The Bottom Line The Supreme Court has found that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can no longer rely on Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) in order to seek monetary penalties for violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act for “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or Continue Reading
AdExchanger | Congress Puts Pressure on the App Stores; Multiple States Plan Digital Ad Tax Laws
Michael Lasky and Stephen Foley were mentioned in an AdExchanger article, "Congress Puts Pressure on the App Stores; Multiple States Plan Digital Ad Tax Laws." Continue Reading
A Banner Year for Online Political Ads in a Socially-Distanced Reality
The Bottom Line With less than a month until the 2020 election and the presidential debates in full swing, campaigns are entering the crucial “get out the vote” period of their campaigns and are doing everything they can to motivate their supporters and ensure voters get to the polls. Continue Reading
Score! College Athletes Will Soon Cash in on Their Name, Image and Likeness
7th Edition: Trends in Marketing Communications Law 2019 witnessed a landmark change in one of the most controversial matters plaguing college sports: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rule prohibiting student-athletes from accepting compensation for the use of their name, image Continue Reading
The Legal Loophole for Online Political Advertising (Barely) Starts to Close
7th Edition: Trends in Marketing Communications Law With COVID-19, the nationwide call for racial justice, and the battle for the Supreme Court dominating the news, it has been easy to lose track of the fact that the U.S. Presidential election is just over one month away. To get voters to focus Continue Reading
Patent Troll Activity Likely to Continue to Rise
7th Edition: Trends in Marketing Communications Law For nearly half a decade, patent troll suits have been on the decline. Indeed, as we reported last year, the Supreme Court has gone out of its way to curb the worst patent troll abuses in order to protect innovators and call the viability of Continue Reading
Senators Urge the FTC to Investigate “Privacy Violations” by Adtech Companies
The Bottom Line Senators Wyden and Cassidy, along with eight other members of Congress, sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph Simmons on July 31 urging the FTC to investigate what they called “widespread privacy violations by companies in the advertising technology Continue Reading
After 20 Years, COPPA Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
6th Edition: Trends in Marketing Communications Law Last year marked 20 years since Congress passed the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Fittingly, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) kicked off 2018 by settling two back-to-back cases with companies alleged to have violated COPPA. Continue Reading
President Trump Signs the Music Modernization Act Into Law
The Bottom Line The Music Modernization Act is getting a lot of press, and for good reason: it is one of the most significant updates to music law in decades. While the impact of the MMA will primarily be felt by DSPs, artists and songwriters, the creation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective and Continue Reading
Supreme Court Seeks to Curb the Worst Abuses of the Patent System
5th Edition: Trends in Marketing Communications Law Congress, commentators and a wide variety of industry leaders have long noted that the patent system was broken. Besieged by a tide of weak patents and baseless patent troll litigations, these stakeholders argued that the current patent climate Continue Reading