Blackletter

Nike filed suit on January 15th, 2021, against an LA-based manufacturing company “La La Land Production & Design Inc.” over supplying fake “Dunk” sneakers. This suit follows one month after Nike Inc. settled a lawsuit against Los Angeles streetwear designer Warren Lotas, who sold the fake Dunk sneakers. La La Land stated it had functioned only as a manufacturer for Warren Lotas and had been indemnified by him against such claims.

In this episode, Tom Dunlap chats with Heinan Landa, President & CEO of Optimal Networks, about how law firms can modernize their use of technology to better meet the changing world's needs. Listen in as they cover topics such as using and adopting technology as a tool,  transitioning to new tech, and what etiquette to follow on new technology.

Today, we're going to talk a little bit about the law in DC for carrying a handgun and why? Well, because we had the Capitol riots recently and there were more than 70 at the time of this recording and probably now more than 100 are under investigation. It's black letter law in DC, and everybody here knows it. This is DC official code 22-4504.01, which is federal law because Washington DC is still a military district. It says, "You must be licensed to carry a firearm in the district concealed while open carry is prohibited. However, there are exceptions for legally registered firearms."

What will happen to the Trump defamation lawsuits once he is not the President?  Multiple women have claimed that Trump has sexually assaulted them in the past. But two of them are actually suing the president or the former president for defamation after he's denied those claims. Both cases were stayed because the president's lawyer said he's immune. What happens to that appeal now that he's no longer president and the Justice Department can't step in and represent him as a sitting president? 

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has decided that a proposed mark incorporating the name “Trump” may not be federally registered as a trademark. Relying on the Lanham Act  that doesn't allow registration of any mark that identifies “a particular living individual” without that person’s consent, the TTAB refused to register “Trump Too Small” for use on T-shirts and other apparel.

On this special episode of The Blackletter Podcast, we highlight the best of seasons one through five! Topics include business development and marketing, legal issues in independent film making, political consulting, immigration, corporate law, corporate finance, commercial lending, non-competes, and more.

A company called Harrison/Erickson created the Phillie Phanatic way back in 1984. Harrison/Erickson sold the Phillie Phanatic to the Philadelphia Phillies for $215,000 back in 1984. However, they argue that under a section of the copyright act, they had the right to renegotiate those terms, and have since August of 2019 been in a lawsuit with the Phillies, or one new lawsuit or another since then. The Phillies of course said they have the rights to continue using the Phanatic, and it all came to a head this last spring in spring training, when the Phillies debuted a new version of the Phanatic, which they call a derivative work, which they say, the Phillies say, gives them the right to use the new version of the Phanatic Harrison/Erickson, the company that designed the original Phanatic, actually say that they don't and that it's not a derivative work, but that it's a knockoff, and that they're entitled to additional damages. The Phillies have responded to Harrison/Erickson's allegations or statements that that company has already been paid a million dollars for the Phanatic, And it's not like they're stealing it, they paid Harrison/Erickson in good faith.

Thousands of people got an email from Airbnb a couple of weeks ago, and they made maybe a $15,000 mistake. At least one man did according to an article by NPR. Airbnb went through its initial public offering, and its stock price more than doubled almost instantly. Now, tons of Airbnb hosts who had received an email a couple of weeks ago offering them a chance to buy stock ahead of the IPO are kicking themselves for missing out and missing the email.

Today a US appeal court is going to hear an appeal challenging the order that blocked the TikTok app from the store. Now that ban at least blocking it entirely from the App Store and blocking the users was stayed by another appeals court judge or a district court judge in September 27th. However, absent some kind of result from this appeal the TikTok app will be blocked.

President Trump empowered the Justice Department to enforce that order a couple of weeks ago and TikTok, which has over a hundred million US users could soon be blocked. They have yet to finalize and close a deal with Walmart and Oracle that are in talks with TikTok to shift the US assets into a new entity that is aimed at satisfying President Trump's divestiture order. 

Tom Dunlap chats with Marissa Levin, co-founder of Successful Culture International, 20-year entrepreneur and speaker, on how to facilitate an engaged, inclusive virtual culture. We also discuss the important qualities leaders must implement in order to retain and grow employee trust in these isolating times.