Author Archives: Kenneth Tanji, Jr.

ADA Lawsuits – Updates in the defense of disabled access cases – fall 2011

ADA cases continue to be a problem for California businesses, as shown by a number of recent articles cited below. Until the government takes away more of the profit incentive for these types of cases, more and more ADA lawsuits … Continue reading

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Employment Law – Law clerk exempt from overtime pay because he was classified as a professional employee

Matthew Zelasko-Barrett sued a Northern California law firm, Brayton-Purcell LLP, for not paying him overtime for his work for them as a law clerk after he graduated from law school and before he passed the bar exam.  The California Court … Continue reading

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Copyright Law – RIAA’s $675,000 statutory damage verdict against music downloading student Joel Tenenbaum reinstated

In the latest round of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s quest against college student (now grad student) Joel Tenenbaum for being a prolific unauthorized music downloader, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals recently reinstated a $675,000 verdict in … Continue reading

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Patent Law – Business method software patents undermined by Cybersource case

The recent court ruling in the Cybersource Corporation v. Retail Decisions, Inc., case is a warning that those seeking to patent software-related inventions need to explain how the invention incorporates the use of a machine such that it is patent-eligible … Continue reading

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Fashion Law, Trademark Law – Christian Louboutin’s trademark of red shoe soles runs into a stop sign

Fashion designer Christian Louboutin is well-known for designing shoes with red soles.  When YSL started selling shoes with red soles, Louboutin filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement and asked for an injunction (a court order preventing YSL from selling their … Continue reading

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Employment Law – Employees fired for Facebook or social media post fight back

With Facebook passing the 750 million member mark and other social media such as Google + gaining members at a rapid pace, it is becoming common for employees to be “friends” or connected with co-workers and even their supervisors.  Therefore, … Continue reading

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Right of Publicity – Kim Kardashian accuses Old Navy of stealing her persona

The LT Pacific Law Group blog knows what its readers want, so we have to report on Kim Kardashian’s recently-filed lawsuit against Old Navy (click here for a pdf copy of the lawsuit). Earlier this year, Old Navy released a … Continue reading

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Employment Law – Court rules a man telling another man he wants to have sex with him is not sexual harassment

As a firm that has handled female-on-male sexual harassment cases and male-on-male sexual harassment cases, the recent case of Kelley v. The Conco Companies was of great interest to us. In the Kelley matter, a male apprentice employee said a … Continue reading

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Patent Law – Proving an inventor’s inequitable conduct gets harder

When an inventor applies for a patent, the inventor is supposed to inform the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of all material prior art.  What that means, in very simple terms, is that the inventor has a duty to inform … Continue reading

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Asia-Pacific News – China is transitioning away from the land of cheap products

In one of our recent cases, we heard very interesting off-the-cuff commentary from one of the parties, who essentially said the following.  Chinese companies up until now were satisfied to handle manufacturing for their customers in foreign countries, and their … Continue reading

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