Authored Articles

Let’s say your company sells products on eBay.com. To monitor your products for sale, you frequently check eBay and notice that there are regularly many products being listed on the website for substantially less than your price.

Lisa Babish Forbes, a partner in the litigation group in the Vorys Cleveland office, authored an article for the June 2016 edition of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal titled “No Contest Clauses in Ohio.”

Minimum advertised price policies, or “MAP” policies, restrict the price at which products can be advertised. In other words, they set the lowest price at which a retailer is allowed to advertise a manufacturer’s products—including for internet sales—regardless of the price at which the products might actually be sold.

There are a number of ways in which one can respond to internet defamation. There are also a number of ways not to respond.

Sales tax on goods and services purchased by your business is always an element of cost that must be considered. This has become especially important to the Ohio banking industry.

In working out of a troubled commercial credit, often the optimal exit strategy for the senior lender is a sale of the borrower’s business as a going concern. However, frequently it is not feasible for a distressed borrower simply to execute a sale of its assets directly to a buyer and pay the senior secured debt at closing.

It was not that long ago that the concern over preparing for, and dealing with, activist investors was rare in the banking industry, and especially rare for community banks. That comfort is quickly fading, however, as more funds and individuals contemplate opportunities for becoming “activist” investors in community banks through a variety of mechanisms, some for the better and some perhaps not so much.

Earlier this year, two federal appeals courts decided cases that are significant to lenders whose borrowers are experiencing financial distress. In one case, the court stripped the lender of its secured status because the lender had failed to investigate the borrower’s wrongdoing, despite having notice of suspicious facts.

As the longest awaited sequel in years, financial regulators have finally revealed their revised interagency proposal to restrict incentive-based compensation arrangements for executives at financial institutions. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act obligated six agencies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to establish rules prohibiting incentive-based compensation arrangements that would encourage inappropriate risk-taking.

After nearly a decade practically devoid of state or federal de novo charter activity nationwide, the FDIC has announced plans to return to its three-year post-approval oversight period for de novos that was in effect prior to the financial crisis.

Many parents across the country will soon be preparing to take their adult child to college.

In general, a person can sell another’s genuine trademarked goods, under the First Sale Doctrine. However, a failure to abide by or follow a company’s quality controls can give rise to trademark infringement.

Colleen Laux, a senior attorney in the Vorys Cincinnati office, authored an article entitled "Superintendence Rule 66 and Its Impact on Your Guardianship Practice" for the May/June 2016 edition of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio.

E-commerce sales, unsurprisingly, continue to increase. In fact, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce in early 2015, online retail sales in the United States totaled nearly $305 billion (an increase in more than 15 percent since 2013).

For businesses forced to deal with internet defamation, in our experience removal of the harmful content is generally the best solution.

David Edelstein, an associate in the Vorys Cincinnati office and member of the environmental group, authored an article for Environmental Law360 titled "From Gov't To Firm, Happily: Changing Careers Midstream."

Many companies tell authorized retailers or distributors that they will exclusively sell their products through them. Such a company might also have a written policy against product diversion and unauthorized online sales. This looks good for purposes of marketing and trying to convince prospective retailers and distributors to distribute their products.

Angela Gibson, a partner in the Vorys Cincinnati office, and Mike Griffaton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office, co-authored an article for the Cincinnati Business Courier titled “Prepare Now for Change in Pay Laws.”

Retailers that have seen declining profits in traditional brick and mortar stores have turned to the internet to drive consumer sales. However, the e-commerce boom is not without its challenges. This in-depth article outlines the laws governing online marketing and advertising.

One of the more prominent consumer complaint websites out there is ComplaintsBoard.com.