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 indemn...

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...

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 lo...

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....

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 kick...

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...

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.  

Tiger Lily Ventures, a British company was seeking to name their whiskey Lehman Brothers. The trademark lapsed in the U.S. Register. The Barclays failed to renew the trademark in 2013 and Tiger Lily jumped on top of that and filed a trademark for whiskey and beer using the Lehman Brothers name. The argument that Barclay's made about the marks was a) they own the marks, b) the marks are famous and...

Tom Dunlap chats with Mo Bunnell, the founder and CEO of Bunnell Idea Group , about how professionals such as lawyers, doctors and accountants can market themselves and their services. We also discuss his book,  The Snowball System , which is a deep exploration of these topics.  

Kanye was actually sued over a song called Ultra Light Beam. The plaintiffs were Andrew Green and Shirley Green suing on behalf of their daughter, which in the lawsuit, I assume she's a minor, was identified solely as NG, that's November Golf, and somebody named Andrea Green. At the beginning of a song by Kanye, there's a small sample from that work, Ultra Light Beam that involves the NG miner and...

Tom Dunlap chats with David Notowitz, of National Center for Audio & Forensics , and David Ludwig, of Dunlap, Bennett and Ludwig , about how much information is stored in digital evidence and why attorneys need to thoroughly analyze video and audio files the way they do other documents. We also discuss what can go wrong if attorneys don’t do their homework wi...

On November 10th, there is a crazy important case that involves a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, or the ACA. The ACA is the healthcare law that some people call Obamacare. And what's being challenged specifically in this case is something called minimum essential coverage provision. And sometimes you heard it called the individual mandate. What this minimum essential coverage provision says...

Today, we're going to talk about the Netflix lawsuit involving the estate of sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series. The Doyle estate sued Netflix over its making of a film called Enola Holmes. That film is about the 14-year-old fictional sister of Sherlock Holmes. The issue is that most of the Sherlock Holmes stories, at least those published prior to 1923, were found to...

Today, we're going to figure out what the UK thinks about Venezuela's president. Is it Nicolas Maduro or Juan Guaido? There's a question in Venezuela as to who the head of the government is. The United Kingdom officially thinks that it's Juan Guaido. They've said that Maduro has suppressed the local populous and suppressed voters and therefore they issued an official statement saying that Maduro w...

Tom Dunlap chats with Rhonda Miller, partner of Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig, about how to protect your assets during a global pandemic and the presidential election. 

The US Supreme court recently had a big decision when they removed a judge's order, saying that South Carolinians who are voting had to have a witness. A judge in South Carolina said that the state's rule that you had to have a witness before you could send your mail in ballot. The judge ruled that that couldn't stand and he stopped the state from implementing that change, and the Supreme Court st...

Today the question, what happens legally if a candidate or if the president dies before the election day? Well, we all know if the president passes away that the vice president gets sworn in and he sits in that office until the election happens. But what happens if a candidate for president dies before the election happens, can a political party replace a candidate? It seems that the answer is yes...

In Season 4, Blackletter has covered a variety of topics, from nanoparticle technology to the challenges of enforcing non-compete agreements. We discuss how different areas of the law have been affected by COVID 19 and how individuals can navigate these uncertain times. 

Today, we're going to talk about legal issues and going back to school. So the coronavirus, this global pandemic's still going on and some schools are back in session. What does that mean? Well, it means that there's liability. Probably means they're going to be lawsuits. Some schools are having students sign liability waivers and other schools and school districts have said, "We're not doing that...

Today, we're going to talk about the 2020 election and voting in the time of a pandemic. With COVID-19, what does that mean for showing up at the polls?  A little bit of background about how voting laws work. The Elections Clause of the Constitution lets states basically govern their own elections, including for federal office. So when you're voting for president in your local state, your state is...

Tom Dunlap chats with Rob Wray, founder of Blue Star, a senior care technology company, Lisa Roden, owner of Shadow House Media Company, and Aimee McKinney, CMO of Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig. Topics include what Blue Star does, the legality of content creation, and legal advice for new entrepreneurs.  

Listen to today's Minute as we talk about a new rule passed by the labor department last Friday. The new rule revises the definition of healthcare providers that are exempted from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requirement that was passed back in March. The requirement required any business with less than 500 workers to give up to two weeks of paid sick leave to employees affected by...