Advertising, Marketing & Promotions

Perkins Coie proudly announces that once again it has been ranked by Chambers & Partners, publishers of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, as a top law firm in the United States.

On October 5, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission issued new Web guidelines pertaining to "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." Among other things, the Guides requires bloggers to disclose free products or payments they have received from companies for reviewing their products. Perkins Coie Partner Barry Reingold was invited to be a guest on Lawyer 2 Lawyer, a talk show on the Legal Talk Network, to help clarify the FTC’s new guidelines, look at the ethics of blogging, blogger abuse and how these new guidelines will impact the blogosphere. Listen to Podcast.

The Federal Trade Commission published final guidelines laying out how companies can use consumer testimonials and endorsements to promote their products and services. Barry Reingold, a Perkins Coie Partner in the Marketing & Advertising practice, was quoted in a Law.com article on the new guidelines. He expressed a concern that advertisers may respond to the new rules by requesting that endorsers make fewer, measurable fact-specific claims. To avoid the costs of developing claim substantiation through expensive user surveys or clinical trials, Reingold said, advertisers may "abandon the specific detail-oriented ads for the softer stuff."

The Federal Trade Commission is on the brink of updating guidelines that may require companies to provide proof to back up any claims about a product or a service. Partner Barry Reingold was recently interviewed on the topic in Law.com's LegalTech article, "FTC Ready to Cut 'Astroturfing'." In regard to the revisions, "I understand [the FTC's] concern, but I think they're imposing a potentially enormous cost on the industry," Reingold said. Watch the full interview.

Under the new guidelines published by the Federal Trade Commission, bloggers and advertisers will be required to disclose compensation, such as payment or even that they received free samples. Barry Reingold, a Partner in the Perkins Coie Marketing & Advertising Practice, was quoted on the topic in a recent article published by Tampabay.com. Although the guidelines themsleves are only advisory, said Reingold, an advertiser that violates them could then face charges for false advertising, which is illegal and punishable.

The FTC is working to update its "Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising," which would encompass various forms of electronic and viral marketing, such as blogs and message boards, and impose new expectations for marketing in traditional media as well. Under the proposed revisions, the FTC prods advertisers to disclose material connections between themselves and their endorser.

Earlier this year, Washington state legislators unanimously passed the nation's first criminal law requiring age verification for commercial sexual services advertisements depicting minors. The landmark law's goals are laudable, but its broad reach has some on-line service providers and traditional publishers concerned. For example, on-line service providers that allow users to post content and images on their sites, including on social networking sites, dating sites, discussion forums, blogs and chat rooms, could now face criminal exposure, even if they have absolutely no interest in placing, or permitting the placement of, such ads.

After nearly two years of comments, the FCC issued its Report & Order updating its Rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act pursuant to the January 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

There have been many recent changes in the world of domain names.  This is the fourth in a series of updates on these issues.  It is intended to keep you informed about issues that are important to brand owners and any others with a significant web presence.

In a matter of months, the amount of "Internet real estate"—which has been static for the past several years—will expand dramatically. Companies, organizations, cities and others will be able to apply to ICANN to launch new domain spaces using brand names (for example, .nike), generic terms (such as .shoes) and locations (such as .nyc).

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Citizens United v. FEC, a case examining the legality of a documentary film released in 2008 about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president. In a 5-4 ruling, the court struck down laws banning independent electoral and issue advocacy sponsored by nonprofit and for-profit corporations. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently adopted important changes to the agency’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.  The Guides now directly apply to product endorsements through nontraditional media, such as blogs.