Commercial litigation generally involves two or more businesses in a dispute over money or other property. For contract issues, also see our blog post about contracts and the basics about breach (or a broken) contract claims. Common examples include suits for:
- Misuse of Intellectual Property: Patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, service marks, and trade secrets.
- Antitrust Violations: Monopolization of a line of business, group boycotts, price discrimination, tying arrangements, and conspiracies to fix prices, allocate customers, divide territories, or otherwise prevent competition.
- Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices: Misrepresentations and fraud in business transactions.
- Securities Law Violations: Deceptive or manipulative conduct in connection with buying and selling stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities, whether privately or on an open market like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
- Abuses of Trust: Breaches of fiduciary duties by persons in positions of trust, including corporate officers and directors, agents, trustees, partners, or majority shareholders.
- Employer/Employee Disputes: Overtime, disabilities, health and pension benefits, and discrimination (age, race, and gender).
- Collection of Debt: Promissory notes, guaranty agreements, and mortgages/deeds of trust.
- Breach of Contract: Mergers and acquisitions, purchases and sales of securities, transactions in real estate and other business assets, and agreements to provide goods or services.
- Tortious Interference with Contract: A third party’s hindering or preventing performance of an agreement.
- Agreements Limiting Competition: Non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements by former business owners and employees. These suits often include requests for emergency relief such as a restraining order or pre-trial injunction.