Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1) provides that a court may relieve a party from a final judgment due to “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect[.]” Rules 60(b)(2)-(5) provide more narrowly tailored reasons for relief, ranging from newly discovered evidence to fraud and void judgements. Rule 60(b)(6), however, serves as a catch-all provision providing relief “for any other…
The House of Representatives passed the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0” or “the Act”, HR 2954) on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The Act now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to have significant bipartisan support.
SECURE 2.0 builds on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE Act”, PL 116-94) signed into law in December 2019, which was enacted to…
The Ohio Revised Limited Liability Company Act (“Revised Act”), signed into law on January 8, 2021, became effective Friday, February 11, 2022. The Revised Act applies to all LLCs registered to do business in Ohio, whether formed before, on, or after the effective date. Completely restating the existing Ohio Limited Liability Act (“Prior Act”), the Revised Act modernizes Ohio’s LLC law with a…
Read about the new COVID Rules in these two blogs:
CMS Issues Draft Interim Final Rule Regarding Mandatory COVID Vaccines
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a draft of its long-awaited interim final rule (“IFR”) regarding mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations, which is expected to be formally published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021. Read more here.
Federal trademark owners can provide added protection for their mark by recording the registration on the Principal Register with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”). This cost-effective method helps address infringing products imported into the United States. In 2020, CBP seized 26,503 shipments of counterfeit goods worth more than $1.3 billion. The CBP also arrested 203 individuals,…
In a landmark decision issued in June 2021, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in National Collegiate Athletic Assoc. v. Alston that the NCAA and eleven Division I conferences violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits restraining certain trade or commerce. The case led almost immediately to a new NCAA interim policy that allows student athletes from all three…
Virginia and Colorado have passed legislation that will implement data privacy laws in 2023. Both the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) and the Colorado Privacy Act (“CPA”) are similar to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and the recently passed California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) in their aims and goals. However, key distinctions amongst the privacy bills will…
On June 21, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States changed the collegiate sports world by rendering an opinion in the NationalCollegiate AthleticAssociation (“NCAA”) v. Alston, which ultimately will allow student athletes to be presented with education-related benefits outside of what the NCAA has historically permitted. While this opinion surely will be cited in future litigation that aims…
The United States Supreme Court today again upheld the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) with a 7-2 vote, rejecting a challenge to the law by Republican-led states. In a decision by Justice Breyer, the Court reversed a lower court ruling that the law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. The Court did not reach the merits of the case but held that the challengers did not have legal standing to sue.…
The United States trademark system has slowed to a crawl the last two years thanks to increased applications, a global pandemic, and economic turmoil. Before Covid-19 struck, trademark registrations typically took about a year to process. Now the process takes longer than ever, but you may take several steps to ensure your application proceeds as quickly as possible.
On March 11, 2021, the West Virginia Legislature completed legislative action on Senate Bill 272, the West Virginia Employment Law Worker Classification Act. The Employment Law Worker Classification Act (the “Act”) establishes a single, statewide standard to evaluate whether an individual providing services to a business is an independent contractor or a bona fide employee. The Act will now head…
The president signed into law a multi-trillion-dollar spending and relief package which includes the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TM Act of 2020), making several technical changes to the Lanham Act. The new rules could fundamentally alter how intellectual property owners protect and enforce their rights.
In the United States, with some limited exceptions, a trademark must be used to…
