Advertising and Marketing

Supreme Court Considers Viability of Disgorgement as Regulatory Remedial Weapon

FTC compliance and defense attorney Richard B. Newman authored an article for the National Law Review titled “All Eyes on Liu as Supreme Court Considers Whether to Restrict Disgorgement as a Regulatory Enforcement Remedy.” The article examines the Supreme Court case of Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission where the Court is presently considering whether the SEC may seek…

FTC Halts Alleged Online “Free Trial” Subscription Scheme

On May 8, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the operators of an alleged  online subscription scheme agreed to settle charges that they tricked consumers out of more than $74.5 million by luring them with purported “free trial” offers for cosmetics and dietary supplements, then enrolling them in subscriptions and billing them without their…

FTC Stops Direct Mail Marketers’ Health Claims

The marketers of three supplements called Neurocet, Regenify and Resetigen-D have settled a Federal Trade Commission compliant alleging they deceptively promoted their products to older Americans using false claims that their products could stop pain and treat age-related ailments. The complaint alleges that the defendants marketed their pills through magazine-style direct mailings and online. According to…

Proposed Privacy Bill Would Bolster FTC Enforcement Authority

Legislation was recently introduced in the Senate that would significantly bolster the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to enforce privacy and data security laws, and preempt the patchwork of presently existing data privacy regimes. Intended to address those that utilize, process and benefit from consumer data in “unfair and deceptive ways,” the Consumer Data Privacy and…

Telemarketing Alert: New York’s Nuisance Call Act

In December 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation enacting the Nuisance Call Act. The Act closes a loophole in Do Not Call Registry that permitted live telemarketers to call those on the list. It requires live voice outbound telemarketers to provide consumers the option to be added to the seller’s DNC list. If…

Richard B. Newman Represents Developers in Precedent-Setting ‘Stalking’ App Case

As reported by numerous media outlets, FTC defense attorney Richard B. Newman recently represented developers of so-called “stalking app” in the first-ever case of its kind in the United States. Following an aggressive Federal Trade Commission investigation (CID), the firm successfully resolved charges that the respondents’ products compromised the privacy and security of the consumer…