Reebok Pays $25 Million For Deception

On September 29, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an Order for Reebok International (RBK) to pay $25 million in refunds to consumers of its EasyTone and RunTone shoes (Reebok Toning Shoes),  and permanently enjoined Reebok  from making claims that such products are effective in strengthening muscles or that wearing such products will result in quantified…

CA AG Gets Aggro Over False Claims of Bottle Biodegradability

The good folks at the Huffington Post last week reported that California Attorney General (AG), Kamala Harris, filed a lawsuit on October 26, 2011 against ENSO Plastics, Balance Water and Aquamantra for making the alleged greenwashing claims that their bottles are “100 percent biodegradable and recyclable.  “Such claims violate California law, specifically California AB 1972, which prohibits the sale of plastic bags, and plastic food and beverage containers that are labeled as “biodegradable,”…

Availability of Software Patents in the US, Europe, Japan, China and India

The ongoing  “patent war” between Google, Apple and Microsoft has brought public attention to the value that these companies perceive in their patent holdings. These companies are aggressively buying patents, hoping to integrate those discoveries with their own, but also to preclude their use by competitors through the threat of patent-infringement litigation. Software patents, are…