"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee (SLE)?" Think again. Swiss company Nestle has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois-based food giant, claiming patent infringement of the Nespresso coffee system. While the Swiss are known for staying neutral, Nestle felt compelled to seek legal action in an effort to protect its highest-selling product.

Nespresso is the business model that keeps on giving ... once customers buy one of the high-end machines, they also need to buy capsules of blended coffee (available in 16 varieties of varying flavors and intensity). The machines run from $199 to $599 and the capsules are about 55 cents apiece (which provides one cup). That 12-cup-a-day habit can add up quickly.

Continue reading Nestle Sues Sara Lee over Patent Infringement

Nestle Sues Sara Lee over Patent Infringement originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Toyota Accused of Withholding Test Data

Toyota Accused of Withholding Test Data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Monday morning, mobile phone firm Motorola (MOT) found itself on the lips of lawyers and judges. The first reason is that a lawsuit commenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of MOT stock purchasers who made their purchase from December 6, 2007 through January 22, 2008.

The lawsuit alleges that Motorola and "certain of its officers and directors" violated federal securities laws by "intentionally and knowingly misstating the 2007 fourth quarter earnings projections and sales demands for the RAZR2 during the 2007 holiday shopping season." The suit states that Motorola's RAZR2 did not attract buyers thanks to its $299 price tag and the fact that it had not improved enough from the RAZR. Nevertheless, Motorola made positive statements all while losing "significant market share" to its competition. The defendants claim that Motorola senior execs knew that Motorola was not on track to hit their profit forecast of 12 cents to 14 cents per share, and would like a bit of compensation.

Continue reading A Rather Litigious Monday Morning for Motorola

A Rather Litigious Monday Morning for Motorola originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) is being sued by a Muslim teenager who wanted to work at an Abercrombie Kids store in Oklahoma's Woodland Hills Mall. When she applied in June 2008, Samantha Elauf was told that the hijab she wears is inconsistent with Abercrombie's "Look Policy." So, the 17-year-old took her concerns to U.S. District Court on Wednesday, where a lawsuit was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

A spokeswoman for the retailer wouldn't comment on the lawsuit but did indicate that the store has a strong policy around equal employment opportunity and that it accommodates religious practices "when possible."

Continue reading Muslim teen sues Abercrombie over its 'Look Policy'

Muslim teen sues Abercrombie over its 'Look Policy' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading American Apparel CEO puts big ugly foot in his mouth

American Apparel CEO puts big ugly foot in his mouth originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Nvidia issues a countersuit against Intel

Nvidia issues a countersuit against Intel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Motorola sued for wrongful termination by employee it praised

Motorola sued for wrongful termination by employee it praised originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Securities fraud lawsuits on the rise originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

U.S. Supreme Court says: OK for individual investors to sue 401(k) plan administrators originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It is easy to forget that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) still faces problems with options-backdating accusations. The New York Times was good enough to remind the financial world of that today.

According to the paper, "A CLASS-ACTION lawsuit contending securities fraud and filed last month may force the Apple board to pay some attention."

While the Justice Department may still be looking into the backdating issue, civil suits may be a larger problem. They can be brought by any one of a number of Apple shareholders. They could drag on for years. The trouble could take up substantial management time and create large legal expenses.

Because of Apple's great success, it is easy to forget that the options trouble could go on for the rest of the decade. But, as long as the press wants to push the issue, it will probably be easier for people who want to try to take money from the Apple treasury to keep hanging around.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Apple's backdating problems ... still there originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) faces any more suits, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) may have to withdraw its offer to buy the mortgage lender. The legal bills will be too high.

New York City, which has already filed one set of legal actions against the company, has expanded that to include a number of officers, directors, and underwriters. The city, in a statement picked up by Reuters, said executives of Countrywide Financial "cashed out to the tune of almost $700 million" while borrowers lost homes and the value of investors' shares fell sharply. The new action named "additional company officers and directors, 26 underwriters, and two accounting firms."

The city is overreaching. A suit against the company and CEO Angelo Mozilla might, just might, hold some water. He may have known that the subprime mortgage market was facing problems that would hurt his company. It will probably be hard to collect facts that can show he acted with that intention.

But, to demonstrate that a number of individuals and institutions acted on the same information about upcoming trouble in the markets would require proving a massive fraud.

New York City ought to stick to a case it can make.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Countrywide (CFC) gets sued some more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

'Borat' filmmakers sued by driver's ed instructor originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is facing a number of lawsuits that say its painkiller Celebrex can cause heart attacks. Yesterday, a court threw some of those cases out. The Wall Street Journal wrote "U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco ruled that plaintiffs in the litigation haven't presented scientifically reliable evidence that Celebrex caused heart attacks or strokes when taken at a daily dosage of 200 milligrams." Pfizer says that the 200 milligram dose is the one most commonly given.

The cases involving Celebrex include over 3,000 plantiffs, and some are suing about effects of the drug at a higher dose, but the ruling is still a considerable relief for the big pharma company.

Like most drug liability cases, this one hinges on whether Pfizer knew that there were risks that the drug could cause significant problems beyond those disclosed on the labels. In that case, the amount of the dose would seem to be academic, especially for anyone who became sick.

But the court may have more wisdom than Wall Street and some plaintiffs will go unrewarded. As the tobacco companies proved two decades ago, suing big business rarely yields much reward.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Pfizer spared from some Celebrex lawsuits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My recent Investing in Ontario post took a look at the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), Manulife Financial Corp. (NYSE: MFC), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD); three public companies examined by the Motley Fool this past summer.

However, Ontario is more than just Canada's financial center. Its abundance of resources and location on Great Lakes have made Ontario a manufacturing powerhouse, including steel production and automobile manufacturing in southern Ontario, and mining and forestry in the north. Toronto is Canada's film and media center, as well as an important tourism destination. Niagara Falls is one of world's most popular tourist destinations. Other Ontario companies the Motley Fool liked include Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT), and IMAX Corp. (NASDAQ: IMAX).

Research in Motion (RIM), Canada's largest public company, is well know for its BlackBerry smart phones, but it also provides software development tools and produces radio-based modems used in portable devices. The consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is to buy RIM, and has been since April. RIM met analysts' earnings per share estimate when it reported second quarter FY2008 earnings in early October, and Wall Street expects EPS of 62 cents in the third quarter, double the 31 cents actual from a year ago. RIM has a five-year EPS growth rate of 73.5%, easily beating the S&P 500 and the technology sector average. RIM's share price has been climbing since a share split in August, to reach a 52-week high of $128.36 on Tuesday; it opened today at $124.75. Also this week, RIM announced plans to sell the BlackBerry in China, and introduced Facebook for the BlackBerry as well. For more on Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) challenge to RIM and other RIM-related news, see Bloggingstocks' RIM coverage.

Continue reading Investing in Ontario: Research in Motion (RIMM), Nortel Networks (NT), and IMAX (IMAX)

Investing in Ontario: Research in Motion (RIMM), Nortel Networks (NT), and IMAX (IMAX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Deaths come in threes and the latest lawsuit against Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), the VoIP pioneer, may just put it under. It is the third such suit by a major telephone company.

Vonage has now lost or settled patent infringement suits brought by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). Each loss has brought a one time payment and royalties on future revenue.

An SEC filing by the VoIP company disclosed that an action has been filed buy AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), which accuses Vonage of "violating a single patent that lets users access an Internet phone system using a standard phone device," according to The Wall Street Journal.

Vonage opened at $17 on its IPO in 2006. The stock is lucky to hold $1 now. And, the AT&T suit may be the end of the line. In the June quarter, the company had an operating loss of $33 million on $20 million in revenue. The company's cash was down to under $350 million.

It is Chapter 11 time for Vonage. One of the large cable companies would probably be willing to pay enough for the company to pay off lawsuits and, perhaps, leave a few pennies for the shareholders.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

One more lawsuit may spell the end for Vonage (VG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Amway/Quixtar sues online foes

Amway/Quixtar sues online foes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Early in my career I worked for Dean Witter Reynolds, now Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and had the opportunity to get to know Brian Biggins. Brian was a broker, an office branch manager and a compliance director in his 10-year stint with Dean Witter, until he went through a major career change. He put himself through law school at the tender age of 31 and became an advocate for the aggrieved individual investor.

Biggins opened his own law practice in Cleveland, Ohio, but has represented investors in nearly all 50 states. He works on behalf of investors who have been defrauded by unscrupulous brokers. He has handled, and won, hundreds of cases ranging from $10,000 to multi-million dollar losses. He has taken on almost every big Wall Street firm and insurance companies. Many of these firms know to sit down at the settlement table rather than go to arbitration against Mr. Biggins. What makes him so successful in helping investors who have been ripped off, defrauded or just plainly mismanaged by their brokers?

Biggins was in the securities industries for over a decade. He knows exactly how big firms operate and where the bones are buried. He can interrogate a broker or the other firm's counsel like no one else because Biggins was "one of them." Firms know that they cannot throw a fast ball past him because of his vast knowledge and experience in the industry. A true advocate for the individual investor.

Continue reading An advocate for the individual investor

An advocate for the individual investor originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hilton is seeking at least $500,000 in damages and a permanent injunction barring Hallmark from further use of her name, likeness, and catchphrase. She accuses the company of invading her privacy and misappropriating her image.

Yes, it isn't the sex tape that has hurt her privacy. Oh, and what about the innocent people who could have been harmed when Paris drove drunk? What about their rights to privacy/life? No, it's all a Hallmark greeting card.

Paris Hilton is being an idiot with this lawsuit. She's a public figure -- in fact, that's all she is. She's famous for being famous, and has been among the most shameless self-promoters this side of Don King. Given that, she should expect to be satirized, and that's exactly what Hallmark has done.

When Hilton went on Larry King after her release from the slammer, Paris talked about her "new outlook on life," and later mentioned her desire to do some good in the world and devote time to philanthropy.

She appears to be back to her old stunts: feeling sorry for herself as a result of her own self-inflicted celebrity. Hey Paris, get on with the charity work you waxed about, and stop being lame.

Dear Paris Hilton: Shut up and stop suing Hallmark originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The U.S. Supreme Court today handed business a huge victory by making it more difficult for investors to file fraud lawsuits.

By an 8-to-1 vote, the justices ruled that plaintifs must show that executives knew they were engaged in wrongdoing. This will give companies another way win early dismissal of these suits without paying huge legal fees.

Though I hate crooked CEOs as much as the next person, I think the court made the right decision. Investors shouldn't be able to run to the court house every time a company's stock unexpectedly falls. Fear of these lawsuits has caused some companies to communicate as little as possible with investors.

The people who made out biggest in these cases were the law firms such as the class action kings at Milberg Weiss & Bershad, which was indicted last year, along with some of its attorneys, for allegedly paying kickbacks to clients involved in some cases.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that the firm's David Bershad was in talks that may lead to a guilty plea to the charges. Another former partner, Steven Schulman, was indicted along with Bershad. Melvyn Weiss, the head of the firm, and former partner William Lerach have also been investigated by prosecutors though formal charges haven't been filed against either of them.

The Supreme Court clamps down on shareholder lawsuits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

President Bush and the Justice Department have declined to file a brief supporting shareholders in a Supreme Court case that will test whether investors can seek to recoup damages from investment banks and other firms associated with the collapse of companies due to accounting fraud. The SEC supports holding banks accountable and, of course, so do many disgruntled shareholders.

The case before the court involves a company called Scientific-Atlanta, and the plaintiffs are hoping to sue not just the company and its officers, but also the investment banks and legal firms that were involved.

The outcome of the case will have big implications for the Enron case, and many other cases of securities fraud. In most cases, a bankrupt company will have little in the way of assets to satisfy a class-action judgment, and suing accountants, banks, and lawyers is probably the investor's only hope for getting some money back -- Shareholders don't generally sue when business is going well.

The concern is that increased liability for investment banks could further undermine the competitiveness of U.S. markets, which are losing business to exchanges in Europe.

Given the huge amounts of money that investment banks earn, it seems like they should be held accountable for their participation, even if unwitting, in cases of fraud.

President disagrees with SEC on shareholder lawsuits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.