SAN FRANCISCO (July 16, 2013) – Morrison & Foerster has published its first issue of Out of the Box, a quarterly newsletter offering best practices to tackle some of the hard-hitting issues faced by consumer product companies and retailers. The newsletter was launched by the firm's Consumer Products and Retail Industry Group, a cross-disciplinary initiative that draws on the firm's transactional, regulatory and litigation strengths and capabilities to provide consumer-product companies and retailers with timely insights and developments affecting their businesses.
"We hope to bring to Out of the Box readers the collective experience and insight the firm has gained by representing consumer product companies of every size and kind," said Don G. Rushing, the co-chair of Morrison & Foerster's Litigation Department, and a leading authority on product liability law. "The newsletter will provide readers with valuable insights from lawyers who have a wide array of experiences counseling companies on their most pressing issues from product innovation and consumer data and privacy issues to defending brand integrity and litigation to mergers and acquisitions and strategic alliances."
The first issue of Out of the Box features an article on effective consumer warning labels and product disclosures, potential landmines for consumer products companies if ignored. Warning and misrepresentation litigation have become the predominant forms of consumer products legal claims filed in the United States.
And just because the vast majority of consumer products sold do not have specific warning regulations or requirements, doesn't mean manufacturers, retailers and distributors are shielded from consumer litigation. Out of the Box recommends that manufacturers of products devoid of such labeling requirements exercise caution and use the American National Standard Institute's hazard communications system to help ensure effective consumer warnings.
To read Out of the Box, click here. The publication follows the launch of other successful online newsletters produced by Morrison & Foerster covering technology (MoFo Tech), social media (Socially Aware), biotechnology (BioMeter) and hostile M&A activity (Unsolicited Views).