Authored Articles

If a company suspects that an online seller is engaged in the unauthorized re-selling of its products online, it is up to that company to take action and attempt to enforce its policies and procedures — to the extent that it has any.

Employers are vulnerable to being the targets of negative online and social media postings, and sometimes these statements can give rise to defamation claims. However, an employer considering suing a current or former employee for internet defamation must be careful if the (ex-)employee recently engaged in protected activity.

It is important to regularly review asset titling and ensure such titling is consistent with one’s estate plan.

Mr. Smith, a widower, died survived by his three children. At the time of his death, Mr. Smith had the following assets: Residence (valued at $250,000), Checking/Savings Accounts (valued at $50,000) and Investment Account (valued at $600,000).

Unauthorized online sales have become very problematic for many businesses, including those offering high-end luxury products, companies selling beauty and skin care products and also multi-level marketing (or MLM) companies.

Companies from many industries have long been contracting with distributors to sell products on an exclusive basis. As technology has evolved, however, it has become easier for anyone to sell products on the internet, and the diversion of products to unauthorized online sellers poses a serious threat to companies.

Vorys Partners Pete Lusenhop and John Keller authored an article titled “Deduction of Post-Production Costs – An Analysis of Royalty Calculation Issues Across the Appalachian Basin” for the for the 36th Annual Energy & Mineral Law Institute Publication.

Monica Oathout, a partner in the Vorys Houston office and a member of the labor and employment group, authored an article for Texas Lawyer titled “Open Carry Law Presents Unsightly Small Business Problems.”

In recent years, there has been backlash against non-disparagement clauses pertaining to online reviews, specifically those attempting to restrict honest—albeit negative—feedback about companies. In fact, California passed a law in August 2014 prohibiting anti-negative review policies, while the Federal Trade Commission filed its first ever lawsuit over similar non-disparagement clauses last September.

Aaron Williams, an attorney in the Vorys Cleveland office and member of the litigation group, authored an article titled “Oil and Gas Drilling and Operations in Ohio: The Evolution of the State’s Sole and Exclusive Regulatory Authority” for LexisNexis/Matthew Bender’s Proceedings of the Institute on Oil and Gas Law.

Grey market goods generally refer to items manufactured in one country and imported into another (e.g. products created abroad that are imported into the United States) without consent from the trademark owners.

Allegations of “greenwashing”—generally defined as “the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice”—are on the rise.

Jolie Havens, the chair of the firm’s health care group, and Stephanie Angeloni, an associate in the health care group, co-authored an article for Crain’s Cleveland Business titled “Legislative Action Impacting Medicare Provider-Based Payment Means Big Change for Hospitals.”

When it comes to handling internet defamation issues and other online reputation attacks—specifically in terms of removing the content from the internet— the solutions are, in one word: fact-dependent. There is no other way to describe it; there is no perfect solution that can be applied to every instance of online defamation.

Ordinary consumers are often unable to distinguish counterfeit products from legitimate products. In fact, according to a recent study, nearly one in four consumers has unknowingly purchased a counterfeit product on the internet.

During 2015, the number of appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court from decisions of the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) declined from historical highs in 2014, but are still significantly above appeals from prior years.

The court reversed a Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) decision that denied a property tax exemption to a board of education that leased a 34-acre parcel of property to a farmer. The local board of education (BOE) acquired 154 acres to build a new high school.

The State of Ohio requires counties to reappraise properties for tax purposes every six years and update those values in the middle of that cycle. This cycle is not evenly distributed between Ohio’s 88 counties.

There are several ways in which a disgruntled beneficiary or disinherited heir can challenge a last will and testament or a trust.

It’s all over the news and it’s top of mind with bank regulators: “Cybersecurity.” What happened with Target, Home Depot and Wyndham hasn’t helped. The last several years have been fraught with news story after news story about those crafty hackers who find vulnerabilities in a company’s system and steal private information or even redirect funds. And despite all of our technological advancements, the escalation in successful hacking attempts has no end in sight. Call them hackers, fraudsters or good old-fashioned crooks, from computer-savvy teenagers to state-sponsored groups, they are not going away. And, unfortunately, they seem at times to be two steps ahead of the latest security software and security vendors that are offering you and your financial institution protection.

With an industry-wide focus on enterprise risk management, and with the particular vulnerability of banks to the adverse impact of “reputation risk,” it is important that banks understand and take appropriate steps to mitigate risks associated with internet defamation. Online reputation attacks, including internet defamation, are affecting all industries and professionals. Banks, –including community banks,– are not immune from being attacked and disparaged online.

Bank and thrift shareholders are “different.” Direct or indirect ownership or control of large blocks of stock in a bank or a thrift institution brings with it the need to be cognizant of complex state and federal laws and regulations that may well trigger applications with state and federal regulators to approve the ownership, and/or a proposed transfer of ownership, in advance.

Rodney Holaday, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, and Paige Kohn, an associate in the Columbus office, co-authored an article for the Winter 2016 edition of the Columbus Bar Association’s Lawyers Quarterly. The article was titled “The Duty of Competence and Trends in E-Discovery.”

Jessica Knopp Cunning, an associate in the Vorys Akron office and a member of the litigation group, authored an article for The Whisper, DRI's Young Lawyers Committee Newsletter titled "A 'Drone’s Eye' View of State Laws Governing Drone Use.”

Jackie Ford, a partner in the Vorys Houston office and a member of the labor and employment group, authored an article for Texas Lawyer titled “Houston HERO Defeat Doesn't Mean End of Discrimination Protections for LGBT.”

Tom Fusonie, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the litigation group, authored an article for Ohio Farmer on the government’s use of eminent domain.

Recently five federal agencies, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (collectively, the Agencies), issued much-anticipated joint final rules (the Final Rules) that establish minimum margin and capital requirements for registered swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants (Swap Entities) for which one of the Agencies is the prudential regulator (Swap Entities regulated by one or more of the Agencies are referred to as Covered Swap Entities).

California has taken the lead in enacting new comprehensive “green chemistry” laws aimed at reducing toxic chemicals found in everyday consumer products.

Minutes, if not seconds, is all it takes for someone to cause harm to another person on the internet. Whether a single posting on social media or another online forum, or a full-fledged harassment campaign consisting of numerous postings on various platforms, it is extremely easy today to cause damage to another’s reputation online.

There are three federal wealth transfer taxes: (1) the estate tax; (2) the gift tax; and (3) the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax.

Under what is known as the First Sale Doctrine, one who buys a trademarked good may ordinarily resell that product without infringing the trademark owner’s mark.

Executives from top businesses around the world have weighed in, and they have indicated that the top risk for their respective companies is their reputation.

Lisa Babish Forbes and Aaron Williams, attorneys in the Vorys Cleveland office, co-authored “Can Localities Use Ballot Power To Ban Oil And Gas Drilling?” for Appellate Law360.

Whitney Gibson and Jordan Cohen co-authored an article for the Bloomberg/BNA Electronic Commerce & Law Report titled “Favorable Ruling for Critics of Section 230 of the CDA in Washington Case.”

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in the Middle District of Florida against two companies and their principals over a “gag” clause aimed at preventing negative reviews.

The Delaware Court of Chancery is considering an argument that a hyperlink to an allegedly defamatory article, for purposes of overcoming a statute of limitations defense, constitutes republication.

Ray Pinkham, an associate in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office and member of the litigation group, authored an article for the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct titled “Embrace Inevitable Change in Legal Services Profession, Conference Speakers Say.”

Jessica Knopp Cunning, an associate in the Vorys Akron office and a member of the litigation group, authored an article for Crain’s Cleveland Business titled “The Future of Drones is Now, Even if the Law is a Bit in Limbo.”

Dave Froling and John Petzinger, attorneys in the Vorys Columbus office and members of the tax group, co-authored an article titled “Ohio Supreme Court Decision on Bright-Line Domicile Creates Uncertainty Going Forward – Ohio’s Bright-Line Test Is Not So Bright” for the Fall 2015 edition of the Journal of State Taxation.

Julie Brown, Vorys’ litigation technology executive manager, authored an article for Corporate Counsel titled “How to Decide Who Handles Your E-Discovery.”

Many businesses today are finding their products being sold online without their permission, often on third-party websites. While the First Sale Doctrine generally permits buyers to resell others’ trademarked goods without incurring any liability, it does not apply when a reseller sells goods that are materially different from the genuine goods sold by a trademark owner.

There are three federal wealth transfer taxes: (1) the estate tax; (2) the gift tax; and (3) the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax.

Steven Becker, a partner in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office, authored a column titled “Your Insurance May Not Cover Website Disability Claims” for the September 14, 2015 edition of Retail Law360.

Nelson Cary, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, and George Stevens, an associate in the Columbus office, co-authored an article for Employment Law360 titled “When Calling The Police Is Permissible Under Labor Law.”

Last week, the Washington Supreme Court handed down a favorable ruling in a case turning on the application of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) – favorable, that is, for those seeking to hold websites accountable for certain harm arising out of content published on their sites.

Mark E. Vannatta, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, authored an article entitled "The Ohio Bright Line Residency Test: It Is Not So Luminous Anymore" for the Sep/Oct 2015 edition of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio.

Mike Griffaton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the labor and employment group, authored an article for Recruiting Trends Bulletin titled “Screening Candidates Through Social Media.”

Nelson Cary, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, and George Stevens, an associate in the Vorys Columbus office, co-authored an article for TLNT.com titled “Why the NLRB Ruled That College Football Players Can’t Unionize.”

Rob Phillips, the firm’s senior manager of strategic communications, recently authored an article for PR Daily titled “Why you should talk to your employees first in a crisis.” The article focused on the importance of including internal communication in your response to crises.

Vorys attorneys Daniel Buckley, Lisa Babish Forbes and Elizabeth Weinewuth authored an article for the Probate Law Journal of Ohio titled “Newcomer V. National City Bank Appeal Concludes, Affirms Important Guidance for Ohio Trustees.”