Retail & E-Commerce

  • December 22, 2025

    IP Atty, Patent Exec File Dueling Bids To End Defamation Case

    A patent licensing company executive and a Baker Botts LLP intellectual property litigator filed competing summary judgment motions in a defamation suit in Florida federal court.

  • December 22, 2025

    Vape Cos. Get Partial Block Of Va. Law, But Claims Trimmed

    A Virginia federal judge has agreed to halt enforcement of certain provisions of a state law barring the sale of vapes that are not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while dismissing two of the three claims vape companies had brought in the lawsuit.

  • December 22, 2025

    Davis Polk-Led Cintas Lobs $5.2B Takeover Bid At UniFirst

    Uniform maker Cintas Corp., led by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, on Monday revealed that it has submitted a takeover proposal to workwear company UniFirst's board of directors in a deal that would value it at roughly $5.2 billion.

  • December 19, 2025

    J&J Hit With $66M Verdict In Minnesota Mom's Asbestos Case

    A Minnesota jury Friday awarded a mother of three $65.5 million following a 13-day trial in her lawsuit that claimed Johnson & Johnson's talc products exposed her to asbestos and contributed to cancer in her abdominal lining, the mother's attorneys announced.

  • December 19, 2025

    Trump's Cannabis Order: The Impact On Hemp And Research

    President Donald Trump's executive order Thursday reignited an administrative process to reclassify marijuana as a less restricted drug, but its provisions touching on cannabis research and hemp-derived CBD are less obvious.

  • December 19, 2025

    Amazon Settles Customer's Heating Pad Burns Claims

    Amazon has reached a deal ending a lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for second-degree burns and an infection a woman suffered after using a heating pad she purchased on the platform, sold to her by a third party.

  • December 19, 2025

    Ill. Judge Trims Claims Over Mondelez Cocoa Sourcing Label

    A California consumer can pursue claims that Mondelez International illegally led customers to believe that the snack giant sources its cocoa ethically, but only for Oreo and Toblerone products, an Illinois federal judge ruled.

  • December 19, 2025

    NY Judge Urged To Deny Pot Club Owners' Reconsideration

    A New York federal judge shouldn't reconsider an order that allowed state law enforcement to continue conducting searches and seizures of Empire Cannabis Clubs locations and shutting them down, state officials argued Friday, saying the business owners failed to add anything new for the court to examine.

  • December 19, 2025

    Chemical Co. Workers Stole Trade Secrets, Seattle Jury Says

    Three former employees of Silver Fern Chemical Inc. misused the Washington-based distributor's trade secrets when they took proprietary customer information to work for a rival business, a Seattle federal jury said in awarding the company $1.9 million for lost profits.

  • December 19, 2025

    Florida Supreme Court To Review Pot Legalization Effort

    The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to weigh whether a new proposal to legalize retail marijuana via ballot initiative complies with the state's constitution.

  • December 19, 2025

    BigLaw And Boutiques Both Shine In 2025's Top 10 Deals

    A tight circle of elite law firms guided the way as megadeals roared back with force in 2025, while a small group of specialist and international firms also made their mark across global transactions spanning infrastructure, gaming, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence and energy.

  • December 19, 2025

    Calif. Ex-Customs Broker Sentenced For Tax, Wire Fraud

    A California man was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after being indicted this year on federal fraud charges and one count of tax evasion, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • December 19, 2025

    9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

    The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

  • December 18, 2025

    The Biggest Rulings From A Busy Year At The 1st Circ.

    The nation's smallest federal appellate panel punched above its weight in 2025, grappling with numerous suits against the Trump administration, high-profile criminal appeals, a $34 million legal fee bid and a hotly contested kickback law.

  • December 18, 2025

    ITC Clears Toy Gun Imports, Will Review Smart Rings, Vapes

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has had a busy week in intellectual property, determining a series of toy gun imports don't infringe Spin Master patents licensed to Hasbro, instituting reviews requested by companies including Ouraring, AbbVie and Juul, and receiving several new complaints.

  • December 18, 2025

    Instacart Will Pay $60M Over FTC's Deceptive Delivery Claims

    Instacart has agreed to pay $60 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission claims it deceptively advertised "free delivery" on customers' first orders while charging a service fee and for not clearly disclosing the terms of its subscription membership.

  • December 18, 2025

    Amazon Can't Shed Class Status In Virtual Try-On Privacy Suit

    A Seventh Circuit panel has affirmed an Illinois district judge's certification of a class of more than 100,000 Amazon shoppers who accuse the e-commerce giant of illegally collecting and preserving their facial geometry data when they used the company's virtual try-on feature to preview products such as makeup and eyewear.

  • December 18, 2025

    Feds Say PE Firm Founder Funded Wife's Co. With $50M Fraud

    The managing partner of a New Hampshire-based private equity firm was indicted for allegedly fraudulently soliciting over $50 million in investments for purported health and wellness companies, using the money to support his personal image and wife's skincare brand instead of properly paying investors and employees.

  • December 18, 2025

    Trump Order Rallies Cannabis Industry, Advocates Want More

    The executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, marking the most substantial shift in federal cannabis policy in over half a century, is expected to have favorable ramifications for the marijuana industry even as it falls short of decriminalizing the drug or resolving the many tensions between federal and state law.

  • December 18, 2025

    Judge Wants Live Nation Antitrust Trial Limited To 5 Weeks

    A New York federal judge nudged the Justice Department and Live Nation during a hearing Thursday to limit next year's antitrust jury trial against the live entertainment giant to no more than five weeks, not the eight the government wants, although he left open the possibility for more time.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

    The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

  • December 18, 2025

    Amazon Loses Bid To Upend AlmondNet's $136M Patent Win

    A Texas federal judge has denied Amazon's attempt to overturn a $136 million judgment against it, saying online advertising company AlmondNet had produced enough evidence to back a jury's verdict that Amazon infringed AlmondNet patents covering online ad space auctions.

  • December 18, 2025

    Apollo Could Fetch $12B For Atlas Air, And More Rumors

    The past week saw no lack of chatter about potential sales, backdoor discussions, fundraises, initial public offerings and activist investor power moves.

  • December 18, 2025

    EU Approves Bakery Biz Deal With Plant Sales

    European enforcers approved Belgian food group Vandemoortele's proposed acquisition of Délifrance SA from French grain cooperative Vivescia, conditioned on the sale of two production facilities for frozen dough products.

  • December 18, 2025

    Menards To Pay $4.25M To End 10 States' Deception Probe

    Menards Inc. will pay $4.25 million to resolve 10 states' investigation into allegedly deceptive marketing tactics they say the Midwestern home-improvement giant used while advertising its merchandise credit check program.

Expert Analysis

  • The Legal Issues With AI Agents In Consumer Transactions

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    Enabling artificial intelligence agents to handle not just research and recommendations, but the execution of purchases themselves, fundamentally alters commercial relationships and introduces new practical and legal questions for card issuers, merchants, acquirers and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Wash. Email Subject Line Ruling Puts Retailers On The Hook

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    The Washington state Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Old Navy, finding that a state law prohibits misleading email subject lines, has opened the door to nationwide copycat litigation, introducing potential exposure measured not in thousands, but in millions or even billions of dollars for retailers, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • 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.

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