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Virginia’s Amended Telemarketing Regulations Go into Effect on July 1

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On April 2, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law that amends the State’s Telephone Privacy Protection Act (the “Act”). The amendments to Virginia’s telemarketing regulations are intended to curb caller ID spoofing and broaden the definition of what a “telephone solicitation call” is within the meaning of the statute. Additionally, the amendments increase the amount that private individuals and the Attorney General can, respectively, seek in damages and penalties. 

How will the amendments affect telephone solicitations?

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Looking to Supply PPE During the Pandemic? Speak with a PPE Lawyer First

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Every day, heartwarming stories are emerging about selfless acts of kindness that have occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. Among those selfless actors are companies that have pivoted from their usual operations to the new focus of producing personal protective equipment (“PPE”) for healthcare workers, first responders, essential workers, and the public at large. On the flip side of the coin, when disaster strikes, it is also serves as an opportune time for bad actors to easily defraud consumers. Because of the actions of these unfortunate few, federal authorities have recently grown suspicious of the entire PPE supplier marketplace. To avoid regulatory scrutiny, PPE suppliers should advertise their products in a legally compliant fashion by, among other measures: 1) following the guidelines released by the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”); 2) following Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) marketing regulations; and 3) consulting with a PPE lawyer concerning the legal issues related to the sale and marketing of PPE. 

What are the guidelines for marketing PPE?

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FTC Sues Negative Option Marketers

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On May 13, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against American Future Systems, Inc. (“AFS”), a Pennsylvania-based telemarketing company, and its alleged co-conspirator, International Credit Recovery, Inc. (“ICR”) (AFS and ICR, collectively, “Defendants”), for conspiring to bilk businesses into paying for publications that they never ordered. Pursuant to the scheme, AFS made unsolicited calls to various businesses and organizations across the country in an effort to dupe unsuspecting employees into agreeing to receive free samples of the company’s publications. In reality, AFS would enroll the businesses in negative option programs without their consent. According to the FTC, when the businesses failed to pay for these products, AFS referred the matter to ICR, a debt collection agency, in order to prod the businesses into making payment. 

What are the FTC’s allegations?

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Preparing CCPA Privacy Policies Before the July 1 Enforcement Date

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Despite the myriad issues that businesses now face with the Covid-19 pandemic, the California State Attorney General remains committed to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) enforcement date of July 1, 2020. As such, businesses that have not already done so should add CCPA compliance to their immediate to-do lists. One area of compliance that requires attention is online privacy policies that include CCPA-mandated provisions (“CCPA Privacy Policies”). Since the proposed CCPA regulations were first released to the public on October 11, 2019, the California State Attorney General’s Office has released two (2) modifications thereto. Those modifications have, in turn, necessitated changes to companies’ CCPA Privacy Policies. Businesses must, among other things, update their online privacy policies to ensure that they include CCPA-required disclosures and the associated menu of consumer options. 

What is required of CCPA Privacy Policies?

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Court Finds Fax Survey is TCPA Advertisement

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently upended the legal landscape governing fax marketing by issuing a decision which held that a market research-related fax survey is an advertisement for purposes of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

What are the implications of the Third Circuit’s fax survey decision?

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A Trademark Lawyer Can Guide you to Obtaining a Strong Trademark

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When starting a new business and attempting to stand out from the crowd, it is important for business owners to consider how to go about building a strong brand. An essential part of creating good branding is developing a robust trademark. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods and/or services. Trademark law places marks into one of five (5) categories of relative increasing strength: generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary and fanciful. Keeping these five (5) categories in mind when developing a brand can be the difference between obtaining a weak trademark that offers very little protection, and a strong trademark that allows the owner to readily enforce its/her/his trademark rights in the marketplace. As part of the process, a trademark lawyer can assist business owners in navigating through the nuances of trademark law in order to develop strong brands. 

What defines each level of trademark strength?

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Defending TCPA Litigation

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Telemarketing and text message marketing can serve as an effective and economical means to engage with prospective and current customers.  However, lawsuits alleging violation of the main federal statute governing these forms of marketing, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), have exploded in recent years. The financial exposure associated with TCPA litigation can be substantial.  Against this backdrop, the most sound advice that any experienced telemarketing attorney can provide to a business that plans to market through use of these media is to stress the importance of developing practices and procedures designed to: (i) minimize the risk that such a lawsuit gets filed in the first place; and (ii) maintain proper records that will ensure an effective defense in the event that a suit does get filed.  

What are some key TCPA litigation defenses?

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Planning on Running a Facebook Sweepstakes? Here’s What you Need to Know

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Sweepstakes promotions are great promotional tools which serve to engage consumers and attract new ones. When advertising sweepstakes on social media, businesses must be careful to abide by each respective social media platform’s distinct promotional contest rules, policies and guidelines. By way of example, in this blog we highlight the rules that sweepstakes operators must follow when creating and advertising Facebook sweepstakes promotions. 

What are Facebook’s sweepstakes policies?

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