The Multiracial Advocacy Blog: Mixed Chicks Win Legal Battle

Lisa Shuchman

Corporate Counsel

Mixed Chicks LLC, a small company that makes specialized hair care products for women of mixed race, has won a jury award of more than $8 million in a trademark and trade dress dispute with a multimillion-dollar beauty supply company.

Sally Beauty Supply LLC, the world?s largest retailer of professional beauty supplies, agreed last month to pay $8.5 million to Mixed Chicks after the California jury found Sally Beauty had infringed the trademarks of Mixed Chicks?s products.

The settlement is actually larger than the amount awarded by the jury, as Sally Beauty offered the extra money to preempt the plaintiff?s requests for attorneys? fees and disgorgement of Sally Beauty?s profits from the sale of the infringing products.

Mixed Chicks was represented by Kenneth Parker and Alan Wechsler of Irvine, California-based Haynes and Boone. ?This is one of the largest trademark verdicts ever in the Central District of California,? Parker said, adding that Sally Beauty has also ceased selling its Mixed Silk products, which were the focus of the suit.

David vs. Goliath tales that come up with big wins for non-Goliaths are rare in the world of intellectual property, where the time and cost of litigation is daunting to small businesses and individuals. But Mixed Chicks co-founders Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge felt that taking on the beauty supply giant was something they had to do. ?We were warned the case was not a slam dunk, that it would be expensive and time consuming, and we were told the payoff, if we won, might not be large,? Etheredge said. ?But it was about the principle for us.?

Like most small startups, Etheredge and Levy had worked hard to get their company going. The two women, who are both bi-racial, stumbled upon their idea for a specialty hair care company when they realized they had both struggled with their curly and often unruly hair most of their lives. They noted that the texture of hair for women of mixed race has particular qualities, and the women complained to each other that to get their hair under control they had to buy shampoos and conditioners in a drugstore?s ?ethnic? aisle, along with others in the generic hair care aisle. Their need to combine multiple products meant, ?we would have to use 10 different products instead of one,? Etheredge said.

In 2003 they went to a chemist to figure out what ingredients were effective for their hair types, and a year later launched Mixed Chicks. They started with a web-based business and soon were selling their products to salons and beauty-supply stores across the country. In 2009, Halle Berry endorsed the Mixed Chicks brand, giving the company a huge boost.

A representative from Sally Beauty Supply approached Etheredge and Levy at a trade show a short time later, and soon after the retail chain proposed an arrangement that would have it stock Mixed Chicks products in its stores. After studying the proposal, however, the women declined the offer, realizing that some of the chain?s policies?such as deep discounting, the need to provide large amounts of inventory, and a requirement that they accept returns?would be risky. ?We wanted to make sure we had control of our merchandise and inventory,? according to Etheredge.

In early 2011, Sally Beauty rolled out its own product line for multiracial women, which it called Mixed Silk. Levy and Etheredge first learned about it from clients and customers, who were calling and asking why there was a product on the market that looked so much like theirs but went under a different name and was less expensive. Some even thought Levy and Etheredge had introduced a new low-cost product to segment the market.

Etheredge and Levy were shocked. Everything about this new product line appeared to be a knock-off. ?The color and size of the bottles were the same, the color of the liquid was the same, the scent and texture of the products were almost identical,? said Parker, who formerly was corporate counsel for Callaway Golf Company. Even the advertisements seemed to resemble the Mixed Chicks promos, which feature a photo of Levy and Etheredge.

In addition, the Sally Beauty website contained a search engine in which a consumer could type in a product name to find out whether it was sold by Sally Beauty. It was programmed in such a way that when a consumer typed in ?mixed chicks,? the only results it returned were the Sally Beauty ?mixed silk? product line.

The effect, Parker said, was to deceive and confuse the public. In March 2011, Mixed Chicks sued [PDF], alleging Sally Beauty ?intentionally, knowingly, and willfully? infringed the Mixed Chicks trademark and trade dress.

Trademark and trade dress suits often don?t go to trial, as the parties typically choose to settle. But Etheredge and Levy weren?t satisfied with Sally Beauty?s offers, and the large retailer continued to sell the products they were convinced infringed. So after an almost two-year battle, the case went before a jury.

During the nine-day trial, Sally Beauty testified that similarities were coincidental. (Sally Beauty?s attorneys, Jonathn Gordon and Casondra Ruga of Alston & Bird, could not be reached for comment.) The jury didn?t buy it. After deliberating for six hours, the jury decided that Mixed Chicks had suffered $839,535 in actual damages, and found that Sally Beauty had acted willfully and with malice, oppression, or fraud, resulting in a punitive damages award of $7.27 million.

The disposition of the case was finalized last week. ?Others will enter the market, but we?re not afraid of competition?as long as it?s fair competition,? Etheredge said. ?We knew we were in the right, and we?re happy we can now move forward.?
Source: Corporate Counsel

Source: http://projectrace.blogspot.com/2012/12/mixed-chicks-win-legal-battle.html

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Kindle FreeTime Unlimited Offers Restricted Access To Content For Kids From Disney, Nickelodeon, DC Comics, And More

Amazon today launched FreeTime Unlimited, a subscription service that offers movies, games, and books for?the kids. The launch follows the recent software update to Kindle Fire, which introduced FreeTime, a profile system designed to restrict access to certain content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/oIvzEJ3g0uU/

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Venezuela's Chavez to skip summit due to health

BRASILIA/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will not attend a regional trade summit in Brazil on Friday, sources said, an absence sure to heighten speculation over the leftist leader's health.

Before he went to Cuba last week for more cancer-related treatment, Chavez had spoken enthusiastically about attending the Mercosur bloc's meeting in Brasilia to celebrate Venezuela's entry.

He has not been seen in public since November 15.

"Chavez is not coming. They've even canceled the hotel reservation," a Brazilian foreign ministry source said on Thursday. Another Brazilian official said Chavez's logistics and security advance staff were leaving Brasilia.

In Caracas, a source at the Miraflores presidential palace also said Chavez, 58, was not going to travel.

The recently re-elected president went to Cuba nine days ago for "hyperbaric oxygenation" treatment - normally used to treat bone decay caused by radiation therapy.

Chavez has had three cancer surgeries in Cuba since mid-2011. So even though officials were portraying the latest treatment as normal follow-up after radiation, rumors are rampant that it could be more serious.

"If Chavez does not show up at the first meeting where Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur, it will create a lot of distrust over his health," said Marcelo Coutinho, professor of international relations at Rio de Janeiro's Federal University.

Officials have given no detailed information on Chavez's condition.

SPECULATION AND SCENARIOS

His presence in Cuba, where Chavez has spent more than three months in total since his first 2011 diagnosis of cancer in the pelvic region, has overshadowed December 16 regional elections.

Without him on the campaign trail or television, the race for 23 governorships has been a low-key one, failing to light up the public like October's presidential election did with a record voter turnout of more than 80 percent.

Although Chavez continues to sign official papers and make appointments from Cuba, his absence may delay decisions on some major issues like a possible devaluation of the Bolivar currency or an amnesty for jailed opponents.

Various ministers have been visiting him in Havana this week, according to Venezuelan officials.

Chavez allies have lambasted media and others for behaving like "vampires" with speculation about his condition. One pro-opposition journalist said he was using a wheelchair.

Bonds have rallied since his departure, on investor hopes for a change to a more business-friendly government.

Newly appointed Vice President Nicolas Maduro, 49 - a former bus driver and union leader - has assumed a more prominent position amid speculation among Venezuelans over who could replace Chavez should he leave office.

Maduro, who is also foreign minister, was due to represent Venezuela at the Mercosur meeting in Brazil.

Congress chief Diosdado Cabello, a former military comrade of Chavez, is also often touted as a possible successor to lead the ruling Socialist Party.

Under the constitution, an election would have to be held if Chavez were to leave office within the first four years of his new six-year term, which starts on January 10.

That would give a fresh chance to the opposition, which garnered 44 percent of the vote - and a record number of 6.5 million votes - in the October presidential poll.

An internal U.N. report seen by Reuters drew three possible scenarios.

"If Chavez lives, his term will continue to face monumental political, economic and security challenges. If Chavez accepts his mortality and organizes a managed transition, a unified PSUV would likely fare well in a snap election," the report said.

"If Chavez dies unexpectedly without a clear successor, a unified opposition - likely behind former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski - would stand its best chance to come to power in over a decade."

Chavez is guaranteed a warm welcome and discreet treatment in Cuba because of his friendship with past and present rulers Fidel and Raul Castro, plus the strict controls on information there.

(Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Marianna Parraga and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-chavez-skip-summit-due-health-180417063.html

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Five dead in earthquake in eastern Iran: media reports

DUBAI (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 5.5 in magnitude struck eastern Iran on Wednesday, killing five people and injuring 10 others, Iranian media reported, and officials expecting the toll to rise.

People fled from their homes after the powerful quake struck, Fars news agency reported, bringing walls and buildings down and leaving people trapped under rubble in villages across the district of Zahan in South Khorasan province.

Emergency workers had reached some areas and so far five people had been found dead and 10 injured, Tehran's deputy emergency services director Mohammad Sarvar said in a report by Fars. He said the number of dead was likely to rise.

Iran's Red Crescent Society dispatched 15 rescue teams to the affected areas to search for people stuck under the debris and doctors in the provincial capital of Birjand were on alert to treat those hurt, Iranian media said.

At least 12 aftershocks have been registered since the quake struck at 2038 local time (1708 GMT), the Iranian Seismological Center reported.

The USGS said the quake, which it initially recorded as magnitude 6.0, was very shallow at a depth of 3.3. miles. It located the epicenter as 48 miles north-northeast of Birjand, near the border with Afghanistan.

Iran is crisis-crossed by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which flattened the southeastern city of Bam and killed more than 25,000 people.

In August more than 300 people were killed when two quakes struck northwestern Iran.

(Reporting by Marcus George; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/magnitude-5-9-quake-hits-eastern-iran-u-181527636.html

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EU Sets Out Plans To Modernize Copyright For The Digital Age: User-Generated Content And Cross-Border Usage On The Agenda

Regulators are not known to be fleet of foot when it comes to responding to market conditions -- it can take years for something to get passed, or for fines to be levied on companies that violate antitrust rules, for example -- but you can't knock them for trying. Today, the European Union set out an agenda for how it plans to modernize copyright rules and regulations in light of the rise of the "digital economy."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QFDyZTEMhWs/

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NASA: New Mars Rover By 2020

The problem with the interesting moons like Callisto and Europa is that the liquid water oceans are dozens or hundreds of miles below the surface. Sure we might be able to sniff some pretty interesting stuff from ejected water, but the big finds on these moons are going to have to wait for future generations of equipment that can drill through kilometers of ice.

Mars is a reasonably good testing ground for this kind of tech. Not only is it an interesting body with a unique geology and a history that to a point wasn't so different from Earth's and at least a moderate candidate for some kind of life, but it is also considerably closer than Jupiter or Saturn. It serves as a great test bed for the kinds of probes we will likely end up sending to other bodies in the solar system.

I look at the Mars rovers as the best possible test bed for these new technologies, not only in building rugged mechanical systems that can survive intense temperature differentials, dust storms and climactic changes and even hard radiation, but also in the software. I expect with some of the major advances we're seeing in neural net development that by 2020 not only will the next rover be a more sophisticated machine, but it's brain will be considerably smarter too.

When you really think about it, NASA's Mars program is leading the way in highly sophisticated semi-autonomous probes. In a generation, we'll probably be able to launch the grandchildren of Curiosity to places like Titan and give them a far wider range of tools to explore.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/D0UvYRfLf6o/story01.htm

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What To Pack For A Weekend In Las Vegas

A lot of people are lured to the beautiful and enthralling Las Vegas in the state of Nevada. In fact, every year, around 35 million tourists flood the city for the shows, gambling and so much more. Typically, the city is considered to be in a hot climate and many people make the mistake of packing for their trip by taking only clothing appropriate for the hot weather. What they do not know is that Vegas can be actually cool, or cold, depending on the time of the year you visited.

Las Vegas, also known as the Sin City, is surrounded by the Mojave Desert, the reason why most people who have not been here believed that flip flops, string bikini and a pair of shorts are must-have clothing items to pack for their trip. The truth of the matter is that while the weather sees soaring temperatures, it can also get cold in the city like most desert regions.

Fall and spring in the city are moderate as far as the temperature goes with highs ranging in the high 70s or lower 80s. Every year in May, the weather begins heating up a bit and the average temperature can hit around 90 degrees every day. However, by June, temperatures are recorded for days end in 100s. The heat is dry making it seem unbearable to those people who have breathing problems. To make things worse, the concrete and asphalt on the Strip is making this dry heat seem even hotter and dryer meaning the temperature on the sidewalks of the city several degrees higher.

When planning to have a weekend vacation during the three hottest months - June, July and August - you should make sure to limit heat exposure every day especially during times when the sun is highest in the sky and giving out most heat. Often, tourists get cold while having vacation in Vegas during hot months despite the warm weather. Being able to know a bit more about the weather of the city helps you in packing your suitcase better for the weather. The most important thing to keep in mind is that regardless of the season you want to travel in, you should always bring a sweater and appropriate shoes for cold weather most especially during the night. When traveling to the sin city during hot times of the year, include thin tops and pants to keep yourself comfortable.

You also need to bring a scarf or hat as covering for your head. Make sure to bring sun block and sunglasses to protect your eyes against exposure to UV rays. When packing for a weekend vacation in Vegas, bring versatile items you can put on quickly in case of rapid change of temperatures. If traveling to Vegas during winter, don't mind bringing bathing suits unless you planned of staying in a hotel with heated pools. Being prepared for the climate and knowing the right things to pack can definitely make your vacation in Vegas enjoyable and more memorable.

Find out more about Las Vegas and other destinations at http://www.itravelnet.com/ - a comprehensive travel directory featuring travel blogs, competition alerts, travel deals, news, travel photos and videos. Submit your travel site.

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/what-to-pack-for-a-weekend-in-las-vegas-305871

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