Grapes get a vintage. Apples get a labeling restriction. Garden Path’s challenge to TTB’s cider rules ended over administrative exhaustion, leaving the First Amendment question unanswered. The filings offer lessons for producers seeking to put truthful harvest-year information on their labels.
Judge Sunshine Sykes takes on the Fifth Circuit’s approach to cannabis advertising and the First Amendment. Her thoughtful preliminary injunction opinion examines the same-sovereign theory, consumers’ rights to commercial information, and why federal cannabis prohibition should not automatically end the constitutional inquiry. Read the opinion, appellate briefs, and access the Ninth Circuit oral argument.
An Omaha cocktail bar’s barber-shop theme attracted a licensing challenge. We examine the preliminary-injunction ruling and explain why a name, a barber pole, and themed décor deserve a closer First Amendment analysis.
Perris permitted cannabis businesses while restricting their freeway billboards. This article examines the October 2025 temporary restraining order and the commercial-speech arguments behind the challenge.
Ralph Steadman’s Freezin’ Season artwork prompted another Flying Dog label dispute. Read about North Carolina’s rejection and the court’s commercial speech analysis.
The 2020 Jack Daniel’s petition and industry amicus briefs frame the trademark and First Amendment dispute over the Bad Spaniels parody dog toy.
An Aviation Gin advertising complaint illustrates tension between industry responsibility codes, parody, humor, and First Amendment protections.
This archived 2020 analysis examines the Ninth Circuit’s Bad Spaniels ruling on Jack Daniel’s trademarks, parody, dilution, and expressive works.
A cannabis dispensary settled claims after a First Amendment ruling over restrictions on sharing information and participating in a state event.
The Eighth Circuit’s Missouri Broadcasters opinion addresses First Amendment limits on Missouri alcohol advertising laws and the evidence supporting them.
Listen to the Eighth Circuit’s 2019 argument on Missouri alcohol-advertising restrictions and the evidence supporting their First Amendment defense.
A 2019 Missouri Broadcasters update links the reply brief and previews arguments about restrictions on truthful alcohol advertising.
