Social media sites are transforming not only the daily lives of consumers, but also how companies interact with consumers. Here at Morrison Foerster, across all of our practice groups, we are seeing complex, cutting-edge legal issues arising out of social media. As with the Internet boom during the mid-to-late 1990s, social media is generating new legal questions at a far faster pace than the law’s ability to provide answers to such questions. In an effort to stay on top of these emerging issues, and to keep our clients and friends informed of new developments, Morrison Foerster publishes this blog devoted to the law and business of social media.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Aaron is the chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group and co-chair of the Interactive + Digital Media Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals.Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data- and technology-intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud-based technology, digital media (social media, AR/VR, gaming, streaming media, AdTech), AI, healthcare, consumer electronics, e-commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on branding and marketing, trademark licensing, and content-related transactions, as well as the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin-offs, and private equity investments.He has represented clients such as Autodesk, Meta, OpenAI, Splunk, Konami, Kaiser Permanente, SoftBank, Visa, and Yahoo, among others.Aaron has been recognized by numerous publications for his work on market-defining technology transactions. He is currently ranked by Chambers USA for “Technology Transactions.”Aaron also serves as co-editor of Socially Aware, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics. Aaron is also a sought-after speaker on new and emerging areas of law, and is a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences and legal services programs. In addition to his active practice, Aaron regularly provides pro bono assistance to various nonprofit and charitable organizations such as Common Sense Media and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is a member of the board of directors of California Lawyers for the Arts.While in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Aaron served as executive editor of the California Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Aaron served as law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick and the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, both United States District Judges for the Northern District of California.

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Aaron is the chair of our Technology Transactions Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals. Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data– and technology–intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud computing, AR/VR, AI, gaming, healthcare, consumer electronics, social media, e–commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin–offs, and private equity investments.

Aaron P. Rubin

Lawrence Gallick is of counsel in the firm’s Austin office and a member of the Technology Transactions Group.Lawrence focuses his practice on technology transactions and licensing matters. His diverse experience includes advising on SaaS agreements, cross-licensing agreements, research and collaboration agreements, development agreements, and distribution agreements. He counsels a broad range of companies across the software, hardware, life sciences, biotech and FinTech spaces, as well as other entities including universities.He advises clients in connection with general corporate matters including contract negotiations, and leasing and technology placement agreements.Lawrence also serves as co-editor of <a href="https://www.sociallyawareblog.com/" target="_blank">Socially Aware</a>, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics.Prior to joining the firm, Lawrence was counsel at another major law firm. Before earning his law degree, Lawrence was a web consultant, project manager, and web developer in Portland, Oregon, where he managed and consulted on projects using industry methodologies and performed custom development and integration of content management systems.Lawrence was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in 2015 and 2018–2022, and is licensed in both California and New York. Lawrence earned his J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, where he was the electronic systems editor for the Buffalo Law Review and awarded the ABA-BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law.

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Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.Anthony advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. He regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions. His clients include technology, digital media and content for television and music, financial services, and communications companies with diverse intellectual property assets and issues.His practice focuses on the legal aspects of developing, licensing, and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts, including outsourcing transactions, as well as content and data licenses. He regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to licensing and commercialization of digital media and content, digital content that is distributed over the Internet or streamed, mobile applications and social media, as well as the licensing of recorded music for distribution via digital platforms. Anthony is also experienced with issues relating to open-source software, software development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud-based technology, and protection of proprietary information.Anthony has extensive experience working on matters involving disruptive technologies, such as blockchain. He has helped fintech clients with general intellectual property issues in connection with terms of service for online financial products and services.Anthony is an integral part of the outside pro bono legal team for nonprofit organizations based in New York, including advising clients on legal issues regarding entertainment, social media, privacy rights, and the negotiation of outsourcing and service agreements. Anthony received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2009. He received his B.S. from Cornell University in 2004.

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Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster. He advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. His clients include technology, media, and communications companies with considerable intellectual property assets. His practice focuses on the legal aspects of licensing and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts. He also regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to mobile applications and social media.

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Socially Aware is devoted to the law and business of social media, proactively addressing emerging issues and keeping our clients informed of new developments. We cover fields such as artificial intelligence, privacy and data security, Section 230, intellectual property, and much more.

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Social Links: Statehouse v. Smartphone

Federal Court Enjoins California Teen Privacy Law . . . Again

All Your Sale Are Belong to Us - Mitigating IP and Payments Risk in In-Game Economies (Part II – User-Generated Content and In-Game Payment Models)

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The explosive growth of social media has clients facing legal questions that didn’t even exist a few short years ago. Helping your clients navigate this muddled legal landscape will have them clicking “like” in no time.What’s in a Like?Not long ago, the word “like” was primarily a verb (and an interjection used by “valley girls”). You could have likes and dislikes in the sense of preferences, but you couldn’t give someone a like, claim to own a like or assert legal rights in likes. Today, however, a company’s social media pages and profiles, and the associated likes, followers and connections, are often considered valuable business assets. Courts have come to various conclusions regarding whether likes and similar social media constructs constitute property, but one thing is clear: Every company that uses social media should have in place clear policies regarding employee social media use and ownership of business-related social media accounts.Employees who manage a company’s social media accounts often insert themselves as the “voice” of the brand and establish a rapport with the company’s fans and followers. Without clear policies that address ownership of social media accounts, and clearly distinguish between the company’s accounts and employees’ personal accounts, your client may find itself in a dispute when these employees leave the company and try to take the company’s fans and followers with them.Read a more detailed description of “likes” as assets <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/11/04/whats-in-a-like/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.Dirty LaundryIt comes as no surprise that employees frequently use social media to complain about managers and coworkers, pay, work conditions and other aspects of their employment. Companies often would prefer not to air these issues publicly, so they establish policies and impose discipline when employees’ social media activity becomes problematic. Companies need to be careful, however, that their policies and disciplinary actions comply with applicable law.A number of National Labor Relations Board decisions have examined whether employees’ statements on social media constitute “concerted activity”—activity by two or more employees that provides mutual aid or protection regarding terms or conditions of employment—for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (which, notably, applies regardless of whether the employees are unionized or not). Companies also need to be careful to comply with state statutes limiting employer access to employees’ personal social media accounts, such as California Labor Code Section 980, which prohibits an employer from asking an employee or applicant to disclose personal social media usernames or passwords, access personal social media in the presence of the employer, or divulge personal social media.Read more about the intersection of social media policies and labor law <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/01/22/uncovering-a-line-in-the-sand-employee-social-media-use-and-the-nlra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2013/01/16/social-media-and-the-national-labor-relations-act-what-employers-need-to-know-in-drafting-and-updating-their-social-media-policies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.Terms of (Ab)useCompanies often consider their social media pages and profiles to be even more important than are the companies’ own websites for marketing and maintaining customer engagement. But a company’s own website has one advantage over a third party social media platform: The company sets its own terms for use of its website, while the third party social media platform is subject to terms of use imposed by the platform operator. And, in many cases, the terms imposed on users of social media platforms are onerous and make little distinction between individual users using the platform just for recreation and corporate users who depend on the platform for their businesses.Social media terms of use often grant platform operators broad licenses to content posted on the platform, impose one-sided indemnification obligations on users, and permit platform operators to terminate users’ access with or without cause. You may have little luck negotiating modifications to such online contracts for your clients, but you can at least inform your clients of the terms that govern their use of social media, so that they can weigh the costs and benefits.Read more about social media platforms’ terms of use <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/10/06/implementing-and-enforcing-online-terms-of-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/09/23/to-click-or-not-to-click-ninth-circuit-rejects-browsewrap-arbitration-clause/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2013/12/03/potential-limitations-placed-on-unilateral-right-to-modify-terms-of-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.Same as It Ever WasWhen it comes to using social media for advertising, the media may be new but the rules are the same as ever. Companies that advertise through social media—especially by leveraging user endorsements—need to comply with Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bars “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Bloggers and others who endorse products must actually use the product and must disclose any “material connections” they have with the product providers (for example, a tech blogger reviewing a mobile phone that she received for free from the manufacturer should disclose that fact). Because this information is likely to affect consumers’ assessment of an endorsement, failure to disclose may be deemed deceptive. So if you have a client that uses endorsements to promote its products, make sure to brush up on the FTC “Dot Com Disclosures” and other relevant FTC guidance.Read more about endorsement disclosure obligations <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/12/03/ftc-enforcement-action-confirms-that-ad-disclosure-obligations-extend-to-endorsements-made-in-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.Good RepAs noted, a company’s social media pages, followers, etc., may constitute valuable business assets. But buyers in M&A transactions often neglect such assets when formulating the seller’s reps and warranties. Buyers should consider asking the seller to disclose all social media accounts that the target company uses and to represent and warrant that none of the target’s social media account names infringe any third party trademark or other IP rights, that all use of the accounts complies with applicable terms of service, and that the target has implemented policies providing that the company (and not any employee) owns all business-related social media accounts and imposing appropriate guidelines regarding employee use of social media.Finally, if you have clients that use social media, it’s important to be familiar with the popular social media platforms and their (ever-changing) rules and features. Learning to spot these issues isn’t going to turn you into the next Shakira—as of this writing, the most liked person on Facebook with well over 100 million likes—but your clients will surely appreciate your help as they traverse the social media maze.Read more about social media assets in M&A transactions <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2015/01/12/good-rep-social-media-assets-in-ma-transactions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.<div>This piece originally appeared in The Recorder.</div><div></div>

Aaron is the chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group and co-chair of the Interactive + Digital Media Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals.

Aaron Rubin

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Five Social Media Law Issues To Discuss With Your Clients

Five Social Media Law Issues To Discuss With Your Clients

The explosive growth of social media has clients facing legal questions that didn’t even exist a few short years ago. Helping your clients navigate this muddled

Big Data and Human Resources—Letting the Computer Decide?

Employees are a company’s greatest asset, but if the company gets hiring decisions wrong, employees could also be the company’s greatest expense. Accordingly, r

Big Data and Human Resources—Letting the Computer Decide?

Chevy Kelly, a partner in the UK-based Social Media Leadership Forum, recently sat down with Socially Aware’s own Sue McLean, a Social Media Leadership Forum member, to discuss the legal implications of UK companies’ use of social media as part of their marketing strategies. Chevy Kelly: In your opinion, what are the top three legal risks that organizations in the United Kingdom face when engaging in social media?Sue McLean: Compliance with relevant advertising and marketing rules is a key priority. All relevant rules, whether it’s the CAP Code, unfair trading regulations, FCA promotions rules, are concerned with organizations treating the customer fairly and being transparent. Companies will be experienced with applicable rules in terms of traditional media but, of course, social media brings its own challenges, including space/character limitations and the immediacy element of social media bypassing the time for review and approval protocols built into “old media” usage.Data protection is also a key challenge. Whether you’re collecting personal information from customers via your social media channels, mining data from social media platforms or carrying out Big Data analytics, you need to ensure that you comply with relevant privacy laws. If you’re a global business, unfortunately that means a myriad of different laws. It’s not just a question of compliance. Showing that you take customers’ data seriously will help build trust; it may even help give you a competitive advantage.Lastly, companies need to continue to focus on social media policies and the education and training of employees. Given the rate of change, companies really need to regularly review their policies and practices. New platforms can trigger new issues, as we have seen with instant messaging, as well as visual, anonymous, self-deleting platforms. Get social media right and employees can be fantastic brand ambassadors; but get it wrong and their activity could result in damage to your reputation and potentially legal or regulatory action.CK: Are UK lawmakers able to keep up with the rate of change and disruption in the digital era and how are they coping to legislate for every scenario?SM: No. Given the rate of technological change we have seen over the past decade and are continuing to see (whether it’s social media, Big Data, the Internet of Things, drones, etc.), the law is always playing catch-up; it’s virtually impossible for the lawmakers to keep up.Also, it often takes so long to bring in a new law, that by the time it’s adopted it may be out of date. By way of example, the long-awaited Data Protection Regulation was proposed back in 2012 to reflect technological changes, including social media—but is still being debated in Europe and, even if it is finalized this year, there will be a transition period of two years before the law applies.But it’s not always a case of bringing in new laws. Often it’s about interpreting how existing laws can apply to new platforms. That’s certainly the approach the FCA has taken (at least up until now) with respect of the use of social media by financial organizations, the approach that their rules are media neutral and apply to social media in the same way as they apply to traditional media. It’s also the approach the government has taken to trolling and other malicious behavior via social media—that the framework of laws we have are fit for purpose in this digital age (even if they were designed in a world before social media, e.g., to apply to poison-pen letters).And, of course, while laws are inherently national, social media is a global phenomenon. Unless laws are very closely harmonized (which they are not), social media users face uncertainty because of different approaches to law and regulation in the key countries.CK: Would you say that large organizations are taking the legal risks surrounding social media as seriously as other traditional communications channels?SM: I’m not sure it’s a case of not taking the legal risks of social media seriously. I think it’s more a case of organizations being less experienced with social media generally, and that includes legal and compliance departments. If social media is being run out of a marketing/communications team then they will be very experienced with the legal risks of traditional media. But social media triggers new, different types of risk and both the marketing/ communications team and the legal and compliance teams are trying to figure out how to handle those risks.And, of course, not all social media platforms are the same, and we are getting new platforms all the time. Companies may have become just about comfortable with Facebook and Twitter, but now they have to deal with, say, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat. And that’s just in the West; if you are a global organization, it’s likely that you have to deal with a variety of platforms across the different regions.Of course, it’s not just a question of using social media to promote your business and interact with customers. If you’ve implemented an enterprise social media platform for your employees, that throws up a whole host of other issues.CK: If you were to reference an example to give a wake-up call to an organization that may be laid-back in their attitude to social media governance, what would it be?SM: There are a lot of examples I can point to where companies’ social media activity has ended up making headlines for all the wrong reasons. For example, the HMV case where the company didn’t take sufficient control of its Twitter account and employees managed to send a series of angry tweets before the company took control. In fact, I expect that a lot of companies still don’t put enough focus on social media in the context of insolvency and crisis management. It’s not just a question of implementing proper social media governance to avoid legal sanctions. In many cases, it’s equally important to avoid the risk of damage to the company’s reputation.CK: Have you found that having an in-depth understanding of the law actually makes organizations more risk averse, or are they more averse when they don’t know the boundaries?SM: A number of companies have taken limited steps into social media because they think that they should be on it, but haven’t fully engaged because of a lack of understanding of social media and a fear of the potential legal risks. But legal risks must be weighed up against the damage that may be caused to the business of not properly engaging. If you appreciate what the risks are, you can weigh up those risks against the business benefit, and also the damage that may be caused to your business of not engaging. Whereas, if you don’t understand the nature or level of the risks, you could be almost paralyzed into inaction. In most cases, the legal risks are not insurmountable. Companies need to exercise the same common sense, judgment and risk-balancing that they use with other media.

Five Vital Questions on the Implications of UK Law on Social Media

Chevy Kelly, a partner in the UK-based Social Media Leadership Forum, recently sat down with Socially Aware’s own Sue McLean, a Social Media Leadership Forum me

Five Vital Questions on the Implications of UK Law on Social Media