$5.5 Million FTC Settlements for Bamboo Textile and Environmental Benefit Claims Under Penalty Offense Authority
The FTC recently announced that it has reached a $2.5 million settlement with Kohl’s and a $3 million settlement with Walmart for allegedly making misleading representations that textile products were made of bamboo fabric and provided environmental benefits because those products were derived from bamboo. The FTC asserted that the products were, in fact, made of rayon (derived from bamboo), using a chemical process that is harmful to the environment. Continue Reading
Introduction
Our favorite thing about spring [is] spring cleaning. It’s a way to say, “I’m dusting off the winter blues and coming out of hibernation.”… At the office, spring cleaning can take on a whole new meaning. It is a chance to reorganize and refresh your workspace and your workflow. Plus, organizing will actually improve your overall focus and work performance. Don’t believe us? Read on to learn why.
The war in Ukraine has led to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II; more than 3 1/2 million civilians have already been displaced, and some observers expect the number to reach five million as the war continues to unfold. There has been an outpouring of concerned citizens the world over who are hoping to help provide assistance, and a number of brands have launched “cause marketing” campaigns aimed at expressing support for the Ukrainian cause and providing financial assistance to those who are displaced.
On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that certain restrictions on the ability to challenge the validity of patents are enforceable. Without such restrictions, companies that are being targeted by patent owners do not have any restrictions on the various methods of how they can challenge the patents that may later be asserted against them. Keeping all options open on the ability to challenge later asserted patents can be strategically very important within approaches to technology sharing and other discussions. Such patent validity challenges can include the ability to file an Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding before Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and/or filing a Declaratory Judgment (DJ) jurisdiction action in an appropriate federal district court, among other options. Prior to the court’s decision, there was speculation about the enforceability of certain contractual restrictions precluding patent validity challenges all together and/or limiting such challenges to only certain forums. The court has now put that speculation to rest, and parties to technology agreements should be careful not to too easily bargain away their full set of strategic legal options to later defend against patents owned by the opposing contracting party. 
Anti-piracy committee
Hermes recently sued a digital artist for knocking off its Birkin handbag through the issuance of MetaBirkin non-fungible tokens (“NFT”). For those not aware of the filing or related media attention, the artist created fuzzy images of the Hermes Birkin handbag and minted them as NFTs.
Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather were sued in a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on January 7, 2022, over their promotion of the cryptocurrency token EthereumMax (EMAX). The celebrities were named as co-defendants with the creators of the cryptocurrency, and are alleged to have helped bilk millions from investors. 
In Canada, there are practising patent agents and trademarks agents who are not lawyers. They are not admitted to any bar of any province or territory in Canada and are not members of any law society. The College of Patent Agents & Trademark Agents (CPATA) is the recently created regulator of patent and trademark agents in Canada in respect of their agency practises. CPATA regulates agents who are and who are not lawyers. The relevant issue is the privilege which applies to agents who are not also lawyers and in this instance specifically to patent agents who are not also lawyers. 
