FI&C achieved an important win recently on behalf of one of the firm's long standing clients. Jeff Ireland, Brian Wright, and Jacqueline Brown challenged a competitor's advertising claims in the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Agreeing with several of the points raised by FI&C, the National Advertising Division found that several of the competitor's advertising claims must be modified or discontinued. The competitor has announced that it intends to modify or discontinue several of the claims in response to the National Advertising Division's ruling.

Jeff Ireland and Brian Wright recently authored an article, entitled "Easing the Burden: Recovery of Damage Control Costs After Balance Dynamics Corporation v. Schmitt Industries, Incorporated," that has been published in the Spring 2005 edition of the Consumer Protection Update. The Consumer Protection Update is a publication of the Consumer Protection Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Antitrust Law. The article demonstrates that after a recent decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, businesses should now aggressively pursue litigation against competitors under the Lanham Act when the competitors engage in false or misleading advertising. Jeff is a member of the Board of Governors for the Antitrust Law Section of the Ohio State Bar Association. Both Jeff and Brian have considerable experience in the litigation of unfair competitive activity. The article can be found at http://www.ficlaw.com/publications/ireland/cons_prot_update.pdf

Ron Raether was a presenter in June at a day-long seminar sponsored by the National Business Institute titled "Getting the Evidence You Need: Effectively Conducting E-Discovery and Computer Forensics." Ron's portion of the presentation relied on his technology-related experience, focusing on electronic data discovery and data management, and effective strategies for disclosure and discovery. Ron will be speaking about legal aspects of internet-related services and liability arising out of on-line activity on September 14, 2005 in Columbus and on September 28, 2005 in Cincinnati at CLEs titled "Digital Technology and the Law." The written materials for Ron's June presentation can be found at http://www.ficlaw.com/publications/raether/ediscovery.html

Partner Jeff Sharkey has been named a member of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce's Ambassador's Club. The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce is an organization of local businesses, and its Ambassador's Club assists the Chamber in maintaining relationships with existing businesses and with recruiting new businesses into the Chamber.

On June 10, 2005, FI&C associate Julie Zink was elected to serve a two-year term as the Treasurer for the Dayton Intellectual Property Law Association (DIPLA). In addition, FI&C associate Erin Bair accepted the DIPLA President's invitation to present a short summary of recent caselaw at each DIPLA meeting to be held during the 2005-2006 term. DIPLA, a local bar association, consists of a wide and diverse spectrum of individuals involved in the practice of patent, trademark, copyright, and unfair competition law.

The Spring 2005 issue of Dayton Lawyer magazine contains an article on the Intellectual Property Moot Court Team at the University of Dayton School of Law. The team has been strongly supported by FI&C: it was co-founded and coached by FI&C partner Tom Kraemer, FI&C associate Lynn Preston coached three teams in two competitions during the school's 2004-05 scholastic year, and numerous FI&C associates helped the team throughout the year by participating as judges in practice rounds. In addition, current FI&C summer associate Mahmud Karim participated as a member of a team competing in the BMI/Cardozo Entertainment and Communications Law Moot Court Competition.

Charlie Faruki authored an article explaining consumer class actions, at the request of the Ohio State Bar Association. It is being published in various newspapers in Ohio.