Mayura Noordyke (US)

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Advertising on the Internet – What Makes a Disclosure “Clear and Conspicuous”?

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on April 11, 2017 Posted in General

Increasingly, companies are turning to the internet and social media platforms to advertise their products, often by using native advertising or by providing incentives such as payments or free products to social media “influencers” (Instagrammers, Pinners, Bloggers and Vloggers, to name a few) in exchange for an endorsement. As we have previously discussed, the FTC … Continue reading

Fact Or Fiction: The Fake News Problem

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on December 10, 2016 Posted in Defamation

In the few months leading up to the United States election, social media was flooded with articles with sensationalized titles and incendiary content. Many of these “news” stories were fake. They were written for the purpose of swaying public opinion or generating a profit from ad revenue and were often published by sham entities or … Continue reading

So You Can Trademark a Hashtag – But Should You?

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on November 7, 2016 Posted in Trademark

We have previously discussed whether hashtags can be registered as trademarks (yes, they can!) and their increasing prevalence on social media. In this post, we take a closer look at whether brand owners should pursue trademark protection for marks incorporating hashtags.… Continue reading

Can You Trademark a Hashtag?

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on July 11, 2016 Posted in Trademark

#Yes! In the United States, a hashtag can be trademarked if it serves a source-identifying function for the trademark owner’s goods or services. Hashtags, which started on Twitter as a way for users to follow conversations on particular topics, are words or phrases that follow the pound or hash sign (“#”). Since their inception, hashtags … Continue reading

Rise of the social media bots

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on May 4, 2016 Posted in Fraud, General

As we discussed in a recent post, “Social media overload”, social media has grown exponentially over the past decade and has caused businesses to change how they operate and how they make decisions. Social media has quickly become one of the most important marketing platforms, providing a convenient way for companies to reach broad audiences.… Continue reading

Social Listening – Are You Ready?

By Mayura Noordyke (US) on February 16, 2016 Posted in General, Privacy

One of the keys to a successful social media presence for businesses is real-time engagement and quick response times. “Social listening” can help businesses tap into consumer sentiment in order to engage with their audience effectively and to elevate their brands. What is social listening? Social listening constitutes tracking conversations on social media that mention … Continue reading

We’re back, with our top five social media stories of 2015

By Susan Ross (US), Nerushka Bowan and Mayura Noordyke (US) on February 3, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Defamation, Employment and labor, Fraud, General, Privacy, Security

The Social Media Law Bulletin is back! The ongoing interest of our readers as well as the increasing impact of social media led us to re-launch the Social Media Law Bulletin. We will be bringing you coverage of one or two items approximately each week, but in the meantime, we thought we would give you … Continue reading