Articles

09.09.15

GMOs and Chipotle Chatter

A reporter from NPR contacted me for an article she was writing about the consumer class action lawsuit recently filed against Chipotle based on its GMO claims. The suit alleges that the restaurant chain is misleading consumers because some of the soft drinks it sells contain GMO ingredients, and ...


09.07.15

Federal Circuit Rules for Substance Over Form

A decision that has perhaps not yet received the recognition it deserves is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's June en banc decision Williamson v. At Home Bondholder.It deals with a fairly arcane bit of patent law—"means plus function" claim drafting. As the terms suggests, it ...


09.01.15

Tom Brady, Deflategate and the Legacy of Kenesaw Mountain Landis

If Tom Brady wins his pending court case about deflated footballs, he will have something in common with the eight players who were tried in the so-called Black Sox scandal involving the fixing of the 1919 World Series: it is a little-known fact that those players were acquitted in a Chicago ...


09.01.15

Can You Believe It's Not Mayonnaise?

In 1979, food technologists at J.H. Filbert developed a new vegetable oil-based spread. It looked, tasted, and felt like butter, but it contained no dairy and was not butter. What should they call it? As the story goes, a secretary tried the product and exclaimed: "I can't believe it's not ...


08.27.15

It's Your Copyright. Don't Apologize for Defending It

We live in a world where many share the belief that content is 'free,' while rampant piracy has been significantly curtailed by new legitimate services and business models (like subscription streaming). But, it just ain't so.One of the biggest and pervasive myths is that piracy is actually ...


08.19.15

It's OK to Stay Bullish on MCNs

Multichannel networks have been getting a bad rap this past week as a result of a Recode report that Maker Studios' earn-out from its M&A megadeal with Disney might be less than half the maximum $450 million, which would still give Maker execs and investors a nice little $700 million-plus ...


08.19.15

Guarding Against Bribery When Conducting Clinical Trials Overseas

Clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device companies are generally intended to obtain data to support applications to the FDA for the approval of new drugs or devices or the approval of new indications or uses for currently marketed drugs or devices. In an effort to cut down ...


08.17.15

Will NYSDEC's Audit Agreement for Retail Pharmacies Provide a Path to Increased Compliance?

Federal and state hazardous waste handling and disposal requirements, which were established to address issues related to industrial waste generators and disposal facilities, are often a complicated and awkward fit for retail pharmacies and other "healthcare facilities." Over the past few ...


08.05.15

Can Cooperation Expose a Company to a Defamation Claim?

When faced with allegations of wrongdoing, companies and their outside counsel generally will conduct their own investigation and report their findings to the government. In the past, such a presentation of the facts and evidence tended to be viewed as cooperation, but the government now expects ...


07.29.15

FIFA Avoids Concussions - For Now

Amid its well-publicized legal woes, the Federation Internationale De Football Association recently dodged a legal bullet when, on July 16, 2015, it was dismissed with prejudice from a lawsuit, involving safety issues surrounding concussions in soccer, filed in federal court in the Northern ...