The formal name of Prop 37 is The California Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act (full text here). If passed, the Act will require clear labeling of genetically modified foods (more commonly referred to as Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs) sold in California with the following exceptions: organic foods; meat that itself is not genetically modified (including that raised on GMO feed or medicines); alcohol; food served in restaurants; foods used for medical purposes and some processed foods. Prop 37 also prohibits labeling or advertising GMOs as “natural,” and requires that raw agricultural commodities containing GMOs be labeled “Genetically Engineered,” and processed foods containing GMOs be labeled “Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering” or “May Be Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering.”



Two years ago, the FTC proposed revisions to its Green Guides (Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, “the Guides”) which first were released in 1992. The Guides were revised in 1996 and 1998 before lying dormant for twelve long years.

Attorney Lara Pearson joins the roster as newest member of the Exemplar Team.

In this post we will talk about some of the pros and cons of arbitration and litigation as a companion post to our commentary on the Carlyle Group’s decision to allow shareholder claims in court, rather than forcing arbitration.

Recently, the Carlyle Group decided to yield to investor requests to allow litigation in court rather than restricting them to arbitration. Why would the Carlyle Group launch an IPO and why are they willing to make this “concession” to investors?

You may have heard about a new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that would change the classification of “professionals” exempt from overtime pay requirements to include more types of I.T. workers.

On the heels of our blog in September on crowdfunding as a means to finance a startup, the Obama administration has supported crowdfunding bills, and now the House of Representatives has delivered the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (H.R. 2930).

Earlier we blogged about forced arbitration clauses in mobile contracts, and at the time I struggled to contrive situations where hundreds or thousands of people would want to sue a carrier. As they say, you can’t make this stuff up.

We blogged about the privacy concerns around the Kindle’s new Silk browser not long ago. Now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has done a more thorough review of the Kindle Fire’s Silk browser and has concluded that there are some privacy pros and cons that weren’t obvious before.

Many employers are improperly using Interns as free labor, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. And yes, the FLSA applies to all employers, even ones who don’t have any unionized employees. Even the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) applies to all employers, union or not.

One of Amazon’s strategies to propel the new Kindle Fire past the iPad includes its new built-in browser, Silk. Silk is unique because it relies on Amazon’s robust cloud services to essentially pre-load website information for users, resulting in significantly faster browsing. Amazon’s bigger machines do the heavy lifting so their lighter devices can simply surf.   But there’s a catch.

Yesterday the Globe reported that a federal grand jury will hear evidence this week about the Upper Crust Pizzeria’s alleged practice of not paying its workers properly. If you are unfamiliar with this issue, the U.S. Department of Labor initially ordered Upper Crust to pay $341,000 in damages, but Upper Crust may have deducted this later from those same employee’s earnings to avoid actually losing the cash.

Senators Blumenthal and Franken recently introduced a bill that would prohibit mobile carriers from including mandatory arbitration clauses1 in their customer contracts. This, of course, raises the question of what an arbitration clause is, exactly, and why it’s a big deal.

Intro to the Low-Profit Liability Liability Company and the “B-Corp”

Lately these two concepts have been coming up frequently in my interactions with entrepreneurs leaders of corporations. Many people today are concerned with more than just the dollars-and-cents bottom line and so they find the ethos behind these corporate forms appealing.

Today’s blog brings you a cautionary tale from the land of seemingly innocuous information collection and handling.

Crowdfunding A Venture? Unfortunately, the Securities Act and SEC rules aren’t set up to make Crowdfunding easy.

This post was inspired by this recent story in the ABA Journal: Alabama Bar Group Files Suit to Ban Legal Zoom.

Word came today that a lawsuit by some California tour companies against Groupon alleging false advertising will be allowed to proceed in federal court after Groupon tried to have the case dismissed.