wrap up this week on the technical details of the agreement with the Group of Seven countries to exempt U.S. multinational corporations from the minimum-tax system, he said Wednesday.

  • December 03, 2025

    Nike 'Cool Compression' Case Not Exceptional, 3rd Circ. Told

    Nike argued before the Third Circuit on Wednesday that its "cool compression" trademark litigation with clothing maker Lontex Corp. was not so "exceptional" that it should pay Lontex's attorney fees, which exceed $5 million, given that the trial court and Third Circuit had previously held that the Lanham Act case was a close one.

  • December 03, 2025

    Google Wants Justices To Pause Petition Pending Epic Deal

    Google asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put its petition seeking review of the antitrust case from Epic Games over the distribution of apps on Android devices on hold while the district court considers a potential settlement.

  • December 02, 2025

    'Mailbox Rule' Can't Deliver Win For Marshalls, 9th Circ. Told

    A former Marshalls worker told the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday that a district judge wrongly relied on the "mailbox rule" to send his employment suit to arbitration because Marshalls had mailed him an arbitration agreement, saying he never received it and California law requires that he actively agree to the deal.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Building With Lego Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Building with Lego has taught me to follow directions and adapt to unexpected challenges, and in pairing discipline with imagination, allows me to stay grounded while finding new ways to make complex deals come together, says Paul Levin at Venable.

  • How Banks Can Safely Handle Payments For Gambling Biz

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    As the betting market continues to expand, it's crucial for banks and fintechs to track historical developments in wagering and ongoing prediction markets litigation that can factor into a risk analysis for payment processing with respect to gambling operators, says Laura D'Angelo at Jones Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Networking 101

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    Cultivating a network isn't part of the law school curriculum, but learning the soft skills needed to do so may be the key to establishing a solid professional reputation, nurturing client relationships and building business, says Sharon Crane at Practising Law Institute.

  • Defeating Estoppel-Based Claims In Legal Malpractice Actions

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    State supreme court cases from recent years have addressed whether positions taken by attorneys in an underlying lawsuit can be used against them in a subsequent legal malpractice action, providing a foundation to defeat ex-clients’ estoppel claims, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • AI's Role In Google Antitrust Suit May Reshape Tech Markets

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    The evolution of AI in retail has reshaped the U.S.' antitrust case against Google, which could both benefit small business innovators and consumers, and fundamentally alter future antitrust cases, including the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against Amazon, says Graham Dufault at ACT.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: How It Works In Massachusetts

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    Since its founding in 2000, the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session's expertise, procedural flexibility and litigant-friendly case management practices have contributed to the development of a robust body of commercial jurisprudence, say James Donnelly at Mirick O’Connell, Felicia Ellsworth at WilmerHale and Lisa Wood at Foley Hoag.

  • Why Appellees Should Write Their Answering Brief First

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    Though counterintuitive, appellees should consider writing their answering briefs before they’ve ever seen their opponent’s opening brief, as this practice confers numerous benefits related to argument structure, time pressures and workflow, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • 2nd Circ. Peloton Ruling Emphasizes Disclosure Context

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision to revive shareholders’ suit alleging that Peloton made materially misleading statements makes clear that public companies must continually review risk disclosures to determine if previous hypotheticals have materialized, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Series

    Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Mindful meditation enables me to drop the ego, and in helping me to keep sight of what’s important, permits me to learn from the other side and become a reliable counselor, says Roy Wyman at Bass Berry.

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

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    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Privacy Lessons From FTC Settlement With Chinese Toymaker

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    In U.S. v. Apitor Technology, the Federal Trade Commission recently settled with a Chinese toy manufacturer that shared children's physical location with a third-party app provider, but the privacy lessons from the settlement extend beyond companies focusing on children's products, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • TikTok Divestiture Deal Revolves Around IP Considerations

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    The divestiture deal between the U.S. and China to resolve a security dispute over TikTok's U.S. operations is seen as a diplomatic breakthrough, but its success hinges on the treatment of intellectual property and may set a precedent in the global contest over digital sovereignty and IP control, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

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