WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) had substantial evidence to support its rejection of a Dominican Republic tobacco company’s challenge to a CBD vape manufacturer’s application for a trademark on a stick-figure logo with limbs splayed out in the shape of the letter X, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed.

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed in part a putative class action against DraftKings Inc., a gambling company that offers online betting, and related entities, asserting claims for violations of a Pennsylvania consumer protection law, unjust enrichment and intentional misrepresentation related to “deceptive” advertising for certain betting promotions, finding that some of the claims under state law failed because the plaintiffs did not show “ascertainable loss” and the losses asserted were “inherently speculative.”

WILMINGTON, Del. — In the latest decision in a long-running case brought by shareholders regarding the merger between M&T Bank Corp. and Hudson City Bancorp Inc., a federal judge in Delaware granted summary judgment in favor of the banks and their respective directors, finding that the banks did not provide any misleading information in their joint proxy statement informing shareholders of the merger.

SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon trial court made a prejudicial error when it instructed a jury in Phase I of a bifurcated trial seeking damages from a power company accused of negligence that caused multiple Oregon wildfires in September 2020 “that it could ‘assume that the evidence at the trial applies to all class members,’” an Oregon appellate panel ruled April 8, reversing the verdicts of millions of dollars for economic and noneconomic damages.

SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel on April 9 partly reversed a jury’s verdict in favor of a California mortuary accused of breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after it returned the wrong body to a grieving family while the body of their loved one was accidentally cremated in Texas, remanding part of the mortuary’s defense for a new bench trial.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer who requires ongoing treatment from medical providers in California was unable to convince the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) that his case should not be transferred to the multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices pending in a Pennsylvania federal court.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 7 granted three Exxon Mobil entities’ motion for summary affirmance of the confirmation of an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth roughly $1 billion against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for expropriating oil investments, writing that identical issues to those in the appeal were addressed and resolved by existing precedent.

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on April 7 dismissed without prejudice a negligent investigation claim against the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) in a suit filed against it and a DFS law enforcement officer by a roofing salesman alleging that the salesman was wrongfully prosecuted for insurance fraud in a case that was later nolle prossed, finding that the plaintiff failed to assert facts that DFS owed a special tort duty to him and that the allegation related to failure to conduct a diligent investigation “is conclusory.”