Category Archives: http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post

The Next Great Copyright Act Conference, Berkeley: part 1

Posted on April 3, 2014 by rtushnet

Copyright Subject Matter and Formalities Moderator: Daralyn Durie, Durie Tangri Tony Reese, UC Irvine Law School Revising the © Act will require defining the scope of subject matter; not recently controversial but important threshold question—hard to evaluate rights and remedies … Continue reading →

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It’s an ex-competitor: plaintiff whose service shuffled off this mortal coil lacks standing

Posted on April 1, 2014 by rtushnet

Think Computer Corp. v. Dwolla, Inc., No. 13–CV–02054, 2014 WL 1266213 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 24, 2014) Think is a money service business (MSB) and developer of a mobile payment system platform called FaceCash, launched in April 2010.  Defendants were money … Continue reading →

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Knockout (fruit) punch: Pom class decertified

Posted on April 1, 2014 by rtushnet

In re Pom Wonderful LLC Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, No. ML 10–02199, 2014 WL 1225184 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 25, 2014) In what defendants doubtless hope is a winning trend, the court decertified a class on the ground that it’s … Continue reading →

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tuna surprise: undisclosed slack fill was plausibly misleading

Posted on March 31, 2014 by rtushnet

Hendricks v. StarKist Co., No. 13–cv–729, 2014 WL 1244770 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 25, 2014) Hendricks brought the usual California claims against Starkist alleging that its canned tuna products were underfilled (anywhere from 1.1% to 17.3% less tuna than there was … Continue reading →

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"I wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known" is enough for standing, 9th Circuit says again

Posted on March 31, 2014 by rtushnet

Galope v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., No. 12–56892, 2014 WL 1244279 (9th Cir. Mar. 27, 2014) The court of appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of Deutsche Bank and other defendants.  Galope adequately alleged that she … Continue reading →

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promotion of expensive device for off-label uses not shown likely to deceive

Posted on March 31, 2014 by rtushnet

Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc. v. BTL Industries, Inc., No. 13–cv–05473, 2014 WL 1245222 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 25, 2014) (magistrate judge) Zeltiq sued defendants for allegedly falsely advertising that a BTL medical device was FDA approved for fat reduction and body contouring.  … Continue reading →

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Must false advertising claims always be pled with particularity?

Posted on March 31, 2014 by rtushnet

LT Int’l Ltd. v. Shuffle Master, Inc., 2014 WL 1248270, No. 2:12–cv–1216 (D. Nev. March 26, 2014) Here, the court disapproved a five-page complaint, finding that the false advertising and related claims sounded in fraud but didn’t satisfy Rule 9(b), … Continue reading →

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A mocking Snickers ad and Google v. Garcia

Posted on March 28, 2014 by rtushnet

Sociological Images covers a Snickers ad that apparently shows real women responding to supportive, nonsexist comments from construction workers. “The first thing women do is get uncomfortable, revealing how a lifetime of experience makes them cringe at the prospect of … Continue reading →

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Organic v. natural

Posted on March 28, 2014 by rtushnet

Via an eagle-eyed student, a great video on misleading “natural” claims.  Note that the organization promotes organic products—is it subject to Lanham Act claims by a producer of “natural” foods? http://tushnet.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Relevant to my interests: Jensen Ackles and the right of publicity

Posted on March 27, 2014 by rtushnet

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jensen Ackles is a very attractive man.  So attractive that he tends to show up in a variety of advertising contexts that, I suspect, his agent does not know about.  Consider this example, … Continue reading →

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