On June 23, 2014, in Shoun v. Best Formed Plastics, a federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff’s former employer, Best Formed Plastics, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act after it wrongfully disclosed his confidential medical information via a Facebook post. While employed at Best, the plaintiff, George Shoun, spent several … Continue reading
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) released two new sets of guidance regarding the use of social media to disseminate information about prescription drugs and medical devices. This guidance supplements years of FDA warning letters and untitled letters sent to manufacturers, packers or distributors in regulated industries (each a “Regulated Entity”). We have previously discussed … Continue reading
We have previously written about the difficulties that businesses can encounter when trying to get a posting removed from a social media site. We have also previously covered several matters relating to the special online protections legislators have created for children (e.g., COPPA). These two areas combined in a local law passed by Albany, New York … Continue reading
When you delete your Twitter account: You need to deactivate your account using your account settings. Your account should be deactivated within a few minutes, but some content may be viewable for a few days. Data is only retained for 30 days from date of deactivation after which it is deleted. Twitter retains its licence to use … Continue reading
From giant billboards on the highway to tiny pictures that can go viral within seconds, the use of social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr has revolutionized the advertising industry. Companies can now reach their target audiences more quickly and more effectively by taking advantage of instantaneous posting of pictures and blogs. The use … Continue reading
We have written previously about the trademark dispute in the US between King.com Limited and Runsome Apps Inc., the creators of the mobile/social media/web games “Candy Crush Saga” and “CandySwipe,” respectively. It appears that the year-long battle between the two developers has ended. On April 16, 2014, Albert Ransom posted this statement on the Candyswipe.com … Continue reading
The Mississippi Supreme Court recently set forth a standard for authentication of social media profiles and messages. In Smith v. State, 2012-CT-00218-SCT (Miss. 2014), the court addressed the admissibility of Facebook messages purportedly sent by the defendant in a capital murder case. According to the prosecution, the defendant exchanged several Facebook messages with his wife … Continue reading
On May 8, 2014, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed for public comment its draft complaint and consent with mobile messaging service Snapchat, best known for promoting its “ephemeral” photo messaging site. (See our previous posting here.) The FTC’s complaint claimed that Snapchat violated federal law (Section 5 of the FTC Act) with the … Continue reading
Companies frequently try to engage customers through social media in a variety of ways, including contests that involve photos of the companies’ products and brands. Fashion design company Cole Haan was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding a contest that asked contestants to pin five shoe photos from Cole Haan’s “Wandering Sole” Pinterest … Continue reading
From clicking “like” on Facebook to the +1 button on Google+ to the “Follow” or “Retweet” buttons on Twitter, the use of endorsements in social media has exploded since 2009. “Like” buttons and retweeting are growing trends in social media. While the use of third-party endorsement type functionality in social media has obvious benefits in … Continue reading
Early April saw the arrest of a 14-year-old girl who sent a threatening tweet aimed at American Airlines. Tweeting under her own account, this girl, identified only as Sarah, posted “hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan. I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I’m gonna do something really big bye.” American … Continue reading
In Goodman v. Does, plaintiff Todd Goodman alleged various defamation and federal unfair competition (Lanham Act) claims stemming from postings on the website localdirtags.com, a blog, which was run by the defendant Linda Lagoy. Goodman v. Does 1–10, No. 4:13–CV–139, 2014 WL 1310310 (E.D.N.C. Mar. 28, 2014). The court noted that Goodman, who was a licensed … Continue reading
Our readers are probably familiar with a game that can be played on Facebook or on a mobile device known as CANDY CRUSH SAGA. Also available on Facebook and on mobile devices is another game called CANDYSWIPE. This posting summarizes the trademark application dispute between the two companies, one of which has leveraged the power … Continue reading
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has issued numerous Warning and Untitled Letters[1] delving into very specific aspects of social media (such as “likes” on Facebook, tweets on Twitter and posts on Tumblr, collectively, the “Social Media Letters”). Recently, the FDA warned a drug manufacturer and its agent that even the “About Us” or … Continue reading
A recent article published in the Duke Law and Technology Review sheds new light on the jury’s use (or more precisely, lack of use) of social media when given proper instructions from the Court. (See Amy J. St. Eve, et al., More from the #Jury Box: The Latest on Juries and Social Media, 12 Duke … Continue reading
How many of us actually read social media terms of use? Be wary: you allow public information to be accessible over public search engines. When you tweet you: grant Twitter a licence to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute content in any manner or method. Twitter may sublicense these rights … Continue reading
From Facebook to Twitter to YouTube to LinkedIn, sending electronic communications to others through the use of social media is becoming a central tenet of doing business. At the same time, the increasing use of social media has also contributed to the ongoing problem of “spam.” Spam has become the vehicle for a wide range … Continue reading
On January 7, 2014, a majority of a Virginia appellate court held that a social media provider can be required to disclose the identity of its anonymous users. See Yelp, Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc., No. 0116-13-4 (Va. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2014). A Virginia carpet cleaning business had subpoenaed from Yelp the identity of … Continue reading
A Nevada federal district court recently refused to enjoin plaintiffs’ counsel’s solicitation of potential class members via an advertising campaign on Facebook and Twitter. In Gamble v. Boyd Gaming Corp., No. 2:13-cv-01009-JCM-PAL (D. Nev. Nov. 20, 2013), defendant Boyd Gaming accused plaintiffs’ counsel of using “false and misleading” advertisements in its attempt to identify and … Continue reading
In addition to laws regulating sweepstakes, contests, and the prizes given in such promotions, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, each have their own written policies regarding running promotions and contests on their websites. If marketers are non-compliant with these rules, they can risk having their contest or promotion removed, resulting in lost … Continue reading
There are three distinct aspects of cyber-security that should be addressed by directors: prevention, detection and, if a company is publicly traded, disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Part I of our posting addressed prevention and detection matters. This Part II addresses disclosures and some questions to consider. Disclosure Public disclosure of a security … Continue reading
The use of cloud computing, mobile devices and social media add significant corporate risks beyond the traditional security risks arising from networks, databases and e-mail. A cyber security breach can cause serious operational disruptions, create financial costs and damage a company’s brand and reputation. As part of risk management, a company’s board of directors should … Continue reading
Social media companies are increasingly involved in patent lawsuits and frustration is setting in. Hoping to inspire change within the industry, a number of companies have adopted alternative patent policies. While these alternative models are based on the social good of sharing innovation with a promise to use patents only as a defensive shield and … Continue reading
On July 15, 2013, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) released a memorandum providing further guidance on whether a company’s social media policy could be construed to stifle protected, concerted activity. Over the last two years, the NLRB Office of the General Counsel has issued several memoranda discussing the validity of employer social media policies … Continue reading