Spooky Stories of Useful Bananas, Judicial Intervention in the Candy Aisle, and the Urge to Run Away and Join the Halloween Circus
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Whatever the intent of the original song, I find it resonates most for me when cold air is just starting to move in rather than when it’s fully settled, and when yards are merrily bedecked in zombies rather than reindeer.… More
Hypothetical: You go out for a nice stroll one Halloween only to have a neighbor emerge from his house with a pitchfork and accuse you of being a witch in front of the whole village. For the sake of argument, let’s say you are not actually a witch. Can you sue for slander?
For centuries, a civil defamation lawsuit has been available as a remedy —… More
Brewers, distillers, and vintners are no strangers to themed seasonal offerings, so it’s not surprising that Halloween brings out some decidedly decrepit monikers. From PUMPKINHEAD (think reaping) to NOSFERATU, WITCH’S WIT to BRUJERIA, purveyors of alcohol capitalize on the creepy and market the macabre. Every once in a while, of course, great minds think alike,… More
Halloween is a good time to think about how you want to die. Do you want to leave the world peacefully? Or do you want to go down trash talking, making sure that your enemies know exactly what you think about them, and that everyone else knows what terrible people these enemies were?
Take, for example, this 1908 bequest of Garvey White, as recounted by Judge John Marshall Gest of the Philadelphia Orphans Court.… More
So, I hear you are selling Halloween costumes, the designs for which you copied from another manufacturer. Well, gather around the fire, because I have a very scary story to tell you.
Chosun International was the manufacturer of impossibly cute animal costumes for children, featuring plush sculpted hoods and sleeves shaped like various animals’ heads and paws. In 2002, Chosun sued one of its competitors for copying these designs.… More