Socially Aware

December 18, 2015 - Endorsement Guides, Online Reviews, Litigation
Frying Small Potatoes: Will Amazon’s Pursuit of Individual Fake-Review Writers Pay Off?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Amazon’s customer reviews have long been a go-to resource for consumers researching prospective purchases. Unfortunately, fake customer reviews —product critiques commissioned by merchants and manufacturers in an effort to bolster their own products’ reputations or undermine their competitors’—have been around for almost as long.
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October 14, 2015 - FTC, Marketing, Labor Law, Employment Law, M&A, Mobile, IP, Online Endorsements, Securities Law, Bankruptcy, Online Promotions, Terms of Use, Online Reviews, Discovery, Compliance, Litigation
Now Available: The October Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this issue of Socially Aware , our Burton Award -winning guide to the law and business of social media, we highlight five key social media law issues to address with your
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October 12, 2015 - Status Updates, Cyberbullying, Marketing, Online Reviews
Status Updates: People-rating app proves unpopular; new tech automates compelling-photo selection; Twitter 101 for the political class
Bad reviews. On September 30th, the soon-to-be-launched app Peeple was described by the app’s co-founder, Julia Cordray, as a “ Yelp for people ,” that is, a people-rating platform that would allow users to assign number ratings to anyone—anyone at all, fellow Peeple user
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October 05, 2015 - Online Promotions, Marketing, Online Reviews, Compliance
How UK Brands That Use Vlogger Endorsements & Social Media for Marketing Can Stay on the Right Side of the Law
Vloggers have become the reality stars of our times. For an increasing number of social media users, what was once a hobby is now a lucrative career. You may be surprised to learn that Felix Kjellberg (aka “PewDiePie”), a 25-year-old Swedish comedian and the
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September 16, 2015 - FTC, Online Promotions, Online Reviews, Compliance
FTC Continues Enforcing Ad Disclosure Obligations in New Media and Issues a Warning to Advertisers
By: Julie O'Neill
In December 2014, we noted that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) settlement with advertising firm Deutsch LA, Inc. was a clear signal to companies that advertise through social media that they need to comply with the disclosure requirements of Section 5 of the FTC
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August 10, 2015 - First Amendment, Online Reviews, Litigation
Washington State Court Refuses to Unmask Anonymous Online Reviewer
By: Aaron P. Rubin
In a precedent-setting ruling, the Washington Court of Appeals in Thomson v. Doe refused to grant a motion to compel brought by a defamation plaintiff who had subpoenaed the lawyer-review site Avvo.com seeking the identity of an anonymous online reviewer, holding that, for a
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July 28, 2015 - Internet of Things, Trademark, FTC, Live streaming, Cloud Computing, Copyright, IP, First Amendment, Bankruptcy, Privacy, Infographic, Online Reviews, Wearable Computers
Hot Off the Press: The July/August Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter Is Now Available
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this issue of Socially Aware , our Burton Award -winning guide to the law and business of social media, we present a “grand unifying theory” of today’s leading technologies and the
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June 29, 2015 - Terms of Use, Online Reviews
The Right to Give One-Star Reviews
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Congress has taken a step toward protecting consumers’ rights to post negative reviews on websites like Ripoff Report or Yelp with the introduction, by Representative Darrell E. Issa of California, of the Consumer Review Freedom Act of 2015 (the CFRA). The CFRA follows a
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Topic Archives: Online Reviews

Frying Small Potatoes: Will Amazon’s Pursuit of Individual Fake-Review Writers Pay Off?

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Now Available: The October Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Status Updates: People-rating app proves unpopular; new tech automates compelling-photo selection; Twitter 101 for the political class

How UK Brands That Use Vlogger Endorsements & Social Media for Marketing Can Stay on the Right Side of the Law

FTC Continues Enforcing Ad Disclosure Obligations in New Media and Issues a Warning to Advertisers

By: Julie O'Neill

Washington State Court Refuses to Unmask Anonymous Online Reviewer

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Hot Off the Press: The July/August Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter Is Now Available

By: Aaron P. Rubin

The Right to Give One-Star Reviews

By: Aaron P. Rubin