Alerts

Football fans get a chance to invest in player brands.

On May 2, 2014, the Eastern District of Virginia1 held that attorneys must inform the Court of any pending Inter Partes Review (IPR) regarding patents asserted in litigation. Failure to do so may violate the general duty of candor and good faith to the Court.

On May 9, 2014, a federal appeals court reversed a California trial court’s determination that 37 API packages that are part of Oracle’s famous Java programming platform were not subject to copyright protection.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently charged two companies — Fandango, LLC, and Credit Karma, Inc. — with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting the security of their mobile apps and failing to securely transmit sensitive personal information over the Internet.

In a decision filed on May 8, 2014, the California Court of Appeals held that patentable ideas, if kept secret, can constitute information protectable by trade secret law.

Often times indenture trustees seek to sit on creditors committees in furtherance of their fiduciary duties to holders. Obviously, the professional fees and expenses can be paid as a first priority pursuant to a charging lien as provided for under the indenture documents.

Fourth Circuit Allows Hostile Work Environment Claim to Proceed Against Employer Based on Third-Party’s Actions.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release yesterday (available here) touting its continued focus on trade associations’ compliance with the antitrust laws.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that reporting companies are not required to describe their products as “DRC conflict free,” having “not been found to be ‘DRC conflict free,’” or “DRC conflict undeterminable,” as originally required in the Conflict Minerals Rule (CMR).

This round includes US export control sanctions on trade in controlled products and technology.

Working conditions of interns have been the focus of a series of unpaid wage actions in New York City and elsewhere.

On April 14, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit stuck down portions of the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Final Rule on Conflict Minerals (Final Rule) as unconstitutional.

It is unlikely that any ruling by a Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ever sparked such nationwide commentary as that of Region 13 Regional Director Peter Sung Ohr in ruling that Northwestern University scholarship football players are “employees” of the University.

Following his recent controversial decision that scholarship football athletes at Northwestern University are employees who can unionize.

By a 2-1 vote, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (the NLRB or Board) ordered a California hospital found to have bargained in bad faith to reimburse the Union for its negotiating expenses and extended the certification year by another 12 month period.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia recently dismissed a former university employee’s claims under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act (the DCHRA) that she was wrongfully discharged for opposing gay marriage.

The Federal Trade Commission alleged that a 2014 promotional contest on Pinterest violated Section 5 of the FTC Act.

On April 3, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order sanctioning those responsible for the conflict in South Sudan. The Executive Order blocks the property and entry of designated entities and individuals.

On April 13, 2014, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) signed a law (S.B. 365) that will limit exposure for employers who hire employees with a criminal conviction history.

In 2009, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which, among other things, extended the statute of limitations for claims against an employer accused of paying an employee less based on her sex.

On February 26, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow the National Security Agency (NSA) to maintain its database of telephone records that would otherwise need to be purged pursuant to its existing data-collection.

Yesterday, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a public notice seeking comment on TextMe, Inc.’s petition for expedited declaratory ruling and clarification filed on March 18, 2014. Comments are due May 7, 2014.

On April 7, 2014, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Maryland Minimum Wage Act of 2014 (the Act), increasing the state’s minimum wage rate to $10.10 per hour by July 1, 2018.

On April 2, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau released the Lifeline Biennial Audit Plan, which establishes a uniform set of audit procedures by which certain Lifeline service providers must be reviewed.