Author Archives: rtushnet

divided NY court finds incomplete legal compilation wouldn’t mislead reasonable consumers

Posted on September 21, 2021 by rtushnet

Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, LLP v Matthew Bender & Co., 2021 NY Slip Op 03485, — N.E.3d —-  37 N.Y.3d 169 (Jun. 3, 2021) The plaintiffs were a law firm that handles landlord-tenant actions, a non-profit corporation that … Continue reading →

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competitor’s copying of photos doesn’t inherently inflict competitive harm

Posted on September 20, 2021 by rtushnet

McCleese v. Natorp’s, Inc., 2021 WL 2270511, No. 1:20-cv-118 (S.D. Ohio Jun. 3, 2021) The parties compete in the market for custom landscape design services. “[I]n February 2010, Natorp’s began using approximately 24 of McCleese’s photos on its commercial website.” … Continue reading →

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natural decay of nicotine complicates evaluation of literal falsity of nicotine content claims

Posted on September 20, 2021 by rtushnet

Bidi Vapor, LLC v. Vaperz LLC, 2021 WL 2433642, No. 21 C 1430 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 15, 2021) “The novel question of how the electronic cigarette industry should approach labeling nicotine content in the face of nicotine degradation is both … Continue reading →

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ordinary recalls aren’t commercial advertising or promotion

Posted on September 20, 2021 by rtushnet

Pictsweet Co. v. R.D. Offutt Farms Co., 2021 WL 4034222, No. 3:19-cv-00722 (M.D. Tenn. Sept. 3, 2021) Defendant RDO has a subsidiary, CRF, which was in the business of “producing, preparing, processing and selling frozen vegetables to frozen vegetable producers, … Continue reading →

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Does the Lanham Act cover a campaign to get a particular job?

Posted on September 20, 2021 by rtushnet

Healthcare Integrity, LLC v. Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Servs., Inc., 2021 WL 4129248, Civ. No. 20-750 KG/LF (D.N.M. Sept. 9, 2021) Plaintiffs, a healthcare management company and its individual owner  alleged that a group of medical providers at RMCHCS … Continue reading →

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“recyclable” could be deceptive where local recycling isn’t widespread

Posted on September 17, 2021 by rtushnet

Downing v. Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., 2021 WL 2403811, No. 1:20-cv-11673-IT (D. Mass. Jun. 11, 2021) Keurig allegedly deceptively advertised its plastic single-serving pods as recyclable when those pods were not recyclable according to federal regulations. Keurig allegedly released pods … Continue reading →

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Lost profits aren’t restitution for California UCL purposes

Posted on September 17, 2021 by rtushnet

Lee v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., — Cal.Rptr.3d —-, 2021 WL 2451109, A157657 (Ct. App. Jun. 16, 2021) Lee, on behalf of a putative class of California optometrists with independent optometry practices, brought suit against a competing chain of … Continue reading →

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handful of bad Amazon reviews make Energizer’s false advertising claims plausible

Posted on September 17, 2021 by rtushnet

Energizer, LLC v. MTA Trading, Inc., 2021 WL 2453394, No. 20-CV-1583 (MKB) (E.D.N.Y. Jun. 16, 2021) Along with breach of contract and tortious interference claims, Energizer alleged that MTA falsely advertised by selling batteries with Energizer’s mark and then by … Continue reading →

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independent contractors as agents in creating fake reviews

Posted on September 17, 2021 by rtushnet

RingCentral, Inc. v. Nextiva, Inc., 2021 WL 2476879, No. 19-cv-02626-NC (N.D. Cal. Jun. 17, 2021) The parties are cloud-based communications companies. RingCentral offers voice, virtual private branch exchange, audio and video conferencing, messaging, contact center collaboration, SMS, online meetings, contact … Continue reading →

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TM infringement and false advertising claims related to putative open source software “fork” succeed

Posted on September 16, 2021 by rtushnet

Neo4j, Inc. v. PureThink, LLC, 2021 WL 2483778, No. 5:18-cv-07182-EJD (N.D. Cal. May 18, 2021) Neo4j specializes in graph database management systems. “Neo4j USA’s platform helps organizations make sense of their data by revealing how people, processes and digital systems … Continue reading →

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