Leonard L. Gordon

Firm/Organization: Venable LLP

Latest Articles

Venable Launches Close-Ups Entertainment and Media Blog

By Leonard L. Gordon on September 12, 2019

Venable’s dynamic Entertainment and Media Group is pleased to launch Close-Ups, a blog aimed at providing insider commentary on legal and business issues, trends, and headlines in Hollywood and beyond. As a reader of our All About Advertising Law blog, you recognize the value of timely legal analysis and commentary on the issues surrounding your business. The team of writers and editors producing Close-Ups embraces the same innovative and creative approach to their analysis of…

All About Advertising Law

Things Are Buzzing in the Beehive State

By Leonard L. Gordon, Alexandra Megaris & Elliot Kelly on August 28, 2019

Utah traditionally has been a hive of activity in the telemarketing and “how to make money” education verticals. The Utah Consumer Protection Division (the “Division”) and the Division’s lawyers at the Office of the Attorney General appear to be trying to change that. Industry participants have been watching closely a lawsuit filed by the attorney general on behalf of the Division in federal court in Utah. Last week, that lawsuit was thrown out on jurisdictional…

All About Advertising Law

No Restitution for the Weary: Seventh Circuit Limits FTC’s Ability to Seek Restitution

By Annie H. Lee & Leonard L. Gordon on August 23, 2019

The Seventh Circuit issued a decision this week that guts a key part of the FTC’s enforcement arsenal – the ability to obtain equitable monetary relief from defendants when the FTC challenges conduct in federal court under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. We’ve written previously—here, here, here, and here—regarding the limits courts have placed on the FTC’s ability to invoke Section 13(b) and this case brings those issues to…

All About Advertising Law

Exactly How Long is the Long Arm of the Law? The FTC Seeks to Extend its Reach to Offshore Payment Processors

By Leonard L. Gordon, Mary M. Gardner & Matthew S. Renick on July 25, 2019

We frequently hear about the “long arm of the law,” but, in the case of the Federal Trade Commission, just how far does that arm actually reach? The FTC recently filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California adding SIA Transact Pro, a Latvian payment processor, and its CEO as additional defendants in its case against Apex Capital Group, LLC and other parties. The amended complaint alleges that…

All About Advertising Law

“Public Access” isn’t a “Public Function”: No First Amendment Liability for Privately Managed Public Access Channels

By Leonard L. Gordon & Liz Clark Rinehart on July 1, 2019

The Supreme Court recently plucked public access television out of your neighbor’s basement and clarified the state-action doctrine in Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck. The result has made it all the more important for content creators to understand the types of entities hosting their content. So let’s drop the blue screen and roll cameras because we’re live in 5-4-3-2-1. The plaintiffs in Halleck alleged that MNN, the private nonprofit that manages the New York City public access…

All About Advertising Law

Federal Court to FTC: Show the Receipts When Seeking Disgorgement

By Leonard L. Gordon & Mary M. Gardner on June 18, 2019

A new decision out of the Middle District of Florida may signal further erosion of the FTC’s authority to seek monetary relief as it sets forth a heightened standard of proof the FTC must satisfy to support its disgorgement calculation. In FTC v. Vylah Tech LLC, the court found Vylah Tech, a small tech company, liable for disseminating false and misleading information regarding its computers. However, the court completely shut down the FTC’s demand for…

All About Advertising Law

Locksmiths Locked Out of Lawsuit Against Search Engines

By Leonard L. Gordon & Matthew S. Renick on June 17, 2019

These days, Big Tech is Big News. While federal lawmakers have recently turned their attention to tech giants and their market power—and launched a broad antitrust probe to boot—a recent decision out of the D.C. Circuit may offer these companies some respite (for now). In a case that pitted fourteen locksmith companies against three tech giants, the appeals court ruled that the safe harbor protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”) applied…

All About Advertising Law

You Can’t Block the Ability of the CFPB to Challenge Conduct Through a Release in a Class Action

By Leonard L. Gordon on June 3, 2019

On April 22, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals told us that a class action settlement can’t buy you peace from the CFPB. That court ruled that a class settlement that purports to interfere with a state agency’s or the CFPB’s enforcement authority was unenforceable. The underlying dispute stems from two cases. The first is a class action brought by lead poisoning victims with cognitive impairments. And the second is a suit bought by government…

All About Advertising Law

FTC Warns Ukraine Company: You Can’t Let Kids Use Your Dating Apps

By Elliot Kelly & Leonard L. Gordon on May 8, 2019

With more and more children becoming technologically savvy, parents are having to rely more heavily on laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) to shield their children’s information. The FTC recently issued a warning letter to a Ukraine-based company, Wildec LLC (“Wildec”), for allowing children under the age of thirteen to access its dating apps—alleging a potential violation of COPPA and the FTC Act. A little background on COPPA: the FTC’s COPPA…

All About Advertising Law

California Advertised-Discount Law Safe—For Now

By Leonard L. Gordon & Tyler Hale on May 6, 2019

The advertised-discount provision of California’s False Advertising Law, California Business and Professions Code § 17501, lives to fight another day. A coalition of national department stores, having found themselves brought together by the regulatory lasso of the Los Angeles City Attorney, recently took a big swing at the validity of that statute by objecting to its constitutionality on vagueness and free-speech grounds. The stores’ argument connected with the district court, but was ultimately thrown out…

Leonard L. Gordon

Venable Launches Close-Ups Entertainment and Media Blog

Things Are Buzzing in the Beehive State

No Restitution for the Weary: Seventh Circuit Limits FTC’s Ability to Seek Restitution

Exactly How Long is the Long Arm of the Law? The FTC Seeks to Extend its Reach to Offshore Payment Processors

“Public Access” isn’t a “Public Function”: No First Amendment Liability for Privately Managed Public Access Channels

Federal Court to FTC: Show the Receipts When Seeking Disgorgement

Locksmiths Locked Out of Lawsuit Against Search Engines

You Can’t Block the Ability of the CFPB to Challenge Conduct Through a Release in a Class Action

FTC Warns Ukraine Company: You Can’t Let Kids Use Your Dating Apps

California Advertised-Discount Law Safe—For Now

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