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Using IP to Prevent Negative UGC Comments
Internet marketing has long been a double-edged sword. A successful viral advertisement can rocket a brand to social media stardom overnight, but those same tools enable unhappy customers to share their bad experiences with a wider audience than ever before. Smart companies understand that the power of user generated content (UGC) is that it is at least somewhat out of control. They craft their brand strategies accordingly, using social media to address customer concerns directly and publicly, rewarding social media influencers and picking their battles. But still, the courts remain full of litigants who do not seem to get the message.
In particular, some businesses continue to attempt to use intellectual property law to stop customers from sharing their experiences on the Internet. These are not cases involving the posting of trade secrets or confidential information, nor are they cases of defamation or trade libel. Rather, they are cases where a business attempts to systematically prohibit the posting of user-generated negative reviews to a website such as Yelp, whether or not those reviews are accurate, purportedly on the basis of some intellectual property right. In the absence of some extraordinary circumstance, courts have not responded favorably to this approach, as a few recent decisions from New York demonstrate.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.