On November 5, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission released a, first-of-its kind, guidance targeting online influencers. The new guide titled “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” informs influencers when and how they must disclose sponsorships with brands to their followers.  This is part of the FTC’s increasing focus on making product endorsements more transparent. When the FTC revised the Testimonial and Endorsement Guides (“Endorsement Guides”) in late 2009, the blogosphere panicked, assuming that the government…

Chris Cole, co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s Advertising & Media Group and chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Committee on Advertising Disputes and Litigation, recently joined the ABA antitrust section’s podcast, “Our Curious Amalgam,” to provide insights into how advertising disputes and investigations are triggered. In this episode, “Who is Watching the Ads? The Biggest Mistakes Advertisers Make that Trigger Investigations,” hosts John Roberti and Ricardo Woolery asked Chris…

On October 10, 2019, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced a long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking and draft regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California’s new consumer privacy law, which we have analyzed here and here. In part one of our multi-part series regarding the draft CCPA regulations, we focused on businesses’ notice obligations. In this second part of our series, we focus on businesses’ obligations to respond to consumer requests.…

On October 10, 2019, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced a long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking and draft regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California’s new consumer privacy law, which we have analyzed here and here. In this first part of our multi-part series on the CCPA regulations, we will focus on how the draft regulations affect businesses’ notice obligations under the CCPA. As discussed below, the new regulations provide detailed guidance…

The ICO Bares its (Sharp) Teeth: What You Need to Know About GDPR One Year On We have now seen the ICO bare its teeth with huge proposed fines for GDPR breaches. In this session, we will be hosting a panel discussion on practical issues around GDPR one year (and a bit) on, what organisations need to be doing to avoid missteps, and the likely consequences if they get it wrong. Retailers & consumer products…

Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce that partner Kris Meade will be speaking at the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) 2019 Retail Law Conference. Kris Meade will be joined by Louise Brock, General Counsel of Bridgestone Americas for a session titled, “Pay Equity Laws and More: Bridging the Gap.” The importance of pay equity is making headlines worldwide, from corporate boardrooms and the U.S. Women’s Soccer team to state legislatures and international law-making bodies. Program attendees…