Pipe dreams of trademark protection for marijuana go up in smoke . . . On April 20, 2010 the USPTO issued a federal service mark registration to Sunny Chan d/ba Good Leaf Collective for the mark GOOD LEAF COLLECTIVE for “Retail store and on-line retail store services featuring medical marijuana”. Ironically (and probably much to the delight…

On June 23, the Obama Administration approved $1.5 billion in “Hardest Hit Fund” foreclosure-prevention funding for state Housing Financing Agencies. The funding is meant to support struggling homeowners in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada. President Obama established the “Hardest Hit Fund” in February 2010 in order to provide aid to those most affected by…

The Supreme Court recently held in City of Ontario v. Quon that in certain circumstances an employer has the right to read text messages sent from and delivered to a pager issued by the employer to one of its employees. While reading employee text messages may generally violate the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against “unreasonable searches and seizures,”…

On May 28th, the House passed H.R. 4213, the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.” The Act addresses an array of issues, but has particular signficance for certain partnership and LLC “carried interests” for investment fund managers. If it goes through, the Act would prevent investment fund managers of venture capital, private equity, hedge…

In the recently decided case of Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2004 district court’s decision to certify a class that could potentially consist of 1.5 million women employed by Wal-Mart since 1997. Through this gender discrimination class action, the employees seek back pay, declaratory relief, and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs allege that…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued Regulatory Notice 10-22 on April 20, 2010. The notice, which came in light of recent abuses in Regulation D offerings, was intended to be a reminder to broker-dealers of their obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation of the issuer and the securities they recommend in offerings made under…

In order to initiate an infringement action in federal court, the Copyright Act requires the litigating party to hold a copyright registration. While the circuits are split on what constitutes a copyright registration, the Ninth Circuit recently joined the Fifth and Seventh Circuits in Cosmetic Ideas v. IAC in holding that anapplication for copyright registration suffices for a…

The Department of Labor recently published a poster listing employees’; rights under the National Relations Labor Act (NRLA). The notice, which Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to display in a conspicuous location, informs employees that under the NRLA they are guaranteed: the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers; the right to engage in…

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) with its implementing regulations, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) (in effect since April 21, 2000), have served as the primary law in the U.S. for protecting personal information about children online. It’s a gross understatement to state that the Internet is a different world than what…

We all can agree that Barbie is a famous brand, regardless of what we may think of her or the thin values she espouses. Barbie dolls have been around since May 9, 1958. The first Barbie trademark registration (Reg. No. 0,689,055) for a “doll” was issued on December 1, 1959. This is interesting because “doll”…