What to Watch: Intellectual Property, the U.S. Supreme Court, Privacy

Fashion and retail companies can expect to see some of their key legal concerns addressed in the coming months, as the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes in the fall and the California legislature puts its finishing touches on a major consumer privacy bill set to take effect in January.     At the end of its last term, the high court took up two intellectual property cases that deal with how courts should treat recurring trademark disputes between the same companies, and what it takes for companies to win damages in infringement cases.  In intellectual property disputes, for instance, proving infringement is often just the half of it. The difficult part that usually follows is the effort to show how much in damages the alleged infringement caused. In Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil Inc., the high court will consider the question of whether a company must prove that the infringement in question was willful, or intentional, before it can seek damages in the form of its infringer’s profits. “When you’re filing a lawsuit for infringement, you want to win for the moral victory of winning, but you’re also looking for damages,” said Jeff Trexler, associate director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University. “The harder

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