Posts by associatemanagingeditor

By: Caroline Christner Last month, the former “freeport king” Yves Bouvier declared a “complete victory” in the international legal saga encompassing criminal fraud and money-laundering charges that has spanned six years.[1] Since 2015, Bouvier has been entangled in lawsuits from high-net-worth art investors and dealers, most notably the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, alleging that Bouvier…

By: Parker Reynolds In June, Representatives Ken Buck (CO-04) and Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) introduced a bipartisan bill entitled the “Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2021” as H.R. 4193.[1]  The recently presented bill also gained traction and support in the Senate with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introducing an identical version as S.…

By: Aya Abdellatif The investment world has seen unprecedented popularity lately with Robinhood and other apps aimed at new investors.[1] These apps often have bright colored screens, calculate the odds and potentials for certain investment outcomes, and can send congratulatory messages along with features such as confetti, when a user places a trade.[2] All of…

By: Carson Hicks The New York Times published an article last month describing a “revolving door” system between the Department of the Treasury and several top accounting firms.[1]  It outlined nine specific instances where insiders, mostly lawyers from firms such as Deloitte and PwC, took senior regulatory positions in Treasury’s tax policy office, only to…

By: Will Jackson On September 15, 2021, the Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted to rescind the Vertical Merger Guidelines (“VMG”).[1] This decision represents a willingness by the agency to expand the scope of their enforcement actions and to disrupt the previous order of antitrust enforcement, while also creating ambiguity for businesses attempting…

By: Alyssa Taylor Trigger Warning: sexual harassment, suicide. This summer, after two years of investigation, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against the video game company Activision Blizzard (Blizzard).[1] DEFH’s complaint accused Blizzard, the creator of popular games World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Call of Duty of fostering a…

By: Charli Vark The world’s oldest profession has thoroughly ensconced itself in the digital age.[1] Modern sex workers advertise online for any number of services, including mass distributed pornographic videos, anonymous steamy phone sessions, full-service sexual encounters, and more.[2] Many sex workers have escaped job-related violence and coercion by using the leverage of prolonged and…

By: Louis Naiman Online commerce has a toll bridge problem.[1] Technology platforms, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple, use their dominant market positions to impose economic chokepoints on third-party companies and consumers.[2] This past summer, however, the House Judiciary Committee passed a series of bills intended to introduce robust competition into online commerce.[3] To…

By: Riva Smith On July 26, 2021, the iconic ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, filed a notice of opposition against a marijuana company, MJ Munchies, Inc. (“MJ”), with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”)[1].  MJ filed two applications in October 2018 seeking registration for the HALF-BAKED mark covering dessert items and beverages.[2] Ben…