Posts by blrme

By: Emily Siguenza The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for businesses, particularly restaurants and bars.[1] State and local governments imposed shutdown orders that required many restaurants and bars to suspend or limit their operations.[2] These restrictions placed substantial financial pressure on business owners who lost revenue while continuing to face ongoing expenses.[3] Several North Carolina restaurants…

By: Francesca Jaubert The Department of the Treasury recently imposed new sanctions on businesses and individuals associated with different sectors of the Iranian economy with the goal of weakening the Iranian regime’s access to financial markets.[1] Nicknamed “Economic D-Day”, this sanctions program focuses on designating specific individuals to further “U.S. national security or foreign policy…

By: Leila Edouard On August 19, 2026, the FTC made a proposed enforcement policy statement intended to enforce disclosures against any deceptive or unfair personalized pricing practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.[1] Personalized pricing is the practice of collecting and using a consumer’s personal data to set individualized prices based on…

By: Simone Regis The Women’s National Basketball Association (“WNBA”) and two Major League Baseball (“MLB”) teams’ clash over trademark registrations boils down to the significance of one three-letter word.[1] In March 2025, the WNBA registered its “The W” trademark and sparked contention with two MLB teams regarding their own respective registered “W” marks.[2] According to…

By: Lauren Smith The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (“PUMP”) Act requires employers to accommodate employees who express breast milk by providing them with reasonable break time and an appropriate “place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.”[1]  Recent litigation suggests that…

By: Salvatore Saltarelli The Delaware Supreme Court’s recent decision in Paramount Global v. Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer ex rel. Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island[1] offers a sharp lens into two enduring tensions in corporate law: the risks posed by indirect control structures and the evidentiary thresholds governing books-and-records demands under Section…

By: Ryan Burgan In early 2026, the White House social media accounts used two trademarks of the Pokémon Company in their posts: the iconic stylized Pokémon text that has been associated with the company since the 1990s and the stylized text for a new 2026 Pokémon game called Pokopia.[1] The first post was a TikTok…

  By: Pablo Urioste Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”) are agreements between two governments to afford certain protections to the investors of the other.[1] Designed to increase the flow of foreign direct investment, over two thousand such treaties are currently in force.[2] A key appeal of BITs is access to investor-state arbitration.[3] Arbitration offers impartial third…

    By: Thabiso Faith Mutumhe On March 1, 2026, China’s amended Arbitration Law took effect, marking the first substantive revision of the statute since its original promulgation in 1995 and concluding years of debate over the scope of reform.[1] The amendment was widely anticipated to align Chinese arbitration practice with the United Nations Commission…

By: Khushi Palan As cities grapple with housing shortages and rising rents, local governments are increasingly cracking down on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.[1] Recent regulatory regimes in various countries reflect a growing effort to reclaim control over local housing markets.[2] Airbnb, however, is not a conventional hotel chain operating fixed commercial premises.[3] It is…