With so much paperwork involved in getting a new employee on board, it's easy to forget a page or two, but doing so could lead to serious legal problems for an employer. Recently there's been a dramatic spike in I-9 audits across the country. Form I-9 is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of employees in the US. [...]
When reading documents from your lawyer, you may find a number of legal terms that you do not recognize. Some of the legal terms you're most likely to encounter when involved in a legal dispute are: Mediation, Arbitration and Trial Mediation is an attempt to settle a legal dispute with the help of an impartial mediator (or referee), who tries to [...]
Trademark infringement and counterfeit products are a serious problem on the Amazon marketplace. In order to help combat these problems, Amazon updated its Amazon Brand Registry last year. This registry allows trademark owners to search for infringements on the site with text and image search and provides a streamlined method for reporting infringements. To qualify for protection on the Amazon [...]
As we've mentioned in previous alerts, even if your workplace has no union employees, it must comply with some of the rules of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Over the last several years, NLRB policies have changed quite a bit, and recently the NLRB's Office of the General Counsel issued guidelines for employee handbook policies. Section 7 of the [...]
Bradley Maule, a photographer, sued Anheuser Busch and Everbrite, a sign manufacturer, over a neon Budweiser beer sign. Maule argued that the sign infringed his photo of the Philadelphia skyline. In 2005, Maule shot a wide-angle color photo of the Philly skyline from the Penn Tower Hotel in West Philadelphia as the sun was setting. A number of prominent buildings [...]
The creator of the popular YouTube video called The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger sued a greeting card manufacturer who sold several honey-badger themed greetings cards, as well as the company that designed those cards. After the video went viral, Christopher Gordon began selling merchandise under the HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE and HONEY BADGER DON'T GIVE A SHIT marks. He obtained [...]
Did you know that Aretha Franklin, whose net worth is estimated at $80 million, died without a will? This is not unusual; she joins such celebrities as John Denver, Prince, Sonny Bono and Tupac Shakur, who have also passed away before taking care of their estate plans. Most people don't like to think about their own mortality, so they put [...]
Last week, two former employees of Nike filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination by Nike. The women are seeking class action status for their lawsuit, which claims that Nike violated the federal Equal Pay Act and related Oregon state laws. The plaintiffs say that Nike hired women at lower salaries than men, discriminated against women during performance reviews and promoted [...]
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 [...]
Federal trademark law requires trademark owners to police their marks. This means that trademark owners must diligently enforce their rights to prevent their marks from being used by others without permission. Although there's no fixed statute of limitations for a federal trademark infringement lawsuit, an infringer can raise a defense known as "laches." The laches doctrine is based on the [...]