Business Law and Corporate Law

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently affirmed that a specific shade of bright green (Pantone 2297C) cannot be registered as a trademark for construction tripod legs due to functionality concerns. The decision highlights the complex interplay between color marks, safety features, and competitive disadvantage in trademark law, examining how high-visibility colors serve essential purposes beyond source identification.

The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection has launched a new program allowing businesses and stakeholders to formally identify ambiguities, conflicts, and problems within FTC consumer protection rules. This mechanism provides an unprecedented opportunity for regulated entities to challenge regulatory provisions that may be unclear, outdated, or inconsistent with other legal requirements.

Maryland has amended its franchise registration and disclosure law with changes taking effect October 1, 2026. The amendments extend enforcement authority, expand franchisee claims periods, clarify jurisdictional scope, establish franchisee association rights, and codify a fast-track renewal program for franchise disclosure documents.

Maryland has amended its franchise registration and disclosure law with changes taking effect October 1, 2026. The amendments extend enforcement authority, expand franchisee claims periods, clarify jurisdictional scope, establish franchisee association rights, and codify a fast-track renewal program for franchise disclosure documents.

A foreign franchisor has delivered a compliant Franchise Disclosure Document to a promising Canadian candidate. The fourteen-day period is running. Site selection is underway. Then, eight days in, something happens: the landlord renegotiates a lease term, a key supplier is replaced, an executive who is named in the disclosure document resigns, or the franchisor is served with a claim that did not exist when the FDD was assembled.

International restaurant expansion often generates legal problems before anyone believes there is much legal work to do. A team finds a location and negotiates the lease before confirming that the hours, the liquor service, and the patio are permitted at that address. An executive chef flies in to train the kitchen on a visitor stamp.

The SEC has submitted a rule proposal titled "Executive Compensation Disclosure Reform" to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, signaling imminent changes to executive compensation disclosure requirements. This development follows SEC Chairman Paul Atkins' earlier indication of broader reform plans, including potential simplification of pay-versus-performance disclosure and revisions to perquisite reporting.

The Treasury Department formally declined a request from a group of Senate Democrats to change the tax rules governing how employees value personal use of employer-provided aircraft, preserving the Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) valuation method.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted three significant draft proposed rules to the White House for review, targeting executive compensation disclosure requirements, proxy solicitation procedures, and shareholder proposal regulations. These proposals signal a potential shift toward streamlining compliance burdens and refocusing disclosure...

Corporate legal departments increasingly use third party platforms and managed billing services to review outside counsel invoices. In many cases, the client selects the system and directs its law firms to submit bills through it. Some of these services now use artificial intelligence, automated review, or a combination of technology and human reviewers to examine individual time entries and recommend billing reductions.

After a trial in 2026, Frank Stronach was found guilty of two sexual offence charges for incidents that had occurred some 40 years earlier. Following the conviction, but before sentencing, one of the complainants had a civil lawyer write to Mr. Stronach’s criminal lawyer to threaten a civil claim for damages of almost $1 million

A recent California lawsuit alleges that AI-based employee selection tools discriminated against workers on protected leave and those with disabilities during a reduction in force. The case highlights critical legal risks for employers deploying AI in high-stakes employment decisions, particularly around how AI systems handle productivity metrics for employees who are absent or working under accommodations.