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National Advertising Division’s 2022 Annual Report: An Advertising Compliance Roadmap for the Year Ahead

“[N]o legacy is so rich as honesty”1 might fairly summarize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s theme to the advertising industry for 2023, as gleaned from the National Advertising Division (NAD) 2022 Annual Report. “FTC leadership,” the NAD Report elaborates, “sent a consistent, strong message that national advertisers should take a hard look at their own … Continue Reading

Too Good a Deal? JC Penny Hit with Class Action Suit Over False Reference Pricing

Competition in the world of online sales is intense, but companies that used inflated original prices to lure customers face consequences. JC Penny, for example, has been hit with a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of California over its alleged advertising practice of using “false reference pricing.” The three-count complaint claims the nationwide … Continue Reading

China: Design Patents and the Metaverse

The concept of Metaverse as an online framework for economic interoperability was born in and around 2020. Since then, giant companies all over the world ― especially in the IT, entertainment and fashion businesses ― have begun to launch products and solutions related to the ever developing Metaverse. Fashion brands, artists and entertainers, among others, … Continue Reading

ISPs and Anonymous Users Rejoice: DMCA 512(h) Subpoena Subjected to First Amendment Scrutiny

Last month, in an important ruling for Internet service providers, and anonymous users alike, a new defense is taking shape to subpoenas issued pursuant to the “unmasking” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Specifically, in In re DMCA § 512(h) Subpoena to Twitter, Inc., N.D. Cal. Case No. 20-mc-80214, district judge Vince Chhabria … Continue Reading

Smart Consumer Devices at the Centre of the EU Internet of Things (IoT) Sector Inquiry

The European Commission published the preliminary results of its IoT sector inquiry and tech giants come under pressure for the alleged “gatekeeper” role that their voice assistant apps (such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant) play in smart homes and with other connected consumer devices. The EU sector inquiry has so far collected over 200 … Continue Reading

Are Changes to the DMCA on the Horizon?

On June 2, technology companies and copyright holders testified before Congress about the effectiveness of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) “safe harbor” provision. These testimonies came after the U.S. Copyright Office released its long-anticipated May 21 report, which studied and discussed DMCA’s effectiveness and the safe harbor provision.… Continue Reading

CJEU: IP Addresses Are Not “Addresses” Under Enforcement Directive, Neither Are E-mail Addresses or Telephone Numbers

In the course of infringement proceedings, the right-holder may request an infringer and/or other involved persons (e.g. intermediaries such as an online video-sharing platform in this case) to provide name and address of users-infringers. But what does the notion of ‘address’ refer to? Would the provision of other than a postal address (such as email … Continue Reading

Spreading The Influence: FTC Issues New Guidance for Influencers

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) continues to focus on influencer advertising, as part of its consumer protection mission.  On November 5, 2019, the FTC released an instructive “Disclosure 101” Guide and “Advice for Social Media Influencers” video to help influencers understand their legal obligations when they are spreading their influence through social media posts, … Continue Reading

Before The DST Settles: United Kingdom Pushes Ahead With Digital Services Tax

On Thursday 11 July 2019, the UK government confirmed that it will bring forward legislation for a new Digital Services Tax (DST) to take effect from April 2020. Squire Patton Boggs’ Tax team have prepared an alert, analysing the proposed legislation and assessing its possible impact and wider implications, which can be downloaded here. For more information, please contact Jeff VanderWolk.… Continue Reading

You could be a celebrity without knowing it if you have 30,000 followers on social media

In a landmark decision, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK recently ruled that, for the purposes of the CAP Code at least, a social media user may be considered a celebrity where they have 30,000 followers or more. In this case, the ASA found that an influencer breached the CAP Code when she … Continue Reading

Hungry for change: ASA and Government target junk food ads

With childhood obesity rates in the UK among some of the worst in Europe, the Government has set a national target to halve childhood obesity by 2030. Whilst the Government acknowledges that this is a multi-faceted problem, it has reported that evidence suggests that children’s exposure to advertising of products that are high in fat, … Continue Reading

The EU’s Digital Copyright Directive – where are we now?

In 2016 the EU proposed the “Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market” (the Directive). Since then, the Directive has been widely debated at EU level and has been the subject of intense campaigning and lobbying, with various interested parties writing numerous open letters to the EU Council’s Working Party on Intellectual Property, the … Continue Reading

New Jurisprudence Rendered By Spanish Courts Facilitates Closing Of Websites

Recent jurisprudence rendered by Spanish Courts establishes that in the case of copyright infringement over the internet, it is not necessary to sue the infringer, but rather the IT intermediaries that host the website. The Court of Appeal in Barcelona has now dismissed an appeal filed by several IT companies against the first instance Judgment … Continue Reading

Digital Single Market: EU negotiators agree to end unjustified geoblocking

The European Commission has issued a press release announcing that the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have reached a political agreement to end unjustified geoblocking for consumers wishing to buy products or services online within the EU.   Geoblocking occurs when a customer is treated differently based on their nationality, place of residence or location … Continue Reading

FCC Consumer Broadband Privacy Rules Effective Early 2017

On December 2, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) published its Consumer Broadband Privacy Report and Order in the Federal Register.  The Report and Order, released by the FCC on Wednesday, November 2, 2016—just one week after adoption—imposes significant restrictions on the use of sensitive customer proprietary information by retail broadband internet access … Continue Reading

Keyword advertising – novel questions of honest concurrent use and passing off

Cases on trade mark infringement in the context of keyword advertising are rare. However, the UK High Court recently handed down a ruling on exactly that topic – in Victoria Plum Limited v Victorian Plumbing Limited. The decision is the first time a court has considered the ‘honest concurrent use’ defence to trade mark infringement … Continue Reading

EU – When will hyperlinks be unlawful?

Following the uncertainty created by earlier rulings, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has handed down another judgment on when hyperlinking will be unlawful.   The ruling focuses on Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive and, in particular, the meaning of “communication to the public”.  The question before the Court was – when … Continue Reading

Europe – When is hyperlinking lawful?

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Europe’s highest court, has been advised to rule that providing hyperlinks to freely accessible copyright protected content placed on the internet without the author’s consent should not be copyright infringement (GS Media v (1) Sanoma (2) Playboy Enterprises (3) Britt Dekker). The facts of the GS … Continue Reading

The Single Party Rule for Direct Patent Infringement: Guidance from the Federal Circuit’s latest Akamai vs. Limelight decision

In its fourth decision in the ten-year litigation between Akamai and Limelight, the Federal Circuit again addresses the issue of so-called divided infringement, this time providing guidance on the requirement that only a “single party” can directly infringe. This case had its most momentous turning point last summer, in June 2014, when the Supreme Court … Continue Reading

A Sucking Sound on Domain Names: .SUCKS is Open for Registration

The .SUCKS registry is perhaps the most controversial of the new generic top level domains (gTLDs), which the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has continued to roll out. Trademark owners should be aware of the .SUCKS registry and factor it into their trademark protection strategy. Yet the first “sucking” noise brand owners … Continue Reading

President Issues Third Cybersecurity Executive Order in Two Years

President Obama issued an Executive Order (EO) on April 1, 2015 which targets for economic sanctions for persons engaged in significant malicious, cyber-related activities. While no individuals or organizations have been named yet, the White House confirmed that a “robust interagency process” is currently underway to examine which persons or organizations to target first. This … Continue Reading

Excellent Summary of the FCC’s Net Neutrality Order

With much publicity, the FCC recently released its Open Internet Order laying out the its revised net neutrality rules.  In an historic change of position, the Order, among other things, (1) reclassifies retail broadband internet access as subject to “common carrier” regulations, (2) imposes prohibits from giving preferred customers a “fast lane” to end-user customers, … Continue Reading
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