FTC Takes Aim at AT&T: Lessons For Multichannel Marketers

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On October 28, 2014, the FTC announced that it was suing AT&T on the claim that AT&T misled “millions of its smartphone customers by charging them for ‘unlimited’ data plans while reducing their data speeds, in some cases by nearly 90 percent.”  Just 20 days earlier, it announced a $105 million settlement with AT&T over...

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Retroactively Speaking: Michigan Imposes Over $1 Billion In New Income Taxes Going Back to 2008

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The battle over income apportionment just took dramatic turn in Michigan, and the stakes could not be higher.  In July, the Supreme Court of Michigan ruled that IBM had a right to use a 3-factor apportionment formula for its 2008 tax year, despite the state’s insistence that the company was required to use a sales-factor...

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FTC Nabs Non-Children’s Businesses In Children’s Privacy Snare

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With its announcement of a settlement with Yelp, Inc. on September 17, 2014, the United States Federal Trade Commission, a consumer watchdog agency, sent word to the public of an aggressive enforcement initiative under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), with a special focus on mobile devices.  In its press release, the FTC urged...

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Buffalo Bills Alleged Over-Texting Results in Multi-Million Dollar Settlement.

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The National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, no strangers to disappointment on the field, are now a cautionary tale for mobile marketers. Last week, a federal judge in the Middle District of Florida approved a class settlement agreement over alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA” 47 U.S.C. §227, et seq.), stemming from text messages sent...

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Danger on the Horizon: Gift Card Companies and Unclaimed Property Laws

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There are approximately twenty states that require issuers and holders of gift cards to pay to their state treasury the balances of any unredeemed gift cards, which is otherwise known as “breakage.” (For purposes of this article, I refer to gift cards in the broad sense, including gift certificates, gift cards, and stored value cards)....

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The Year In Review

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As the year draws to a close, it’s worth looking back over a range of important legal developments in the world of electronic commerce, a number of which set the stage for fireworks in the months and years ahead. Wishing all of our readers a wonderful holiday season, and the best and brightest New Year,...

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Song Beverly Strikes Again: Email Address Collection Added to Potentially Worrisome Activity

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As we’ve previously blogged, retailers who sell products to consumers in California and Massachusetts, as well as a number of other states, run the risk of costly class action lawsuits if they collect customer zip codes in connection with purchase of goods by credit card. The prohibitions in those states, as we’ve explained, often go...

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California Ups the Ante On Privacy Policy Disclosures

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For the past decade, California law has set the template for commercial website privacy policies. With the passage of a new law, set to take effect January 1, 2014, the state has updated the disclosures required of any commercial website operator who collects personally identifiable information from California residents. California’s Online Privacy Protection Act. In...

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Traps For the Unwary Under the Consumer Product Safety Act: Children’s Products

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Nestled in the morass known as the Consumer Product Safety Act (as amended by the dubiously titled Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and further amended in 2011) are provisions that can wreak havoc for businesses that manage, understandably, to overlook them. What was once a rather straightforward reporting and recall system involving a...

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Report, Recall, or Both: Do You Know Your Obligations Under the Consumer Product Safety Act?

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Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products have a legal obligation to report hazardous or dangerous products to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”).  Failing to do so may result not only in large civil penalties, but also criminal prosecution.  But, there are many common myths and misconceptions about this reporting requirement and how...

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