Business Law Journal

Arbitration is a creature born of contract, and is favored as an expeditious and economical alternative to a civil lawsuit — in part due to the limited discovery available to parties in arbitration. Increasingly, however, arbitrations have increased in complexity, with discovery growing to proportions more typically seen in civil lawsuits (and likewise growing in cost). However, a California Court of Appeal has now explicitly enforced one of the limitations on discovery in arbitration, foreclosing discovery efforts from spilling over to nonparties to an arbitration unless the parties have otherwise agreed.

International enforcement of U.S. trademark rights just became much more difficult.  On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision with concurrences from Justices Jackson and Sotomayor in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., No. 21-1043, 2023 WL 4239255 (U.S. June 29, 2023) (“Abitron”).  The Court settled a decades-long circuit split on extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act by applying a new framework that focuses on where the mark is being used in commerce rather than where the effect of that use is felt.

In an eleventh-hour ruling made shortly before enforcement of the California Privacy Rights Act’s regulations was set to begin on July 1, a California judge has delayed enforcement until March 29, 2024.  The delay reduces the pressure on businesses who had been facing potential enforcement of unfinalized regulations.  However, the ruling is not a complete reprieve as the delay does not affect enforcement of the statute itself which can still be enforced as of July 1 by both the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”) and the California Department of Justice.