LJN Newsletters

The establishment of safe thresholds for human exposure to toxic substances has proved to be among the most controversial issues in the environmental and occupational safety and health arena. This article discusses how the Threshold Limit Values ("TLVs") are typically used in toxic tort litigation, explores the dimensions of the controversy surrounding their use, and addresses a recent industry lawsuit.

There is a general distrust and downright loathing of referees in the sports world. In the legal industry, however, lawyers are learning that the referee can be a powerful ally in deterring litigation and resolving cases early and successfully. While the legal profession will always have its fair share of Bobby Knights and John McEnroes, the referee appears to be gaining the upper hand.

In the wake of a consumer product company's decision to offer revised warning labels for roughly one million of its baby seats, plaintiffs' lawyers have filed at least two new product liability lawsuits against the company and one of the seat's retailers, including a putative nationwide 'economic loss' class action. This 'recall' highlights significant risk management issues for consumer product manufacturers, including a possible 'disconnect' between written warnings and advertising that allegedly depicts improper usage of their products.

Unfortunately, adverse drug reaction reports collected and causality assessments made in the course of post-marketing surveillance have increasingly become fodder for plaintiffs' attorneys attempting to prove causation. Courts, however, properly have precluded plaintiffs from presenting post-marketing surveillance materials, most recently refusing to allow plaintiffs to introduce company causality assessments based on adverse drug reaction reports as evidence of causation and from using these reports and assessments as bases for expert opinions on causation.

Recent news of importance to you and your practice.

Recently, the right of publicity of baseball players featured prominently in a federal appellate decision. C.A.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. The Eighth Circuit concluded that the First Amendment rights to run a fantasy baseball league by using the names, performance, and biographical data of professional baseball players superseded the players' rights of publicity.

In a proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ('TTAB'), if your adversary is a foreign entity with no employees in the United States, can you compel an oral deposition of the entity in this country? 'No,' says the TTAB, through its Manual of Procedure ('TBMP'). 'Yes,' says the Fourth Circuit, relying on '24 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. '24 in Rosenruist-Gestao E Servicos LDA v. Virgin Enterprises Ltd., 511 F.3d 437 (4th Cir. 2007).

For the last several sessions, Congress has considered the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which would expand copyright protection to include the cut and look of fashion designs. This proposed legislation could make many imitative designs illegal and add to the current, although somewhat limited, protections for fashion available under existing U.S. trademark, patent, and copyright laws. This article discusses these currently available protections, provides suggestions for designers for utilizing them, and examines changes to the Copyright Act proposed by the Design Piracy Prohibition Act.