Insights

Washington – June 24, 2024: Crowell & Moring has been recommended in eight practice areas in the 17th edition of the Legal 500 United States. In addition, partner Daniel Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group, has been named to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Government Contracts.

The Federal Circuit recently held that a claim that a product is protected by patents when it is not may constitute false advertising. Defendants in this case, Dawgs Inc., accused the makers of Crocs of using the terms “patented,” ‘proprietary,” and “exclusive” in its advertising in a manner that misled consumers about the nature, characteristics, or qualities of its own products and the products of its competitors. Specifically, Dawgs alleged that Crocs made promotional statements that a patent covers its Croslite shoe material, that Croslite has numerous tangible benefits found in all of Crocs’ shoe products and that, because Croslite is “patented,” others’ products lack these same benefits. Crocs, Inc. v. Effervescent, Inc., No. 2022-2160, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25001 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 3, 2024).

On May 14, 2024, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (the “ACM”) revealed that they were fining Epic Games 1,125,000 Euros for violating “professional diligence,” following ACM’s 2023 finding that the developer of Fortnite created an environment that pressured children into make purchases in its video game. In issuing the fine, the Decision declared that “ACM is making it known that unfair treatment of children in the digital world is particularly grave and will be dealt with severely.” 

Last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings (JBS USA), which together make up the American subsidiary of the world’s largest beef product producer, JBS S.A. The suit alleges that JBS USA engaged in “greenwashing,” misleading consumers about its environmental impact goals. The suit is one amongst many state attorney general lawsuits related to greenwashing or ESG claims, which have spanned across the aisle and been initiated by both Democratic and Republican attorneys general.

A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the reach of U.S. trademark law outside of the country could lead to further litigation by trademark holders looking to push back on those boundaries, says Crowell & Moring partner Preetha Chakrabarti, a member of the firm’s Technology & Intellectual Property Department and the Advertising & Brand Protection Group.

Preetha Chakrabarti, partner, will be a co-panelist at the 2022 ANA Masters of Advertising Law Conference. In her session, "Promoting ESG Performance: Risks and Rewards," she will explore the risks companies face with marketing and advertising ESG claims. As the largest advertising, marketing, and promotion law conference in the U.S., this event brings together top in house counsel from major brands, leading practitioners from America's foremost law firms, and important regulators to discuss key legal and regulatory advertising, marketing, and privacy topics.

Crowell & Moring looks forward to welcoming you to another installment of our Fashion & Beauty Breakfast Series.

Fordham Law School's Intellectual Property Affinity Group will host this panel highlighting women in intellectual property. Counsel Preetha Chakrabarti will participate as a panelist.

Join us for this third webinar in our series aimed at exploring best practices in mergers & acquisitions involving government contractors. In this webinar, we will focus on intellectual property-related issues and risks impacting transactions involving government contractors. Topics will include:

If you’ve heard about the metaverse, avatars, and NFTs but aren’t sure why they’re relevant to lawyers, you’ll want to join us for this webinar. We’ll discuss potential privacy, data security, and intellectual property issues associated with these emerging technologies and the laws that might apply to them.

Combine the COVID-19 pandemic with the already exponential rise in e-commerce, and what do you get? Innovation? Sure. Imitation? Absolutely. With it harder than ever to touch and experience products before purchase during the pandemic, 2021 is poised to be the "Year of the Knockoff."