Supreme Court Settles Circuit Split Regarding Registration Requirement for Copyright Infringement Litigation
Farm wineries’ 8th Circuit Commerce Clause case challenges a state licensing law requiring their wines contain a majority of in-state grapes. BONUS: We’ve got the briefs and oral argument for you.
*UPDATE* – Illinois bill allowing craft distillers greater freedom, self-distribution, and distilling “pubs” passes State House and on its way to State Senate.
Illinois craft brewers could get welcome relief if new bill amending Illinois Beer Industry Fair Dealing Act passes with reforms for craft beer distribution agreements.
Designer Direct v. PNC Financial Services Court Grants Summary Judgment on Breach of Contract Claim Under UCC Provisions — Chicago Business Dispute Lawyers Near Oak Brook
The district court granted summary judgment to a bank on a breach of contract claim where a bank customer was precluded from suing bank for payment of fraudulent checks because customer did not report fraud within 90 days of receiving statement containing copy of first fraudulent check, and account agreement specified that fraud was required to be reported within 90 days.
Designer Direct, Inc. has a bank account with PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Three of Designer Direct’s officers are authorized signers on its bank account. Between October 2016 and May 2017, Designer Direct’s former office manager, Kristiana Ostojic, forged…
Employment Law Update: New Jersey Bans Non-Disclosure Agreements in Employment Settlements — Best Chicago Non-Compete Agreement Lawyers
Employers in New Jersey must review their current policies and practices to ensure compliance with a new statutory prohibition on the inclusion of non-disclosure provisions in employment contracts or settlements involving discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claims. The new law, signed by New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, on March 18, 2019, and effective immediately, states that employers cannot insist that employees keep confidential the details of such claims or settlements. The law makes clear though that it should not be construed as prohibiting employers and employees from entering into non-compete agreements and confidentiality agreements relating to proprietary information, such as non-public …
Illinois may finally be getting a growler law – and bars will be able to fill growlers. Here’s what you might want to know about it.
Here’s the complaint Patagonia filed against Anheuser-Busch over their new “Patagonia” Beer
Yesterday’s Illinois Appellate Court BIPA ruling means Illinois employers need to check their employee arbitration agreements and amend them to explicitly cover privacy claims.
Legislators Respond to Economic Impact of Noncompete Agreements — Top Chicago Non-Compete Agreement Lawyers Near Naperville and Evanston
Although non-compete agreements were originally invented to keep executives from running off to competitors with trade secrets and/or client relationships, many businesses have started taking advantage of noncompete agreements by including them in employment contracts with all their workers – even those at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder.
Workers earning minimum wage (or close to it) doing things like making sandwiches and entering data into a computer system are being made to sign employment agreements that prohibit them from working in any capacity for a similar company. Despite the fact that these are unskilled jobs (often held by…
Recent Survey Reveals that More Doctors are Signing Non-compete Agreements
As fewer physicians are forming their own practices, they are finding one potential disadvantage to hospital or physician group employment: non-compete agreements. Physician employment contracts, particularly for specialists, increasingly include non-compete agreements or non-solicitation agreements (sometimes referred to collectively as restrictive covenants). This can lead to expensive, protracted legal disputes when doctors attempt to leave one physician group for another or desire to form their own practices. Further, many patients lose contact with their doctors when they switch practices. In a recent survey of nearly 2,000 primary care doctors in 5 states, 45% of the physicians surveyed had covenants-not-to-compete…
Even the dead have publicity rights. Don’t put images of famous people on your labels without their permission… or their estate’s.
Idaho passes new contract brewing law. It may be of interest to those lobbying to get one in other states.
State regulators, brewers, vintners and distillers benefit from clear and precise laws detailing functions and rights like contract brewing and custom crush arrangements.
Idaho recently took a step that other brewers looking for clarifying legislation may find helpful in crafting their own state statutes.
The state defined contract brewing through providing definitions of the two parties to such an arrangement:
(d) “Contractee brewer” means a brewer producing fewer than thirty thousand (30,000) barrels of beer in aggregate annually, including any beer manufactured outside the state of Idaho, that enters into a contractual relationship with another brewer to produce beer on…
Mercado v. Verde Energy Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Breach of Contract Claim Alleging that Utilitily Over Charged its Customers — Chicago Business Dispute and Class Action Lawyers
Where a class of consumers sued an energy company for breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrichment, the district court dismissed some, but not all, of the claims. The district court found that the consumers had sufficiently alleged that the energy company violated its agreement to charge rates for electricity based on market conditions and that the consumers had pled a claim for unjust enrichment in the alternative. However, the court found that the consumers failed to allege adequate details of a fraudulent scheme.
Verde Energy USA, Inc. was sued by a class of consumers in federal court for the…
Concerned about CBD regulation? Care about false advertising of CBD products? Get ready for the May 31 FDA hearing on cannabis.
The FDA will hold a May 31, 2019 public hearing to give stakeholders an opportunity to provide the FDA with additional input relevant to the Agency’s regulatory strategy related to existing products, as well as the lawful pathways by which appropriate products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds (including CBD) can be marketed. With a goal of understanding how the FDA can make those legal pathways more predictable and efficient.
Industry members, stakeholders, and others interested in cannabis related products and regulations may provide the FDA the comments and can even ask to make a presentation at the hearing but must…
Can calling your product “local” on advertising or packaging give your competitors a claim against you for false advertising and unfair competition if you don’t meet their definition of “local”?
What’s in a geographic descriptor? Would advertising implying a connection to Hawaii, say, be actionable if a craft beer, craft spirits, or wine isn’t made in Hawaii? What about Japan? You’ll have to ask Kona and Asahi about those issues, but what about saying something like “local” to describe your product when you’re not made in the state where you’re using that language? Turns out that can cost you.
Bimbo Bakeries recently took U.S. Bakery to task for false advertising and trade secret claims. The primary issue we’re concerned with here is that Bimbo accused US of falsely advertising that…