The law can simply be defined as a system of rules which are enforced by social institutions such as courts to govern behavior. Laws do not only govern the behaviors of individuals but it also seeks to protect their interest. Therefore, the paper seeks to discuss and analyze case studies that relate to trademark, administrative, hazardous waste, a division of markets, and trying agreement.
A trademark refers to a symbol or design that identifies and distinguishes service or goods of one part from another and unlike copyrights or patents, trademarks do not expire. In case one party uses full or part of another party’s trademark then by law this is considered as trademark infringement.
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For instance, in Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC (Kraft) famous manufacture of food product for over 50 years and was involved in selling cheese trademarked with Cracker Barrel label was challenged by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc who were planning to sell food products using a logo with the same name of the company (James, 2011). Kraft was forced to file a lawsuit on trademark infringement as this similarity would confuse its consumers.
Similarly, an administrative search is a doctrine that allows inspection carried out under a regulatory scheme either in public or commercial premises in order to enforce compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to health, safety, or security. The federal law grants the regulatory scheme the right of entry to a premise for administrative search purposes.
A case example of an administrative search is when a federal mine inspector tried to inspect the quarries that were owned by Waukesha Lime and Stone Company so that he could determine if the 25 health and safety violations that had been uncovered previously were attended to (James, 2011). The president of this company denied the inspector the right to inspect the premises without a search warrant. Based on the fact that this is federal law doctrine, the inspector cannot walk at his into the premises without a search warrant from the law; therefore the president was right in his actions.
Hazardous waste refers to the waste that threatens the environment and human health and this is often regulated by RCRA (Resource Conversation and Recovery Act) (epa.gov). This act provides a framework by which companies disposes off their waste so that they do not affect human life and environment too.
An example of a hazardous waste case is when the United States sues Hoflin for helping and abetting the illegal dumping of hazardous waste and in this case since Douglas Hoflin was aware of the danger that the disposal posed to the environment(James, 2011).
Division of market refers to a doctrine that governs agreements which divide markets between competing firms so that it eradicates chances of monopoly or where one firm takes advantage of the available resources to eliminate the competitors within the same market (Jarmuth, 1985).
For instance, in HBJ and BRG, the two had entered into an agreement that would allow BRG to exclusively market the bar review materials for HBJ and in return, BRG would pay HBJ $100 for every student enrolled within the BRG course (James, 2011). The two had agreed that BRG would not compete with HBJ outside the state of Georgia. After the agreement, BRG’s course was increased from $150 to $400 within Georgia. The two companies were later sued for manipulation of geographical division of markets which was manipulation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
Also, a trying agreement refers to an agreement between a buyer and a seller and its states that a seller agrees to sell a given product or service, which is known as the tying products to the buyer on a condition that the buyer purchases another product from the seller (Wallace, 2016).
A case example of a tying arrangement is when the Mercedes-Benz of North America who was the exclusive franchiser of the Mercedes-Benz in U.S and in this agreement any dealer was required to also purchase replacement parts from MBNA(James, 2011). One of the dealers was the Metrix Warehouse Inc who was later found to be selling replacement parts of Mercedes-Benz of equal quality but at a lower price. Metrix sued MBNA of an alleging tying arrangement that violated Section 1 of Sherman Act.
In conclusion, as discussed above, the function of law is universal. Without the law, there will be no normal operations. Therefore, from the above analysis, the law provides predictability and order in the society. In this case, without the law, the cases discussed above would have gone unresolved.
References
Epa.gov. (n.d.). Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Laws and Regulations. Retrieved December 09, 2016, from https://www.epa.gov/rcra
James, N. (2011). Critical legal thinking . Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education.
Jarmuth, J. (1985, Summer). Characterizing Horizontal Market-Division Agreements Under the Ancillary Restraints Doctrine. Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, 16 (4), 775-798. doi:http://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1900&context=luclj
Upsto.gov. (n.d.). Trademark, Patent, or Copyright? Retrieved December 09, 2016, from https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright
Wallace, K. (n.d.). The Wonderful World of Tying. Retrieved December 09, 2016, from http://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/the_101_201_practice_series/the_wonderful_world_of_tying.html
