Regulation

  • Privacy and Online Data Collection: At a Crossroads?

    During the past two years, the collection of personal information through a consumer's online activities has expanded to unprecedented levels. This is due, in part, to a proliferation of new devices through which consumers disclose personal information, and also to increasingly sophisticated behavioral analytics. In response, regulators and legislators are beginning to consider more closely whether comprehensive federal data-privacy legislation is appropriate. This article explores these unfolding developments and the challenges they present to regulators, consumers and the online business community.

    February 28, 2011Stuart D. Levi and Jonathan Hillel

  • Closing the Profit Motive in the CAN-SPAM Act

    Recently, a number of small entities and e-mail service providers have sought to use the CAN-SPAM Act to profit from the receipt of spam, but have faced increased scrutiny from federal courts. This article discusses the CAN-SPAM Act generally, some notable spam judgments, and recent decisions interpreting the standing requirements under the federal statute.

    February 28, 2011Richard Raysman and Peter Brown

  • FDA Enforcement Against Pharmaceutical Companies in the Product Promotion Arena

    In his "Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason (Vol. 1)", George Santayana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." We all can benefit from reviewing the lessons learned from past mistakes, whether committed by ourselves or others. The medical device industry would be well-served in heeding Santayana's warning; review of the Food and Drug Administration's enforcement in the pharmaceutical promotion area could offer insight into how it might minimize…

    February 27, 2011Alan Minsk

  • A Refresher on USERRA with Recent Developments

    It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will rule on its first USERRA case this spring, but a review of compliance with USERRA should be every employer's priority.

    February 27, 2011Eileen Carr Riley and Gil Abramson

  • DOL Issues Final Regulations on Mandatory Fee-Disclosures

    On Oct. 14, 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized its regulations concerning the fee and investment-related disclosures that must be provided to participants in 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans with participant-directed investments.

    January 27, 2011Marcia S. Wagner

  • New Law Cracks Down On Deceptive Third-Party e-Commerce Practices

    A new layer of federal oversight should help protect consumers and ethical e-commerce companies against misleading and name-tarnishing activities of outlaw e-tailers who have ripped off thousands of U.S. consumers. On Dec. 29, President Obama signed the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, introduced in the Senate early last year by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

    January 26, 2011Michael Lear-Olimpi

  • Is Anyone Not a Foreign Official Under the FCPA?

    The DOJ has brought cases against companies and individuals in relation to their dealings with state-owned enterprises based on a broad reading of the term "instrumentality," a term not otherwise defined in the statute prohibiting corrupt payments to "foreign officials.

    January 26, 2011Jacqueline C. Wolff and Nirav Shah

  • Practice Tip: The SPILL Act

    Thanks to a recent act of Congress, the oil spill may be seeping into product liability law. Meet the SPILL Act.

    December 22, 2010Amy Rudd

  • Sentencing of Individuals in FCPA Cases

    The DOJ exercises virtually unlimited discretion in deciding who gets charged in FCPA cases and, for all practical purposes, in deciding the amount of the financial penalty imposed against corporate violators. But sentencing of individual defendants is ultimately a matter of judicial, not prosecutorial, discretion.

    December 21, 2010Gary Stein

  • NLRB Action in the Age of Facebook

    Questions of discoverability in litigation of social media interactions are constantly evolving. A look at a recent, disturbing case.

    December 21, 2010Brian Herman