Posts by blrme

By: Catrina Crittenden In March 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the formulation of a working group to address longstanding concerns over the seed industry’s anti-competitive behavior.[1] This inquiry into the U.S. seed industry and its possible antitrust violations are long overdue considering the ongoing food crisis.[2] Experts project food insecurity, or lacking access…

  By: Sarah Benjamin After the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio last month, many residents are retaining lawyers due to serious health and safety issues.[1] Norfolk Southern Railway (“Norfolk Southern”) has pledged that it will take steps towards better safety and compliance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations.[2] However, railroad companies have usually not been…

By: Rafael Andino The National Football League (“NFL”) will face an antitrust class action lawsuit[1] over the structure of its “Sunday Ticket” package through DirecTV, which forces customers to choose between buying either every out-of-market football game or none at all.[2] The Sunday Ticket customers leading the lawsuit seek to dismantle the licensing arrangements responsible…

By: Cooper D’Anton On March 16, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) added discrimination to the list of factors evaluated under its unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (“UDAAPs”) examination procedures.[1] The Dodd-Frank Act (“The Act”), which makes it unlawful for consumer financial services providers to engage in unfair, deceptive or abusive acts…

By: Sarah Benjamin Many shoe companies, famously including Nike and Adidas, are continuously ripping off designs from other shoe companies to keep up with the demand of consumers.[1] Because of the demand for fast fashion, companies such as Zara have created their business models off of minorly adjusting or changing designs from other brands, then…

By: Elizabeth Sloop In a revenue-based financing (“RBF”) transaction, a business raises capital by paying investors a percentage of the gross margin in exchange for their investment.[1]  RBF differs from both debt and equity financing and is generally considered to be a hybrid between these two traditional methods of raising capital.[2]  Because RBF is uniquely…

  By: Isabel Thelen Copyright infringement in song lyrics and composition has started to become ever-present in recent years.[1] Oftentimes, when an artist is asked about their songwriting process, the artist attributes it to a melody that suddenly came to them while dreaming, grocery shopping, or some other mundane daily activity.[2] However, what happens when…

By: Rafael Andino As of the beginning of September 2022, NBA superstar Luka Doncic has been in a trademark dispute with a rather unlikely party: his mother, Mirjam Poterbin.[1] The Dallas Mavericks guard has made an effort to register a new trademark, his name and a “Luka Doncic 77” logo through the United States Patent…

By: Cooper D’Anton In a discrete no-action letter last fall, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) staff applied the disclosure Rule 15c2-11 (“15c2-11” or “Rule”) to fixed income securities – including those in the $5 trillion Rule 144A (“144A”) private placement market – for the first time in the Rule’s 50-year history.[1] Staff intends to…

By: Scarlett Keane SPACs are the hottest IPO tool available for corporations today.[1]  SPACs, or special purpose acquisition vehicles, are shell companies designed to issue an initial public offering before acquiring a target company to bypass much of the regulation in accordance with an IPO for an existing company.[2]  Within a few months of the…