Many people may know that the use of the term Super Bowl® is protected by the National Football League (NFL®) . Professional football actually provides many examples of the use of trademarks to protect valuable brands. The Minnesota Vikings® and Philadelphia Eagles® – both registered trademarks in their own right – applied for trademark protection for slogans used […]
Federal Consumer Review Fairness Act Bars Non-Disparagement Clauses in Consumer Contracts
In this age of internet trolls, Yelp, Facebook, and Google reviews, businesses may be tempted to consider requiring customers to sign non-disparagement clauses in standard contracts so as to prevent harm to their commercial reputation from negative on-line posts and reviews. This practice was increasingly common up through 2016. That year, however, Congress passed and President […]
Minnesota Court of Appeals Clarifies Scope of Qualified Privilege Defense to Defamation Claims
In Maethner v. Someplace Safe, Inc., No. A17-0998 (Minn. Ct. App. Feb. 12, 2018), the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that defamatory statements about criminal conduct by the plaintiff made by an award recipient at a fundraising banquet and in an article published for fundraising purposes was not protected by a qualified privilege. The appellant, […]
Municipal Non-Compete Ordinances – Could it Happen in Minnesota?
Two employment law topics I follow closely, non-competes and city rule-making in the area of employment law, intersected this summer when it was announced that New York City is considering a local law restricting non-compete agreements. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of city rule-making in the area of employment law, as well […]
8th Circuit Ruling on Iowa Non-Competes Raises Interesting Implications
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently weighed in on Iowa law regarding non-competes, and its holding has interesting implications for attorneys in Iowa, and in other states like Minnesota. In Ag Spectrum Co. v. Elder, 865 F.3d 1088 (8th Cir. 2017), the Court held that enforceability and reasonableness of a non-compete provision is a […]
An Employee’s Duty of Loyalty Under Minnesota Law
Every employee owes his or her employer a duty of loyalty, even in the absence of a non-compete agreement or other restrictive covenant. But what constitutes a breach of the common law duty of loyalty can be a murky question and depends on the facts. As the Minnesota Court of Appeals noted in Rehabilitation Specialists, Inc. […]
How to Avoid Liability for Misappropriation of Trade Secrets When Hiring from a Competitor
By concentrating on the protection of their own trade secrets, employers can overlook the importance of carefully handling their competitors’ trade secrets when hiring employees who had access to such proprietary information. Departing employees might take confidential information or trade secrets from their former employer to use on behalf of their new employer. In this […]
Understanding A Lawsuit In Minnesota
At some point you or someone you know may become a party to a lawsuit. Lawsuits typically follow a common path. Although the rules and procedures that apply to each case may differ slightly depending on the type of case and jurisdiction, the most common and basic structure of a lawsuit involves initial pleadings, discovery, […]
New Minnesota LLC Act Becomes Mandatory On January 1, 2018
If you are a member (owner) of a Minnesota limited liability company (LLC), then you need to decide in the next few months whether it is necessary, or simply prudent, to adopt revised governance documents in light of changes in Minnesota law governing LLCs. This article provides a framework for evaluating whether a modification of […]
Minnesota Supreme Court Weighs In On Whistleblower Act
On August 9, 2017, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the 2013 amendments to the Minnesota Whistleblower Act (“MWA”) were specifically intended by the Minnesota legislature to counter previous court decisions that had limited the scope of the MWA. Friedlander v. Edwards Lifesciences, LLC, No. A16-1916 (August 9, 2017). The legislature added a definition of […]
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