New York Times: “Beginning Dec. 1, bloggers, Twitterers and many others who write online product reviews must disclose the receipt of free merchandise or payment for the items they write about. The guidelines, an update of the F.T.C.’s 1980 guide concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising . . . .”
City-Journal: Overlawyered’s Walter Olson wrote an excellent article on the FTC’s new ad/testimonial rules. “New guidelines on freebies target bloggers but go easy on traditional outlets. If there was any doubt that sweeping regulation—big, shoot-for-the-moon regulation—was back in favor in Washington, it was laid to rest on October 5, when the Federal Trade Commission published 81 pages of new guidelines asserting authority over product endorsements and testimonials, particularly those published in blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. From the early coverage, you might have thought the guidelines were mostly of concern to the calculating Madison Avenue types who send baby-product and cosmetics swag to mommy-bloggers as part of nefarious “buzz marketing” campaigns. But the new guidelines are much broader than that. They lay out potential theories of liability for many bloggers and online commentators with more traditional literary, political, or journalistic profiles.”
See the FTC’s new guidelines.
See also Walter Olson’s October 16, 2009, post on this topic.
Law.com: “The First Amendment does not insulate animal rights activists from criminal liability when they use an Internet Web site to orchestrate a campaign of harassment, cyberattacks, vandalism and destruction of property, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.” The convicted defendants “invite its supporters ‘to engage in electronic civil disobedience against Huntingdon and various companies associated with'” their victim, Huntingdon Life Sciences, an animal testing firm.
Channel3000.com: “MIDDLETON, Wis. — As police respond to traumatic events, sometimes children can be found sitting to the side of the emergency, feeling lonely and scared. For years, officers have comforted them with stuffed animals, but that’s now changing. Laws typically are meant to protect people and to make sure they’re safe. The new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act does that too, but it has law enforcement officers rethinking handing out stuffed animals because of the chemicals they might contain.”
LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®: Attorney Ron Coleman’s article entitled “Copyright Rules of the Road for Bloggers” is a must read for all bloggers. The article starts on page 3.