Days before the case was scheduled to go to trial, national department store chain Nordstrom, Inc., opted to settle the Title VII lawsuit brought against it by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which the EEOC alleged Nordstrom violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…
The Virginia Business Litigation Blog
Fairfax County Jury Awards $3.2 Million to Injured Shopper
As reported in the Washington Post, a jury trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, resulted in an award of $3.2 million in damages to a 36-year-old Arlington resident who was injured while shopping at IKEA’s Potomac Mills store. On July 28, 2006, as the shopper stopped near the store’s exit to…
Trademark Litigation Between Coke and Pepsi Enters Another Round
On Monday, the company that owns Gatorade (a Pepsi subsidiary) filed suit against Coca-Cola and Energy Brands, accusing them of false advertising and other unfair competition in connection with its two-week advertising campaign for Coke’s Powerade ION4 sports drink. In the advertising campaign, Powerade (which continues to be marketed as…
D.C. Sues Computer Leasing Companies for Fraud Scheme
D.C. has brought an action in D.C. Superior Court against several computer-leasing companies, charging them with deceiving numerous church congregations into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for unneeded or broken computer equipment. In the lawsuit, filed last Wednesday, the city claims that United Leasing Associates of America, Television Broadcasting…
Virginia Court Gives Cybersquatter “The Maximum”
Apparently there are still some people who think they are being clever by registering domain names confusingly similar to trademarks or domains used by existing companies, hoping to capitalize on the confusion. And what better target than Citibank, a giant company with an easily misspelled name! Judge Hilton of the…
Google’s Lucrative Adwords Program May Violate Trademark Rights
Trademark owners take note: whether or not you participate in Google’s Adwords program to advertise your business, your competitors may be using your trademark as a keyword in promoting their competing business. Google not only allows this potentially infringing practice, it encourages it! The company actively and openly sells competitors’…
What Is Harassment?
So you want to sue your boss for harassment. For years, you have put up with his antics, but now you’ve had enough. He has humiliated you in front of your co-workers, berated you for trivial things, and insulted you. Basically, he is a jerk. But do you have grounds…
What Is A Trademark?
A trademark is a type of intellectual property that generally consists of a distinctive sign or indicator used to identify the originating source of the products associated with the trademark, so that consumers can distinguish the trademark owner’s products from those originating from other sources. Section 45 of the Trademark…
Virginia City Settles Race Discrimination Claim
The Virginia city of Portsmouth agreed to settle a race discrimination case brought by the Department of Justice on March 25, 2009, the same day the suit was filed. In the lawsuit, the DOJ accused the city of discriminatory hiring practices against African Americans in its hiring of entry-level firefighters,…