Influencing the Influencers
The importance of promoting brands and products on digital platforms has continued to grow as advertisers are learning how to use social media to reach out to specific populations by harnessing the power and goodwill of the people on these platforms that are popular with and influence particular niche groups of interest. These so-called “influencers” can have thousands, or even millions and tens of millions of followers. But when is the influencer an objective critic, and when is she a paid spokesperson?
Internet Goods and Product Liability
The Internet's value arises in part from its ability to provide images, data and content quickly and at little cost. This ability results from the fact that Internet products — whether they be images, data or content — are each reduced to a digital format. Sharing products that have been so reduced may result in product liability.
<i>Legal Tech:</i>Looking Ahead: 2018 Legal Technology Predictions
At law firms and legal departments, preparing for the new year should mean looking back at the last year and prioritizing revenue-driving activities, identifying strategies to grow your firm or company while mitigating risk and budgeting for new projects to meet client demands.
TTAB: Trademark Use Must be Proven
<b><i>Board Says It Doesn't Matter Whether Use Is By a Trademark Owner Or a Third Party</b></i><p>In a nearly 50-page precedential opinion, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) panel of Judges Adlin, Heasely, and Lynch, underscored the need to prove actual use in commerce in order to register a trademark, regardless of how low the standard for use under the Lanham Act has recently become. <i>Tao Licensing, LLC, v. Bender Consulting d/b/a Asia Pacific Beverages.</i>
ESPN Prevails in Video Privacy Suit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a win for ESPN in a lawsuit that accused the company of sharing the personal identities of customers, who used the sports network's Roku streaming application, with data analytics companies.
Responding to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Roundtable Discussion
The #MeToo movement has empowered victims of sexual harassment and abuse previously silenced by powerful business and political leaders. No longer silent, these victims are using their experiences to challenge the powerful and raze structures that have permitted abuse. We have compiled a panel of legal experts to analyze how the law and the legal profession failed the workplace. The panelists discuss legal and environmental conditions that led to abuse, and what lawyers and businesses can do to curb the powerful and protect the vulnerable.
