In response to FTC allegations that Reebok made false claims about the health benefits of its EasyTone shoes, Reebok has agreed to a $25 million settlement to refund purchasers.  Anyone who purchased a pair of EasyTone shoes beginning in December 2008 may now apply for a refund through the FTC. Despite these allegations and this [...]

Willa v. Wella. A small start-up company that makes soap for preteens is being challenged by a mega-conglomerate over the name “Willa.”  Procter & Gamble claims that Willa sounds too much like Wella, its own brand of hair care products, and worries consumers would be confused. From The New York Times: “‘There’s no chance here [...]

From AM New York: “City officials have taken extraordinary steps to protect the iconic ‘NYC’ name and other city trademarks — including NYPD and FDNY — by filing lawsuits, firing off hundreds of cease-and-desist letters and cracking down on merchants mixed up with counterfeit goods.”

From The Courthouse News Service: “A happily married straight woman says a photo she took for a salon was uploaded to a stock database and used in several unauthorized ways, such as an advertisement for Match.com’s dating service and an article on coming out of the closet.” Yikes.

Apple seems to always be in the cross-hairs. This time Amazon is taking aim. Firms are going to be spending $4.4 Billion on chips in New York. Not potato, but technology chips. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures is combining its home entertainment and licensing operations. Oh, and Apple again. New iPhone! New iPhone!  

With the Apple iPhone 5 on the brink of release in the next week or so, Apple seems to have run into a bit of trouble with Samsung.  After Apple filed a U.S. patent suit against Samsung in April of this year, Samsung counter-sued in nine other countries alleging that Apple is using some of [...]

Gov. Christie blocks a tax credit for the “Jersey Shore” production company.  Though Christie had previously granted the tax cut for “Law and Order,” he contends that he had an obligation to prevent taxpayers from having to support The Situtation.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, so ancient and fragile that direct light cannot shine on them, are now available to search and read online in a project launched today by the Israel Museum and Google Inc. From CBSNews: “The appearance of five of the most important Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet is part of a [...]

A number of consumer advocates and digital civil rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have filed an emergency petition asking the FCC to review whether a government agency has the authority to close down channels of communication in the event of an emergency.  This petition comes a little over a month after the Bay [...]

In Mexico anyways. From the New York Times: “[A]ccording to scholars and many Mexicans, social media has become a necessity in Mexico, with a mission far different from what has emerged in the Arab revolutions, or in China. In those countries, social networks have been used to route around identifiable sources of repression and to [...]