On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 in Snyder v. United States that a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), does not criminalize “gratuities” to state and local officials—i.e., payments made to those...more
A U.S. District Court judge in Alabama recently ruled that the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) is unconstitutional. The CTA, which was enacted on January 1, 2021, directs the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial...more
- In Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil Inc. et al., the Supreme Court held that a showing of a defendant’s willfulness is not a prerequisite for recovering an infringer’s profits for trademark infringement under the Lanham...more
4/28/2020
/ § 1125(a) ,
§ 1125(c) ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Compensatory Awards ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Lost Profits ,
Remand ,
Remedies ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Vacated ,
Willful Infringement
• The Supreme Court in Murphy v. NCAA ruled 7-2 that a federal law prohibiting states from authorizing sports betting violated the constitutional rule that the federal government may not “commandeer” the states.
• The...more
5/18/2018
/ Anti-Commandeering ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Indian Gaming ,
Indian Gaming Regulation Act ,
Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association ,
NCAA ,
PASPA ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Sports Gambling ,
State Sovereignty ,
States Rights ,
Tenth Amendment
• The Federal Circuit held that the “immoral or scandalous” clause of Lanham Act § 2(a), which prohibits registration of a trademark that “consists of or comprises immoral or scandalous matter,” is unconstitutional under the...more
12/20/2017
/ Appeals ,
Commercial Speech ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Disparagement ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Intent-to-Use ,
Lanham Act ,
Matal v Tam ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Reversal ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
If you read one thing:
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) secured a major appellate victory in its quest to challenge lax corporate cybersecurity practices
- In light of the 3rd Circuit’s decision,...more
9/1/2015
/ Appeals ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
FTC v Wyndham ,
Hotels ,
Section 5 ,
Security and Privacy Controls ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wyndham
The 9th Circuit just denied rehearing en banc in a closely watched decision that declined to adopt a broad interpretation of its influential sister circuit’s watershed opinion in United States v. Newman, 773 F.3d 438 (2d Cir....more