Subscript Law

Argument: May 12, 2020 Petitioner Brief: Trump Respondent Brief: Vance, et al. Decision: TBA Court Below: Second Circuit Court of Appeals Can the New York prosecutors get Trump’s financial information from Trump’s accounting firm? On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about whether the President — and individuals and companies associated with him — are immune from state criminal investigation. The New York grand jury subpoena Public revelations about actions tied to Donald Trump caused the New York City District Attorney’s Office to open a grand jury investigation. The District Attorney sought to determine whether state law crimes had been committed in relation to efforts to silence porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 Presidential election and to other behavior covered in testimony from Michael Cohen and others.   Initially, the DA’s office (the DA is Cyrus Vance, Jr.) sent subpoenas to the Trump Organization, which coo...

Can the House committees get Trump’s financial information from third parties?  On Monday President Trump will ask the Supreme Court to keep his financial records out of the hands of three investigatory committees in the U.S. House of Representatives. The committees have issued subpoenas to third parties seeking business and tax records related to Trump and the Trump Organization. The President argues the House committees do not have the power to subpoena the records of a sitting President. He appeals after unfavorable decisions in the courts below. The subpoenas In 2019, three House committees subpoenaed business and tax records related to President Trump and the Trump Organization.  The Committee on Oversight and Reform issued a subpoena to Mazars USA LLP, President Trump’s accounting firm.  The Financial Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, which have had extensive financial dealing...

Is the mark BOOKING.COM protectable as a trademark for online hotel reservation services? The major online hotel reservation platform Booking.com B.V. will argue to the Supreme Court that it should be allowed to trademark its web address.  The case is among those the Supreme Court selected to hear via teleconference in May while the Court building is closed due to Covid-19. Booking.com is a leading digital travel company.  The company logs more than 30 million unique website visitors each month to its internet properties, which include the booking.com website.  Booking.com filed a trademark application for the mark BOOKING.COM in connection with online hotel reservation services.  The US Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) rejected the trademark application because, in its view, term BOOKING.COM is a “generic” term for online hotel reservation services.   Booking.com and the USPTO agree that “booking” generically re...