South Carolina Intellectual Property Litigation

Intellectual Property & Litigation SC

Do We Need a Federal Trade Secret Act (FTSA) ?

Posted in General

Very interesting commentary by Stephen Chow above and these are, like most all IP theoretical discussions, thought provoking issues. Thanks also to Eric for keeping us all informed on the FTSA. Some random thoughts below on the hypothetical TST (Trade-Secret-Trolls) and the FTSA itself from the peanut gallery: This issue of latent-trade-secret trolls about to ……

Startup Branding – Naming Your Product or Business – The “Trademark Spectrum”

Posted in General, Presumptions, Startup Businesses, Trademarks

We should all have a sincere interest in encouraging and assisting startup businesses, particularly those in our local areas. Startup owners are excited, creative, and many times provide useful services, products, and eventually (hopefully) create new jobs. All too often, however, by the time we speak with a startup about Intellectual Property opportunities, they have ……

FaceBook Defamation – WARNING: you may not “like” this

Posted in Copyright, Defamation, General, Libel, Mediation, Policy, Slander, Trademarks

If this title, FaceBook Defamation caught your attention, chances are you already use FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat or other social media platforms. Consider this, FaceBook alone claims as many as 968 million average daily users, and over a billion users on busy days. Yes, that is average daily FaceBook use equal to three times ……

Defamation of Character Damages – Can You Recover Without Evidence of Actual Damages?

Posted in Common Law, Damages, Defamation, Libel, Presumptions, Slander

This post addresses a unique aspect of defamation law, specifically how a plaintiff whose character or reputation has been defamed can recover damages without proof of actual damage to his or her reputation. As a father of three sons, I always got tickled by the Hyundai Sonata commercial depicted above, although I’d bet my former ……

5 (or More) Reasons not to ABANDON the “Duty of Loyalty”

Posted in Confidential Information, ERISA, Fiduciary Duty, General, Jury Issues / Trial, Loyalty, Trade Secrets

This post started as a “5 Things You Need to Know about The Duty of Loyalty,” however, the many lessons to glean from the Western Blue Print case out of Missouri in 2012 covered below caused a title change. So here are 5 thoughts on the often neglected Duty of Loyalty, and reasons why it ……

Ordinary Care, Reasonable Care and The Fiduciary Duty – The First in a Series of “Spectra” Posts

Posted in Confidential Information, ERISA, Fiduciary Duty, General, Jury Issues / Trial, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Policy

We like to put things in order, right? It helps us understand the concepts and the analytical process further identifies distinguishing characteristics. In the legal world, however, complex concepts are more appropriately placed on a spectrum, rather than a list. Dictionary.com provides a non-physics definition of “spectrum” as follows: “a broad range of varied but ……

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