Topic: Social media policies

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Employer potentially liable for disability discrimina-tion after facebook comment

Photo of Heather Sherrod (US)By Heather Sherrod (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

A two pronged prescription: The FDA releases new social media guidelines

Photo of Jay Greathouse (US)By Jay Greathouse (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

Online abuse

Photo of Susan Ross (US)By Susan Ross (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

A picture can be worth a thousand links

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Copyright, Employment and labor, Privacy, Social media policies
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

Update – CANDY Mark Dispute

By on Posted in Social media policies, Trademark
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

Social media authentica-tion issues

Photo of James Leito IV (US)By James Leito IV (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

US Federal Trade Commission to see Snapchat for 20 years

Photo of Susan Ross (US)By Susan Ross (US) on Posted in Privacy, Social media policies
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

Contests on Pinterest and other social media; pin = endorsement

Photo of Susan Ross (US)By Susan Ross (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

Do you “like” it?

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Security, Social media policies
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

Beware of the threatening tweet

Photo of Seth Jaffe (US)By Seth Jaffe (US) on Posted in Litigation, Social media policies
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

Blog posts, commercial speech and false advertising

Photo of Heather Sherrod (US)By Heather Sherrod (US) on Posted in Defamation, Social media policies
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

FDA and Facebook: Back to basics

Photo of Jay Greathouse (US)By Jay Greathouse (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

Social media: did you know?

Photo of Nerushka BowanBy Nerushka Bowan on Posted in Privacy, Security, Social media policies
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

Identifying anonymous reviewers

Photo of James Leito IV (US)By James Leito IV (US) on Posted in Social media policies
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

District of Nevada OKs plaintiffs’ Facebook ad for collective action

Photo of Seth Jaffe (US)By Seth Jaffe (US) on Posted in Litigation, Social media policies
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

Chances Are, Companies Will ‘Like’ Facebook’s New Contest Rules

By on Posted in Social media policies
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

Corporate Governance: Cyber Security Issues (Part II)

Photo of Jay Greathouse (US)By Jay Greathouse (US) on Posted in Security, Social media policies
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

Corporate Governance: Cyber Security Issues (Part I)

Photo of Jay Greathouse (US)By Jay Greathouse (US) on Posted in Security, Social media policies
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 adopt alternative patent models

Photo of Maya MedeirosBy Maya Medeiros on Posted in Patent, Social media policies
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

Policies banning photos, videos and confidential information unlawful

Photo of Heather Sherrod (US)By Heather Sherrod (US) on Posted in Employment and labor, Social media policies, Trademark
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
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