White nationalist Steve King was found liable for copyright infringement for his use of the “Success Kid” meme template in his advertising. King’s fair use argument failed. Let’s look at why. Griner registered the photo with the Copyright Office in 2012 and then licensed the image to businesses like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and others: Without permission, […]
The FTC is not wasting any time this year—here’s a new case about subscription offers. The agency sued personal finance app FloatMe and its co-founders today. FloatMe allegedly charged users without consent and used “dark patterns designed to thwart … attempts to cancel.” The FTC says FloatMe’s cofounders knew FloatMe was “double or triple” charging […]
Sway Fitness—a supplement brand “based on the Sway House”—is suing Blake Gray, Noah Beck, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson, and Josh Richards. Sway Fitness says the Sway House stars breached contracts by failing to create content supporting the brand and by promoting competitors. Sway Fitness says the creators caused more than $500,000 in damages, including $390,000 […]
Warner Music Group’s lawsuit against Iconic alleges that Iconic and its influencers used WMG’s copyright music without permission. In total, WMG says Iconic has used more than 165 different copyrighted tracks owned by WMG across at least 169 videos. WMG says Iconic never sought to obtain licenses for the tracks. Remember: Brands and influencers cannot […]
Francesca Witzburg: Hey guys. Today I have Rob Freund who is an amazing attorney out in California who deals with all aspects of influencer advertising, marketing law. He also is a good friend of mine and we are doing this impromptu live today. So I ask, I like to do these periodically with Rob because […]
Happy Saturday – And happy Thanksgiving! I’m looking forward to some family time and all of the Thanksgiving food, except for turkey. I think turkey is overrated. It’s fine, but it’s a bottom-tier holiday food for me. Here’s what I’ve been paying attention to over the last seven days: New Lawsuits One day before the […]
Happy Saturday – What a week it’s been. Crypto is imploding, Elon is being Elon, and Season 3 of Love is Blind concluded. It’s a lot to take in. My goal with this newsletter is to share with you some of the things I read as I stay on top of current issues and trends […]
Happy Saturday, and Happy Halloween! This year, I’m dressing up as Waluigi. He’s always been my favorite Mario character, and I already look a lot like him in real life, so I’m excited to dress in overalls and WAA at people a lot. This installment is a bit shorter than normal. Not every week is full […]
The Texas Attorney General is suing an influencer who sold online fitness and nutrition plans. The lawsuit says she sold the plans “with the promise of personalized nutritional guidance and individualized fitness coaching.” The price of the plans ranged from $92 for a one-week program, to $300 for a 3-month regimen. But the AG says […]
A music NFT project called Opulous featured Lil Yachty as “collaborating” on their NFT drops. But he says he never agreed to be part of the project. So, Yachty is suing Opulous, its music distribution partner, and that partner’s founder individually. He’s asserting claims in California federal court for trademark infringement, false endorsement, and violations […]
On the heels of a significant enforcement action against an ecommerce retailer over customer reviews, the FTC released two new guidance documents. You might already know that the FTC has brought lawsuits against brands and marketers for hiding negative reviews, paying for positive reviews, creating fake reviews, failing to disclose incentives, and other deceptive acts. […]
Ana De Armas appeared in the trailer for the 2019 film Yesterday, but she isn’t in the movie. Fans who claim they only paid to rent the movie through Amazon because of her appearance in the trailer are suing Universal for false advertising. The lawsuit is a proposed class action on behalf of everyone in […]
Unless you’re the government, running lotteries is illegal in the U.S. If you run a sweepstakes or giveaway as part of your NFT project (or anywhere else), you don’t want to risk having your promotion look like a lottery. What’s the difference? In a sweepstakes, entrants can win a prize for free based on chance […]
If an influencer creates a TikTok promoting a brand, using music that’s not in TikTok’s commercial library, then that influencer risks committing copyright infringement unless they have a license from the rights owner. And the brand and any ad agency involved in the campaign can be liable for the infringement too. That might seem surprising—it’s […]
A lot of people are afraid of contracts. That’s because they are approaching the concept from the wrong perspective. I often hear from people who are worried that a formal contract with scare off someone they’re looking to work with, because forcing someone to sign a document shows you don’t trust them. It’s a mistake […]
On Monday, Meta sued a company called SocialData, which provides account metrics and other social media analytics data to its users. Specifically, SocialData provided information about Instagram accounts, including username, follower and like count, post count, verification status, and demographic analysis of the account’s audience. Meta alleges SocialData used thousands of automated bot IG accounts […]
There are rules about offering a “money-back guarantee” that brands and their customers should know. The FTC’s rule is that a seller can use the terms “satisfaction guarantee,” “money back guarantee,” or similar language only if it “refunds the full purchase price of the advertised product at the purchaser’s request.” The rule also requires that […]
Black Friday tip: make sure your subscription offers comply with the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA). The FTC recently issued a statement warning the ecommerce industry that it plans to “ramp up” enforcement related to subscription programs that automatically renew. The statement focused on three issues: consent, disclosure, and cancellation. Consent: The FTC says […]