competition through litigation – Overlawyered

“Plaintiffs are only allowed one bite at the sno-ball.”

Walter Olson — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 16:11:06 +0000

For those who like judicial puns and wordplay, it’s on display in this Fifth Circuit decision on litigation between competitors in the southern Louisiana frozen confection business. [New Orleans Times-Picayune]

Tags: competition through litigation, humor, Louisiana, restaurants

“Plaintiffs are only allowed one bite at the sno-ball.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“When you say our product is better than yours, that is false and misleading.”

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:58:27 +0000

LARP foam arrow charges keep flying [Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica]

Tags: competition through litigation

“When you say our product is better than yours, that is false and misleading.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“SawStop suit stopped”

Walter Olson — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:18:04 +0000

Last month federal district judge Claude Hilton dismissed an antitrust suit filed against rival makers of table saws by SawStop, a company that has patented a table saw with innovative safety features. “Hilton’s ruling, while a blow to SawStop, has no legal bearing on the company’s efforts to get the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require the use of their technology on most table saws sold in the U.S.” Trial lawyers at Boies Schiller and elsewhere have also filed numerous product liability suits against makers of conventional saws; many saw users prefer to go on buying conventional saws, which are much less expensive, in preference to using the SawStop system [David Frane, Tools of the Trade, background; earlier]

Tags: antitrust, competition through litigation, competition through regulation, CPSC, product liability

“SawStop suit stopped” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Unsurprising small business news

Walter Olson — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 12:33:06 +0000

Federal false-advertising law allows competitors (not just consumers claiming loss) to sue companies over allegedly false or unsubstantiated ad claims. Long-established result that will surprise only newcomers: big guys use the law to beat up little guys, as well as each other. “In March, a Supreme Court ruling widened the range of businesses that can sue other companies for false advertising under the federal Lanham Act, by allowing businesses that aren’t direct competitors to pursue claims.” [WSJ via Lexology]

Tags: advertising, competition through litigation, cosmetics

Unsurprising small business news is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Ex-Palm CEO: Steve Jobs threatened patent suit if we kept recruiting his employees

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:28:25 +0000

“I’m sure you realize the asymmetry in the financial resources of our respective companies when you say: ‘We will both just end up paying a lot of lawyers a lot of money.'” [TheVerge.com]

Tags: Apple, competition through litigation, patent litigation

Ex-Palm CEO: Steve Jobs threatened patent suit if we kept recruiting his employees is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Free Google Maps unfair to paid competitors, France rules

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:23:13 +0000

At Cato at Liberty, I find that uncannily reminiscent of a famous Bastiat parody (& IEA, Tim Worstall).

More from Coyote: “left unsaid is how they would jack up their prices when at least two other companies (Bing, Mapquest) also provide mapping services online for free.” But note that the French case arose not from Google’s furnishing of its free map service to individual end customers, but from its furnishing of its map API to businesses that typically adapt it for use in their own sites; as commenters at BoingBoing and Reddit as well as news reports point out, Google has indeed introduced fees for its largest business users of this type (which has caused some of them to adapt by switching from Google’s API to OpenStreetMap, a free wiki-based map service).

Tags: antitrust, competition through litigation, France, Google

Free Google Maps unfair to paid competitors, France rules is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Beet sugar interests sue over “corn sugar” coinage

Walter Olson — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:29:31 +0000

Public-spirited litigants Western Sugar Cooperative, Michigan Sugar Company and C & H Sugar Company, Inc., have filed a lawsuit charging corn refiners with false advertising in their recent campaign to relabel high-fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar.” “The sugar producers seek an injunction to end the advertising campaign and also seek damages, including compensation for corrective advertising.” [PR Newswire]

Tags: advertising, competition through litigation, eat drink and be merry

Beet sugar interests sue over “corn sugar” coinage is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A case of sour cranberries?

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:17:27 +0000

Ocean Spray sues a competitor over its alleged involvement in a social media campaign. [Charlie Mead, AmLaw Daily]

Tags: competition through litigation, social media

A case of sour cranberries? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Suing critics, competitors not a winning business strategy

Walter Olson — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:06:37 +0000

Or at least it wasn’t for one video firm [Paul Alan Levy, Consumer Law and Policy]

Tags: bullying businesses, competition through litigation, online speech, trademarks

Suing critics, competitors not a winning business strategy is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Anyone with money can sue anyone [with] less money and put them out of business”

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:17:37 +0000

“It doesn’t matter whether you have a case or not.” Reflections on legal friction between competing websites that assist in bringing reporters together with sources [Alain Raynaud, FairSoftware, via Pete Warden]

Tags: competition through litigation

“Anyone with money can sue anyone [with] less money and put them out of business” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system