Advertising Archives - Page 2 of 23

12/27/201804/28/2022

Rimon’s Complimentary 2019 CLE Webinar Series: Coming in January

Enrollment for the 2019 Rimon Law CLE Webinar Series being held in January is now open, so don’t wait too long to register!

Don’t miss the chance to register, to learn and to earn CLE credits.

This January (2019) we will be offering the following programs:

State and Local Taxation: Headline News and Trends, conducted by David Fruchtman;
Corporate Governance Issues Related to Mergers and Acquisitions of Delaware Corporations, conducted by Frank Vargas and Michael Vargas;
It All Ads Up: Advertising, Promotions & Celebrity Endorsements in a Digital, Mobile, Social & Augmented World, conducted by Joseph I. Rosenbaum;
Copyright and Trademark Law: The Uncomfortable Interface, conducted by Mark S. Lee; and
Law and Behavior: Ethics in Deception before the PTO, AIA Proceedings and Enforcement Presentations, conducted by Maxim Waldbaum.

To get dates, times and more information and to register for any or all of them go to 2019 Rimon Law CLE Webinar Series.

12/04/201804/28/2022

Practical Law: Sweepstakes in New York

I had the privilege of working as a contributor and contributing editor to a recently published Practice Note from Practical Law, a Thomson Reuters company, entitled Complying with New York Sweepstakes Law. Although focused on New York law, there are references to Federal law and regulation that apply throughout the United States.

If you are not already a subscriber to Practical Law, you can read the Practice Note and download a copy for your personal use and reference here: Complying with New York Sweepstakes Law. As always, if you need further information about the publication or you have questions relating to sweepstakes, contests, promotions, advertising or marketing anywhere in the world, feel free to reach out to me, Joe Rosenbaum, Partner or to any of the lawyers with whom you regularly work at Rimon Law. If you wish, you can also review my biography JIR Bio.

Thank you for being a loyal Legal Bytes reader.

07/31/201804/28/2022

Fake News, Troubled Celebrity Endorsements & Social Media

On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, I had the privilege of presenting a live, interactive, video-conference program and course entitled “A Perfect Storm: The Intersection of Fake News, Celebrity Endorsements & Social Media,” sponsored by Lawline.
The course was broadcast live and also recorded at Lawline’s Studio in lower Manhattan and is now available for on-demand viewing at Lawline.com. With permission, I have also posted a PDF of the PowerPoint visuals used during the presentation (although you will not be able to see the embedded videos) and you can view or download a copy for your personal use right here: A Perfect Storm: The Intersection of Fake News, Celebrity Endorsements & Social Media

As always, if you need more information, you can contact me directly (Joe Rosenbaum) or any of the Rimon attorneys with whom you regularly work.

12/13/201704/28/2022

What is an “Ad” These Days?

– Joseph I. Rosenbaum

On Friday, December 8, 2017, I had the privilege of presenting a seminar, hosted by Lawline, entitled “Augmented, Native and Interactive: The New World of Digital & Mobil Advertising.” This was broadcast live on the Web and recorded for subsequent on demand viewing and was my second presentation at Lawline. The first “Online & Mobile Digital Interactive Advertising: Video Games, Branded Entertainment, Native Advertising and Beyond” remains available as a web-based, on demand offering at Lawline.

This seminar provided an update on many of the concepts and principles discussed in the first program, including some basic principles of advertising law that applies in both the traditional and digital/mobile environment and provided updated information on game advertising – both advertising the game and in-game advertising – as well native advertising and guidance from the Federal Trade Commission. This recent session also delved into a number of digital and mobile advertising issues that were not part of the first presentation, such as celebrity endorsements, bloggers, experts & consumer testimonials in social media, augmented reality and advertising in virtual worlds, programmatic buying and the current tensions in the industry concerning transparency and relationships between advertisers and integrated agencies. You can view the slide images of my presentation “The New World of Digital & Mobil Advertising” and, of course, you can view the recorded session which is available exclusively through Lawline.

As always, if you need assistance or require any additional information, feel free to contact me, Joe Rosenbaum, at Rimon, P.C.

11/21/201704/28/2022

All Good Things Must . . . .

– Dror Futter

So far this year, offerings of blockchain based tokens have raised over $3 billion and for a long time regulators seemed to be ignoring these Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Indeed, some commentators asserted they were outside the scope of government regulation.

This past summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began to take aim. While the SEC has not yet provided detailed guidance as to which tokens would be categorized as securities and which considered “utility tokens” (outside the SEC’s jurisdiction), the SEC has indicated such tokens can be securities, basing its determinations on a ‘facts and circumstances’ analysis. Having said that, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton reportedly deviated from prepared remarks earlier this month and said: “I have yet to see an ICO that doesn’t have a sufficient number of hallmarks of a security.”

Since the summer, China and South Korea have banned ICOs, while Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Australia and most recently the EU, issued SEC-like guidance stressing that tokens may be securities and as a result, subject to the oversight of securities regulators.

In addition, the first lawsuits related to ICOs have now been filed, reminding us that regulatory action is far from the only legal risk faced by ICO sponsors of ICOs. In one of the current lawsuits, only one of the claims is for the sale of unregistered securities, while other claims include allegations of fraud, false advertising and unfair competition under State law. Civil suits by disappointed investors and class action lawsuits relating to large scale offerings are likely to increase in the months and years ahead.

While recent developments don’t foretell the end of ICOs, they highlight more than the typical significant legal and regulatory risks associated with early stage venture investing. Indeed, investors may not be able to rely on the same types of legal protections they might obtain when acquiring conventional securities. Even after the initial issuance of these ‘tokens,’ their resale could raise even more issues and compliance may affect liquidity and valuation. In an uncertain regulatory environment, risk mitigation is an important element of counseling clients, but hardly a basis for avoiding risk altogether and clients and their lawyers have good reason to be cautious. In fact, even creating an impression that an ICO has been ‘blessed’ by lawyers may not make it clear that opinions have a significant level of assumptions, qualifications and caveats well beyond routine legal opinions.

This posting was adapted and extracted from a more detailed Client Alert written by Dror Futter, a New York-New Jersey based Partner at Rimon, P.C. You can read the entire alert, entitled “Spoiler Alert: ICOs – The “Good Times” May Be Ending,” and if you need more information, feel free to contact Dror Futter directly. As always, if you need any assistance you can always contact me, Joe Rosenbaum, a New York based Partner at Rimon, or any of the lawyers at Rimon with whom you regularly work.

09/14/201704/28/2022

Global Social Media Handbook

I am proud to be among the 22 legal professionals, including 7 of my colleagues at Rimon, who contributed and co-authored a new book entitled Handbook on Global Social Media Law for Business Lawyers, published by ABA Publishing. This comprehensive work, sponsored by the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, was co-edited by Valerie Surgenor, a partner in the Glasgow, Scotland, law firm MacRoberts LLP and John Isaza, my friend and partner here at Rimon, P.C. Although principally focused on the United States, there are contributions from foreign lawyers in key regions around the world, including Canada, the European Union, Australia, Russia and Asia.

The Handbook deals with national and international law principles and emerging issues related to social media law, ethics, compliance and governance, including cybersecurity, cyber terrorism and risk management in a social media environment (e.g., hacking, corporate espionage, data loss and data breach); intellectual property issues in social media; defamation, “fake news” and social media; implementation of a social media crisis plan; use of social media as a tool in recruitment of employees and the privacy implications to employers; promotional, endorsement and social media disclosure guidelines promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission in the US; and recent trends in UK and European social media legislation and regulation. There is a separate chapter that discusses information and records management within the context of social media.

If you are interested, you can order a copy directly from the ABA (Handbook on Global Social Media Law for Business Lawyers) and of course, if you need more information or want to discuss your particular requirements with knowledgeable and experienced professionals, feel free to reach out to me, Joe Rosenbaum, or to any of the lawyers at Rimon with whom you work with regularly.

02/01/201704/28/2022

FCC Drops ‘App’ Plan to Open Set-Top Boxes

– Joe Rosenbaum

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under its new Chairman Ajit Pai, removed from its list of items for consideration, a proposal originally put forth by prior Chairman Tom Wheeler that would have allowed consumers to access pay-TV content on third-party devices. Previous Chairman Wheeler’s original proposal took an “apps” based approach, but also included a licensing scheme that would require implementation of a standardized license for placing apps on such platforms or devices.

Critics, however, noted this particular proposal would actually have the opposite effect and more restrictively limit the choices available to consumers. The original proposal also put the FCC in the position of acting as supervisory authority in order to ensure, in each case, that such a license wouldn’t harm competition. Critics immediately raised concerns over the need for such intrusion by the FCC at all (some raised questions regarding the authority of the FCC to require or supervise such a licensing scheme), with many preferring to simply get rid of restrictions and limitations on access devices altogether.

While the FCC has removed the proposal from its list of items being considered for a vote, it remains on the Commission’s circulation list. Thus, the FCC’s action removes the proposal from immediate consideration, but doesn’t close the file officially – something over which industry groups remain concerned. Their concerns continue to relate to the uncertainty of having a proposal still open for consideration, which, if resurrected, could pose problems for many in the industry, including distributors and content creators whose existing contracts might be in violation of such a new FCC requirement or policy. Stay tuned.

01/25/201704/28/2022

Legal Bytes – A New Beginning

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…… oops, wrong beginning.

Welcome to the new Legal Bytes blog. As many of you know, my Legal Bytes blog has been dormant after my recent transition to Rimon, P.C.. Getting set up, ensuring smooth transitions for clients, enhancing the look and feel of the blog has taken a longer than I hoped, but hopefully the bugs are out of the system and it’s now up to me to try my best to make the new Legal Bytes blog worth the wait. For newcomers, buckle your seatbelts – this isn’t your ordinary legal blog!

What happened? Why does it matter? How does or could it affect you? Inquiring minds always want to know and in the process of trying to answer those questions for you, I will always try to illuminate and perhaps also entertain you. In the coming months I’ll entice you into regular readership, enlighten you with timely content, addict you with my trivia contests, entice you to keep in touch and most of all, try to help you better understand how developments in the law and regulation may affect you.

I intend to continue Light Bytes, with interesting quotes and sayings that pique my interest and hopefully yours. Of course, there was never a question about my trivia contests. After all, who else but a lawyer could call it “Useless But Compelling Facts”? We have once again made arrangements with the International Law Office (ILO) based in London. I am privileged to have been re-appointed as Editor and exclusive content coordinator for their U.S. Media, Marketing, Sports & Entertainment Newsletter. Although there will be content you will see exclusively in the ILO newsletter, you may also see many of our Legal Bytes articles re-purposed and ‘internationalized’ in collaboration with much appreciated work of the ILO editorial staff. I am again excited to be working with such a valued organization and truly great people – shout out to Carolyn Boyle, my Editorial contact.

Want to know what’s on my radar for the year ahead – I won’t spoil all the surprises, drone on about drones, nor will I keep my head in the clouds or the crowds. I am fascinated by the legal implications of the Internet with Things (yes, I replaced ‘Of’ with “With”). I’m also concerned about cybersecurity and data protection. I am intrigued by the growing robustness of augmented reality, which means I don’t have to walk around with those funny goggles or a digital scuba mask to experience the virtual world. Mobile technology is transforming our world – making digital content, e-commerce and communication available to billions of people that had previously never seen a television, had a bank account or used a telephone. I would be remiss not to mention social media – maturing and increasingly commercialized – further blurring the distinctions between information, entertainment and advertising; between me as an individual and an employee; between me at play and at work; and between my trademarks and my reputation; and between my insatiable desire to tell the world and my seemingly paradoxical concern over my privacy!

It is a brave new world – so much to know and so much to keep up with.

So stay tuned, and as always, thank you for reading.