A recent case serves as a good reminder that an employer has an obligation to protect its employees from work-related harassment, even when that harassment doesn’t come from another employee. The Second Circuit case involved a Town Planner who had been harassed by a resident of the Town for many years. That resident repeatedly sent letters and emails to Town [...]
You’re angry. Your employer fired you, or your neighbor plays loud music every day, or you slipped walking into the grocery store. Should you sue? Maybe not. Before filing a lawsuit, there are a number of things you should think carefully about, including these risks. 1. No matter how good your case appears to be, you might lose. 2. Even [...]
R.C. Bigelow, Inc. (Bigelow) is a tea company that sells tea bags filled with true teas (black, green, and oolong) as well as herbal teas. In 2017, Bigelow began including a logo on the back of its tea-bag packages that said, “MANUFACTURED IN THE USA 100% AMERICAN FAMILY OWNED.” Some of the purchasers of those tea bags sued, claiming that [...]
Last month, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Steve Elster, who had applied to register the trademark TRUMP TOO SMALL for use in connection with shirts and hats. The US Patent and Trademark Office had denied registration of the mark based on the “names clause,” a provision of the trademark law that prohibits registration of trademarks that include a [...]
Last week we explained what trade secrets are and how businesses should protect them. Now we’ll address what to do if your trade secrets are misappropriated and how to avoid misappropriating others’ trade secrets. Applicable Laws Both state and federal laws provide remedies for those whose trade secrets are misappropriated (wrongfully taken or used). State laws typically allow trade-secret owners [...]
One of the most valuable assets a business has may be its trade secrets. A trade secret is anything that (i) gives a business a competitive advantage, (ii) has been and continues to be treated as a secret by that business, and (iii) is not generally known in the trade or readily discoverable through public sources. Virtually every business has [...]
This past Monday, the law changed with respect to employees using their Paid Leave Oregon benefits in conjunction with their Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) leave, paid time off (PTO), and workers’ compensation. While the details are too complex to cover in this alert, in many situations, employees will now need to either apply for benefits through Paid Leave Oregon [...]
“Success Kid” is an internet meme based on a photograph Laney Griner took of her 11-month-old son, Sam, trying to eat sand. She uploaded the photo to Flickr in 2007, and it quickly went viral. In addition to widespread use as a meme on social media, the photo has been licensed for commercial use by numerous companies, including Coca-Cola, Virgin [...]
Businesses often want to have a slogan that describes what they’re selling, but in order to be protectable as a trademark, the slogan has to be “distinctive.” That is, it must be used to identify the source of the product or service. If it does not, the slogan “fails to function” as a mark. The Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure [...]
If you endorse products or request endorsements for your products, it’s important for you to know that FTC guidelines require each endorsement to reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. These FTC guidelines give numerous examples of actions that are considered to be endorsements and make it clear that: • Advertisers may not procure, suppress, boost, [...]
