Retail & E-Commerce

  • April 21, 2025

    DOJ Pushes Chrome Sale To Solve Google Monopoly

    The U.S. Department of Justice sought to shape the future of online search and artificial intelligence chatbots Monday with opening arguments pushing a D.C. federal judge to force Google to sell its Chrome browser and to "disrupt" the billions paid for default search engine status on iPhones, Firefox and more.

  • April 21, 2025

    7th Circ. Gives Costco Slip-And-Fall Suit A Second Life

    The Seventh Circuit on Monday revived a suit over a Costco customer's slip-and-fall, saying trial is warranted because a jury could find that surveillance video supports the claim that a spilled smoothie was on the floor for at least 28 minutes before the fall.

  • April 21, 2025

    Colo. Justices Say Insurer Can't Escape 'Economic Loss' Rule

    Colorado Supreme Court justices on Monday said an insurer can't escape an economic loss rule that precludes parties from bringing tort claims over a breach of duty arising from a contract, holding that the rule has no exception for willful and wanton conduct and tossing the insurer's negligence claim over a restaurant fire.

  • April 21, 2025

    En Banc 9th Circ. Revives Shopify Data Privacy Fight

    A split Ninth Circuit en banc panel Monday revived a proposed class action alleging Shopify violates privacy rights by embedding payment-processing code on merchant websites that surreptitiously tracks consumers' location and collects personal data, with a nearly unanimous majority finding the location-tracking allegations establish specific jurisdiction in the Golden State.

  • April 21, 2025

    DHS Voids Order Ousting Canadian Cannabis Machinery CEO

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday urged a Washington federal judge to throw out a lawsuit accusing federal agents of illegally barring the Canadian CEO of a cannabis harvesting equipment company from entering the United States, citing the government's recent decision revoking a removal order against him.

  • April 21, 2025

    DraftKings Targeted Gambling Addicts, Suit Claims

    Online gambling giant DraftKings Inc. and a subsidiary have been hit with a proposed class action accusing them of engaging in a range of deceptive practices including knowingly targeting people suffering from gambling addiction and allowing those on Pennsylvania's self-exclusion gambling list to open new accounts.

  • April 21, 2025

    FTC Accuses Uber Of Deceptive Subscription Practices

    The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber on Monday, alleging the ride-hailing and delivery app charged consumers for its Uber One subscription service without their consent and made them "navigate a maze" to end the subscriptions while advertising that they can cancel anytime.

  • April 21, 2025

    Nylon Maker Files Ch. 11 In Texas With More Than $1B Debt

    Nylon maker Ascend Performance Materials on Monday filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court, saying it plans to work with its lenders to deleverage its more than $1 billion in debt.

  • April 21, 2025

    Pot Company Once Allied With Influencer Wants Rehearing

    A cannabis, spirits and vape company formerly associated with Instagram celebrity Dan Bilzerian is asking the Ninth Circuit for an en banc rehearing of a $1.6 million judgment against it, saying a panel of circuit judges ignored key facts when it found the company liable for breach of contract.

  • April 21, 2025

    Amazon Says Sanctions Unwarranted In Drivers' Wage Suit

    Potential members of a collective action accusing Amazon of misclassifying drivers were not coerced into talking to attorneys representing the company, Amazon told a Washington federal court, urging the court to reject the drivers' bid to slap sanctions on the company.

  • April 21, 2025

    US, Italy Say Tech Cos. Must Not Face Discriminatory Taxes

    Italy and the U.S. agree that discrimination tech companies face in the form of digital services taxes must end in order to enable investments from those companies, according to a joint statement by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Donald Trump.

  • April 21, 2025

    Supreme Court Won't Hear Neb. Tribe's Tobacco Sales Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear two Nebraska tribal companies' bid to undo an Eighth Circuit ruling that held the state can regulate a tribally owned manufacturer's sales of cigarettes to Indigenous-owned distributors after officials attempted to apply a settlement with major tobacco companies on the Winnebago reservation.

  • April 21, 2025

    High Court Wants SG's Input On Home Depot ERISA Case

    The nation's highest court asked the U.S. solicitor general Monday to opine on whether it should hear a retirement plan mismanagement case from Home Depot workers who say the Eleventh Circuit wrongly required them to link financial losses to alleged breaches of fiduciary duty.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Mall Of America's Sears Lease Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case filed by the owner of Minnesota's Mall of America against Sears Holding Corp. over a transfer of a 100-year lease for an anchor store location, leaving in place a lower court's finding that the mall's lease was not a "true" contract.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Patent Eligibility Ruling Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday decided to skip a case brought by a company that had lost a patent case against Amazon, declining the challenge asserting that courts routinely issue summary judgment rulings on patent eligibility, even if there are disputes of fact.

  • April 18, 2025

    Walgreens To Pay DOJ $300M Over Invalid Prescriptions

    Walgreens revealed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday that it will pay upward of $300 million to resolve U.S. Department of Justice allegations that it knowingly filed millions of prescriptions for opioids and other drugs that didn't have a legitimate medical purpose or weren't valid.

  • April 18, 2025

    Google May See Some Light In The Ad Tech Ruling

    The ruling this week in the U.S. Department of Justice's ad tech monopolization case against Google was a major victory but not a total win for the government, and it raises questions about what the fix should be, especially with a trial looming over remedies in a separate case over search.

  • April 18, 2025

    IP Notebook: AI Prompts, DMCA Battle, Squishmallows Scuffle

    Welcome to IP Notebook, a recurring series that highlights disputes and legal developments that raise novel or crucial questions in the trademark and copyright space.

  • April 18, 2025

    FTC's Southern Glazer's Pricing Case Preserved

    A California federal judge refused to toss the Federal Trade Commission's price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC, concluding the alcohol distribution giant moves liquor around enough to trigger interstate commerce and that the FTC has adequately alleged unfair treatment of mom-and-pop stores relative to big box retailers.

  • April 18, 2025

    Judge Sides With Wash. In NY Distillery's Sales Reg Challenge

    A federal judge has rejected a New York whiskey maker's challenge to a Washington rule that distilleries must have a physical in-state location to sell to Evergreen State consumers online, saying the regulation isn't discriminatory because it "applies evenhandedly" regardless of the producer's home state.

  • April 18, 2025

    Insurer Says Smoke Shop Not Covered In Nitrous Oxide Suit

    An insurer for a smoke shop told a Florida federal court it owes no coverage for a proposed class action accusing various shops of selling nitrous oxide products for recreational drug use, pointing to an exclusion barring coverage for injury arising out of "psychotropic substances."

  • April 18, 2025

    NC High Court Snapshot: Livestock Litigation Takes Limelight

    The North Carolina Supreme Court's April lineup will find the justices delving into a squabble over backyard chickens in a residential neighborhood and a consumer fraud class action with Home Depot in the crosshairs.

  • April 18, 2025

    Latham-Led Vacasa Sticks With Casago, Rejects $131M Bid

    Latham & Watkins LLP-advised Vacasa said Friday that its board has rejected a revised acquisition bid from Davidson Kempner Capital Management, indicating that price alone wasn't enough to result in a superior deal to the company's existing agreement with Casago.

  • April 18, 2025

    Union Hits Kroger Chain With Counterclaim In Strike Suit

    The Kroger-owned grocery chain King Soopers violated a poststrike agreement with a United Food & Commercial Workers local by pressuring the union to agree to a collective bargaining agreement by an arbitrary deadline, the union alleged in a counterclaim in the company's strike lawsuit against it in Colorado federal court.

  • April 18, 2025

    Federal Cannabis Law Reform Eyed In Bipartisan Push

    A bipartisan group of representatives has introduced legislation to reconcile the conflicts between the federal prohibition on cannabis and state laws that legalize it, and to prepare the country for federal legalization.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports

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    Permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness affecting collegiate athletics have continued unabated this year, and practitioners and industry representatives should anticipate significant activity at schools and continuing legal changes at the state level, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Patent Marking Steps After Fed. Circ. Opens Lanham Act Door

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    Following the Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Crocs v. Effervescent, which seemingly revives private actors’ ability to bring false patent marking claims under the Lanham Act, marketing and legal teams should be careful to avoid advertisement language that implies nonexistent patent rights, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Key Legal Considerations After Supply Chain Disruptions

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    After U.S. supply chain disruptions — like the recent port workers' strike, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton — stakeholders should look to contractual provisions to mitigate losses, and keep in mind that regulators will be watching closely for unfair shipping practices, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • The 3rd-Party Bankruptcy Release Landscape After Purdue

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    In its Purdue Pharma ruling prohibiting nonconsensual third-party releases, the U.S. Supreme Court did not comment on criteria to render a third-party release consensual, opening a debate in the bankruptcy courts on the permissibility of opt-out versus opt-in releases, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Comparing Antitrust Outlooks Amid Google Remedy Review

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    As the U.S. Justice Department mulls potential structural remedies after winning its recent case against Google, increased global scrutiny of Big Tech leaves ex post and ex ante antitrust approaches ripe for evaluation, say Nishant Chadha at the Indian School of Business and Manisha Goel at Pomona College.

  • Website Accessibility Ruling Leaves Circuit Split Unresolved

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    A New York federal court's recent decision in Mejia v. High Brew Coffee, holding that stand-alone websites are not "public accommodations" subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act, further complicates a long-running circuit split on this question — even as courts are burdened with thousands of similar lawsuits, say attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

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