The Advertising Law Blog provides commentary and news on developing legal issues in advertising, promotional marketing, Internet, and privacy law. This blog is sponsored by the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions group at Olshan. The practice is geared to servicing the needs of the advertising, promotional marketing, and digital industries with a commitment to providing personal, efficient and effective legal service.
On May 9, 2013, the FCC clarified the extent to which sellers can be held liable for robo-calls and texts sent by third-party marketers on their behalf.
Recently proposed legislation in New York and in Maine, if passed, would impact businesses that provide subscription arrangements. These laws reflect a growing legislative trend to regulate goods and services billed on an auto-renewal basis.
Here is a look at four recent class-action lawsuits under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA):
The State of Florida has amended its laws regarding "game promotions" and "drawings by chance." The amendments as well as an April 11, 2013 press release issued by the Florida Division of Consumer Services has raised numerous questions regarding the impact on non-profit organizations. Not all is clear, but here's what we know so far.
By William MacDonald*
In a speech yesterday to the American Advertising Federation new Federal Trade Commission Chair Edith Ramirez urged the advertising industry to give consumers "effective and meaningful privacy protection" by agreeing on a global standard that would let consumers signal with their browsers to websites, advertising networks and data brokers that they do not want their online activities monitored for marketing purposes.
By William MacDonald*
Yesterday the New York Post ran an interesting article about a trial now under way in Seattle in which actress Junie Hoang is suing popular film Web site IMDb for publicizing her true age.
By William MacDonald*
In anticipation of the rapid expansion of the number of top-level domain names from the current handful (.com, .net., .mobi, .jobs, etc.) to well over 1,000, earlier this week ICANN's new Trademark Clearinghouse opened for business.
By William MacDonald*
In a decision published last week, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons Inc., the United States Supreme Court held that the "first sale" doctrine under the United States Copyright Act applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.
The Supreme Court of the United States has closed a loophole used by class action plaintiffs to avoid trying their cases federal court. The case, entitled Standard Fire Insurance v. Knowles, was decided on March 19, 2013.
The National Advertising Division ("NAD") recently recommended that Toys "R" Us modify or discontinue a price-matching claim advertised.