Ashley Brandt

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Hi there! I’m happy you’re here. My name is Ashley Brandt and I’m an attorney in Chicago representing clients in the Food and Beverage, Advertising, Media, and Real Estate industries.

Firm/Organization: Ashley Brandt
Blogs: Libation Law Blog

Latest Articles

The buzz started last year when the Louisiana Retail Food and Beverage E-Commerce Task Force met to review and consider home delivery of alcoholic beverages. According to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report piece at the time, both Instacart and Drizly appeared to testify about the growing trend in American lifestyle choices – home delivery of stuff people want. Prior to 2019, the Louisiana legislature killed bills for home delivery. But the bill and service found renewed momentum this year and has passed You can read the enrolled text of HB508 here, which has been sent to Louisiana’s Governor…
Section 55-20 of Illinois’s new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act governs advertising and promotions of cannabis related activities. The verb, advertise is broadly defined under Illinois’s new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act as: “Advertise” means to engage in promotional activities including, but not limited to: newspaper, radio, Internet and electronic media, and television advertising; the distribution of fliers and circulars; and the display of window and interior signs. The act regulates the activity in several ways. Starting with barring any person or establishment from engaging in advertising that contains any statement or illustration that: (1) is false or misleading; (2)…
In what is undoubtedly a nod to recent State action and current pending litigation regarding the interstate transportation of Farm Bill compliant hemp, the May 28th US Department of Agriculture general counsel legal opinion provided some valuable guidance relative to the interstate shipment of hemp grown pursuant to the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. In particular the GC’s opinion clarified the USDA stance on the lawful transportation of hemp grown pursuant to the 2014 Farm Bill and laid out its position regarding 2018 Farm Bill compliant hemp for immediate future when the USDA will be releasing regulations for the 2018…
If you haven’t gotten permission to use copy or pictures that you did not create, or have created for you by an employee or a third-party with a proper work for hire agreement, stop, just stop and go get permission or buy the rights or get a license. A good reminder – Vrachovska v. 8 Degrees Plato Beer Company. You can read the complaint in this case here. The plaintiff, a photographer, brought suit against the craft brewery for copyright infringement alleging the brewery’s website used a picture the plaintiff had taken of a statue of Plato sitting…
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If you’ve been following our pieces on the growler/crowler bill in Illinois, you’ll be happy to know that the bill just passed and is on its way to Governor Pritzker for signature. You can read the bill and see the legislative history here, showing that it passed today. Big thanks to the good folks over at the Olympic Tavern in Rockford for keeping me posted on this and letting be know the minute it passed! Stop in there when you’re in town.…
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It’s official, Illinois just became the latest state to allow for recreational cannabis use. The Illinois House ratified and passed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, sending the bill to Governor JB Pritzker for signature. The act becomes effective once it is signed and that starts the clock on several initiatives, including allowing the dispensaries already licensed under Illinois’s medical marijuana act to convert to recreational facilities. Assuming all goes well, cannabis sales in Illinois will begin on January 1, 2020…
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Consumers should have greater purchasing options from bars and restaurants soon. The law allowing (link to HB 3610) Illinois’s on-premise retailers to fill growlers and crowlers looks certain for passage. We reported on the substance of a different version of this bill at the beginning of April. Legislators introduced a new version augmenting the previous terms but still allowing bars, restaurants, and other on-premise retailers to fill and sell large containers to-go. It passed through the Illinois House and now it has made it through committee and should pass a full Senate vote if called for one, shortly. So what…
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Just in case you didn’t catch it in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Springfield Journal-Register, or the Chicago Tribune, or weren’t following it all day over at the stellar Capitol Fax, the State Senate passed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act yesterday by a vote of 38-17. You can see here that House sponsors have piled on. This should get done this week and then on to the Governor for signature. Pursuant to Section 999-99 of the bill, the Act will become effective upon becoming law.…
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Senator Steans introduced a new version of the proposed Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act yesterday. This one looks like it’s going to make it and the Senator deserves a hearty congratulations on the thing as some criminal justice reform elements to the bill required tweaking to win support of state Republicans and it looks like that has happened. Thankfully we are still in the process of our series on the new bill, so not too much work will go into addressing differences from our older entries – one important change is the home-growing right. It looks like that was…
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We’ll have more on this tomorrow, but for now, we wanted to post the opinion for you to read. The Judge found a likelihood of success on the merits as to some of MillerCoors’ allegations that Bud Light’s ad campaign was misleading and ordered a “limited” injunction – enjoining Anheuser from using the following language in its commercials, print advertisements and social media: • Bud Light contains “100% less corn syrup”; • Bud Light in direct reference to “no corn syrup” without any reference to “brewed with,” “made with” or “uses”; • Miller Lite and/or Coors Light and “corn syrup”…
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It will come as no surprise that no real action has to be taken by Craft Brew Alliance’s Kona Brewing as there wasn’t really a deception here. Here’s the brief filed by class counsel in support of the settlement with all the details and exhibits. At the end, the attorneys are asking for $2,900,000.00 in fees and have estimated that they thing between 78,000 and 546,000 people will file claims, which, if undocumented can net them up to $10.00. Here’s the proposed payout: That 78k to 546k has no basis, they put forth some claimed “comparable” class actions for…
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A little something for everybody. That’s our take on the theme of the new Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. In Part 1 of our series we discussed the new Illinois recreational marijuana statute’s regulation of personal use, home growing cannabis, and possession.That was a boon for the public (and, quite frankly, the whole reason for the statute – authorization of recreational cannabis). In Part 2, we’re covering the little nugget of joy the statute grants to a certain segment of current cannabis industry players in Illinois – the medical cannabis dispensing organizations that are currently licensed and registered…
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They’re looking to get a bill through committee by hastily amending it and then removing a procedural hurdle that would require that the public and the People of Illinois receive notice of a proper hearing and have time to review and submit comment and address legislation that REMOVES THE ABILITY OF EVERY ILLINOIS CITY, TOWN, and VILLAGE TO REGULATE DELIVERY OF ALCOHOL (except Chicago of course), potentially defies Supreme Court precedent regarding taxation, screws over small in-town retailers in favor of large out-of-town retailers, and also still seeks to address only delivery and not shipping. That’s right, legislators are pushing…
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Crain’s Chicago Business ran a listicle by John Pletz this morning entitled the 5 things you didn’t know were in the Illinois weed bill. But what about all the other things you need to know about Illinois’s new marijuana legislation, all the regulations, the licenses, the incentives? We’re going to take the time over the next few weeks to go through the 533 page proposed Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act and discuss Illinois’s foray into cannabis cultivation and dispensing – assuming it passes in a reasonably similar form to what’s proposed in current Senate Bill #7 – starting…
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Back in 2016 we wrote about the Consumer Review Fairness Act passed by congress to protect people’s ability to share “their honest opinions about a business’s products, services, or conduct, in any forum, including social media.” The Act makes it illegal for a company, like a craft brewery, to use a contract provision (this includes doing it in the terms of service on your website) that: bars or restricts the ability of a person who is a party to that contract to review a company’s products, services, or conduct; imposes a penalty or fee against someone who gives a review;…
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In another blow to e-cigarettes that could have repercussions for many industries utilizing vaping technologies, a Federal Judge has ruled that the FDA must move its submission date from its announced 2022 to 2021 to expedite its review of e-cigarette products. The recent e-cigarette ruling finds that the FDA failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act for comment and notice in issuing the guidance that the FDA ultimately issued that gave rise to this suit taking issue with the pace at which the FDA has been progressing: Defendants do not state, even generally, when  the draft guidance will be…