Business Litigation

Public domain image courtesy of pixabay.com.

Most people enter into a contract with the intention of fully performing their obligations.  They walk away from the execution of the contract believing that they understand the terms, exactly what they agreed to and what they need to do.  Unfortunately, during the life of the contract the parties often find themselves confused about their obligations, the actual language of the contract and their options for forcing a breaching party to perform or to pay for the damages caused by the breach.

WAS MY CONTRACT BREACHED?

A breach of contract occurs when a party fails to perform its obligations under the contract.  The breach can be actual or anticipatory.  Actual breach is when the party refuses to perform as agreed to under the contract by the date on which it has agreed to perform.  Anticipatory breach is when the party announces ahead of time that it does not intend to perform its agreed upon obligations.
Continue reading “If Someone Breaches a Contract, Am I Obligated to Perform?” »

The word mark of the Washington Redskins of the NFL

A few weeks ago, the trademark dispute involving the Washington Redskins was back in the news again, with a federal district court judge ruling in favor of the cancellation of the “Redskins” word mark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  While this ruling does not invalidate all of the Redskins trademark rights per se, as we addressed when we discussed the internal USPTO ruling, it does deprive the Redskins of significant rights associated with its word marks (it’s logos and other marks not including the word “Redskins” are not subject to the decision.)  So what does the ruling from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the case of Pro-Football, Inc. v. Amanda Blackhorse, et al. mean, and what can the Redskins do about it?

Continue reading “An Appealing Case for the Washington Redskins” »

Image courtesy of pixabay.com licensed under the CC0 Public Domain License.

We’ve written a lot about legal issues relating to contract formation and some general contract terms (for instance, here, here, and here). A common kind of contract we have yet to discuss is the non-competition agreement. More generally belonging to a class of agreement known as “restrictive covenants,” which also include non-solicitation agreements, a non-compete agreement purports to restrict an employee of a business from competing against his employer during the employment or for some time once the employment ends.  Every business should understand that these kinds of agreements must adhere to certain limitations for a judge to consider enforcing them.  These limitations, which we review below, are required because the law permits a business only to restrict competition to the extent necessary to protect its legitimate business interests in a reasonable manner.

Continue reading “Is My Non-Competition Agreement Enforceable in Virginia?” »

We are often asked whether it is lawful to use a particular image from the Internet on a website or social media page.  This question can take many different forms.  Some believe that images placed on the Internet are in the “public domain,” meaning that these people believe images on the Internet are freely available to all and not subject to copyright protection.  Others acknowledge that copyright protection may exist for some images on the Internet, but believe that a lack of a copyright notice or a lack of clear evidence of the identity of the author of the image extinguishes any copyright that may have once existed.  These beliefs are not correct, and the reason why is clear upon a further examination of copyright law in the United States.

Continue reading “Can I Use Images I Find on the Internet on My Website?” »