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Monthly Archives: August 2011
A woman representing herself in court is taking on Rupert Murdoch’s empire News Corp. and, at least for now, appears to be winning. The case involves one of the first social media sites to make it big, MySpace. Julie Riggs created a service back in 2006 that dealt with a common problem people using social media face – are their favorite celebrities’ pages actually the celebrities or someone just impersonating them? A man pretending to Johnny Depp complained to MySpace after Riggs flagged his page as being non-genuine. He said that Riggs was harassing him, and, in response, MySpace removed Riggs’s page and service. Riggs sued News Corp., alleging negligence, breach of contract, emotional distress and fraud. At the trial level, the court found in favor of News Corp., but now the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, is letting her claim of breach of implied contract…
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Trade secrets and intellectual property are particularly important in investment and money-managing firms. The success of these firms may be tied to just a handful of prescient employees or computer algorithms. If either leaves a company, the company’s downfall may soon follow. This type of situation is playing itself out in a Los Angeles court in the trial of TCW Group Inc. versus its former investment chief, Jeffrey Gundlach. TCW accuses Gundlach of plotting with several other workers to steal the company’s trade secrets and start a rival management firm. TCW’s lawyer described the case in his opening statement as, “They tried to seal an entire business from TCW worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” What tipped TCW off to possible devious behavior was when, just after a month after firing Gundlach, half of TCW’s fixed-income professional advisors left the firm to join Gundlach’s new firm. Gundlach had been a…
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Young men and women clothing retailer Forever21 has faced lawsuits in the past from designers claiming that the chain ripped off some of their clothing designs. Designers have claimed multiple times that Forever21 had copied their designs and then sold cheaper versions in Forever21 stores. Indie clothing line Feral Childe is suing Forever21 for selling a print pattern on clothes that is quite similar to a Feral Childe print. Feral Childe appears to be taking a more aggressive approach than past companies alleging infringement by Forever21. It has sued Forever21 as well as its suppliers. In previous lawsuits, Forever21 has avoided trials and judgments against it by claiming that its suppliers do all the designing and producing. It is clear that Forever21 is the company and brand behind the products in its stores. In other words, consumers are not likely to be confused that the product they are purchasing is…
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