US_ADMIN-78068775.31
ReedSmith
The business of relationships.SM
Network Interference:
A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of
the Social Media Phenomenon
Third Edition
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ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
— PREFACE —
3rd Edition
In October 2009, we published the first edition of this White Paper, focusing primarily on social media issues in the United States.
The response was overwhelming and far beyond our expectation—clients, friends, press and social-media communities became
engaged with what we had to say. A conversation began that has yet to subside. The second edition added Europe.
This third edition is a major update and covers virtually every aspect of social media and the law on a global basis.
Most importantly, this White Paper remains a living document as we add more chapters and update those we have, making sure
it continues to be the definitive source for legal issues in social media.
We welcome your ideas and comments as well. If you have anything you’d like to share with us—good or bad—please send it to
Paul Matulac at pmatulac@reedsmith.com
Thank you.
Gregor Pryor Douglas J. Wood and Stacy Marcus
Editor, Europe Editors, United States
April 21, 2014
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— EDITORS —
Gregor Pryor – gpryor@reedsmith.com
Douglas J. Wood – dwood@reedsmith.com
Stacy K. Marcus – smarcus@reedsmith.com
— TABLE OF CONTENTS —
Introduction .................................................................................... 1
Advertising & Marketing ............................................................... 4
Brand Protection & Reputational Management ........................ 19
Copyright (EU) ............................................................................. 33
Copyright (U.S.) ........................................................................... 36
Data Privacy & Security .............................................................. 39
Employment Practices ................................................................ 50
Food and Drug Administration ................................................... 59
Government Contracts & Investigations ................................... 69
Insurance Recovery ..................................................................... 72
Litigation, Evidence & Privilege ................................................. 77
Product Liability........................................................................... 82
Securities (UK) ............................................................................. 85
Securities (U.S.) ........................................................................... 92
Trademarks ................................................................................ 105
The U.S. Patent Minefield .......................................................... 114
Biographies of Authors and Editors ........................................ 118
Guide to Social Media Terminology and Websites ................ 131
Endnotes .................................................................................... 141
Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
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ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
Welcome to the New World
Introduction
Social media is a revolution in the way in which corporations communicate with consumers. This White Paper will help you to
maximise the huge potential benefits of this revolution and protect against the inherent legal risks surrounding social media. In
this document, you will find practical, action-oriented guidelines as to the state of law in the United States and Europe in the
following areas: Advertising & Marketing; Commercial Litigation; Data Privacy & Security; Employment Practices; Food & Drug
Administration, Government Contracts & Investigations; Insurance Recovery; Litigation, Evidence & Privilege; Product Liability;
Securities; Copyright & Trademarks. As we continue to expand the White Paper, we will add additional chapters as well as
updates. So be sure to bookmark http://www.legalbytes.com/ and subscribe to the Legal Bytes blog.
What is Social Media and What Does it Mean to Business?
Everyone has heard of Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of
social media sites with billions of participants. And it’s not just individuals. Multinational companies and their CEOs are
increasingly active in the social media space via blogs, Facebook fan pages, YouTube channels, Twitter handles and much
more. Everyone is a user and, as with every new communication channel—billboards, radio, television, the Internet—there is
huge potential, and huge potential risks.
The speed of development in social media outstrips corporate risk management capability. It took radio 38 years to reach
50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The Internet took four years to reach 50 million people.
In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.1
It’s All About the Conversation
One-way communications with advertising, press releases, labels, annual reports, and traditional print media is going the way of
the dinosaur. We no longer just listen. Audiences are not static. We now engage in a conversation. What was said in the living
room is now published on Facebook. What we do in public and private is now broadcast on YouTube. What employees talked
about at the water cooler now appears as tweets on Twitter. All of it memorialised in discoverable form. All of it available to
millions with the simple press of “post.”
Social media is about “changing the conversation”—getting people to say the right things about your company and its products
and services.2
A Shift in Media Values
Broadcasters have now caught on to the idea that social media fundamentally affects the presentation and even the content of
their product. The music industry now embraces social media, using it as a valuable promotional tool. Even the movie industry
get in on the act, perhaps even earlier than intended, with the phenomenal success of the online marketing program for the “Blair
Witch Project.” At the time of its release, the “Blair Witch” site was in the top 50 most-visited sites on the Internet, creating a
vibrant “word-of-mouth” campaign that ultimately helped a $750,000 film gross revenues of $250 million. Social media represents
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a huge opportunity for media and entertainment companies. They can engage with their audience in ways that were previously
impossible, and can leverage that engagement with commercial opportunity. However, with this opportunity comes a threat—
YouTube allows everyone to be a broadcaster. As our chapter about copyright demonstrates, social media strikes at the very
heart of the proprietorial foundation upon which traditional media campaigns are built.
Managing Reputation – The Asymmetrical Consumer Relationship
Historically, brand owners were able to determine the relationship that consumers had with their brand. Now, thanks to social
media, consumers are the ones who increasingly define how the brand is perceived.
A major retailer asked a simple question on its Facebook page—”What do you think about offering our site in Spanish?”
According to its Senior Director, Interactive Marketing and Emerging Media, the response “…was a landmine. There were
hundreds of negative responses flowing in, people posting racist and rude comments. Our contact center was monitoring this,
and they were crying, waiting for a positive comment to come in.” The racist and negative responses posted by purported “fans”
were so bad that the site was shut down, with a spokesperson noting, “We have to learn how to respond when negative
comments are coming in.”3
United Airlines broke a passenger’s guitar. They handled his complaint through traditional procedures, eventually refusing to pay
for $1,200 in repairs. In response, the passenger posted a humorous music video to draw attention to United’s consumer support
incompetence on YouTube. 4 To date, there have been nearly 6 million views of the video. After two other videos, and after
United donating the cost of the guitar repairs to charity per the musician’s requests, United managed to lose the musician’s bags,
an event that was reported to millions in the blogosphere.5 The story was a lead story on CNN’s Situation Room, reported by
anchor Wolf Blitzer.6 As a result, United’s stock value fell considerably.7 To add insult to injury, the incident is impacting the law.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.) is championing the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 20098, citing the United debacle.9
We can’t help but wonder if United would have fared better if it had discarded the old way and instead engaged in the
conversation using the same social media platforms that were used to attack its brand.
For at least one major company, engaging made all the difference. Two employees of Domino’s Pizza posted a disgusting video
on YouTube in which they adulterated the chain’s food. In addition to reporting the video to the police, Domino’s Pizza’s CEO
posted his own video, apologising for what consumers saw and assuring them that such things were neither condoned nor
practiced at Domino’s. It all made the “Today Show” and other media reports.10 Both traditional media and the blogosphere
applauded his open communication and willingness to engage in a conversation about the problem.11 Rather than seeing its
brand value and reputation take a major blow, it survived the negative media.
As social media pioneer Erik Qualman puts it, “A lot of companies say we’re not going to do social because we’re concerned
about letting go of the conversation, and what I argue is that’s like an ostrich putting their head in the sand. You’re not as
powerful as you think. You’re not going to enable social to happen, it’s happening without you so you might as well be part of the
conversation.”12
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The New World
The key lesson is that rather than trying to control, companies must adopt an altered set of rules of engagement. Doing so while
being mindful of the laws that apply in a social media context will help alleviate risk.
What You Need to Do
Every concerned party needs to take some important steps if it is going to be prepared for the new media revolution. Here are a
few:
Read this White Paper
Surf the social media sites and read their terms and conditions
Join Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and perhaps other social media sites
Audit your company’s social media programs. Find out what your company and your employees are doing. Do they have
any customised pages on platforms like Twitter and Facebook? If so, make sure they’re complying with the site’s terms and
conditions, as well as your corporate communications policies. Are they blogging? Are employees using social media during
work hours?
Find out what your competitors and your customers are doing
Consider adopting a social media policy for both internal and external communications. But be careful to keep on strategy,
don’t ban what you cannot stop, and keep in mind the basic rules of engage, participate, influence, and monitor.
Bookmark websites and blogs that track legal developments in social media, including, AdLaw by Request
(www.adlawbyrequest.com), and Legal Bytes (www.legalbytes.com).
It is no longer business as usual. Social media has forever changed the brand/customer relationship. It challenges brand owners
fundamentally to reappraise the way they market themselves. This White Paper will be an invaluable tool in helping you to do
just that. Welcome to the New World.
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— CHAPTER 1 —
Advertising & Marketing
Chapter Authors13
United States
Stacy K. Marcus, Partner – smarcus@reedsmith.com
Douglas J. Wood, Partner – dwood@reedsmith.com
Frederick Lah, Associate – flah@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom
Huw Morris, Associate – hmorris@reedsmith.com
Germany
Stephan K. Rippert, Partner – srippert@reedsmith.com
Katharina Weimer, Associate – kweimer@reedsmith.com
Alin Seegel, Associate – aseegel@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media and advertising and marketing practices, and how to protect brands.
As an emerging and constantly-evolving technology with nearly limitless boundaries and possibilities, social media gives
consumers unprecedented engagement with a brand. Consumers are empowered. However, this brings with it risks as well as
gains. Consumers aren’t just buying a product or service online, they are discussing, reviewing, endorsing, lampooning,
comparing and parodying companies and their brands. They aren’t simply being targeted for advertising; in many cases, they are
participants in the creation and distribution of advertising. Companies can better enable, influence, monitor, react to and,
hopefully, monetise the consumer conversations taking place in social media, and can better engage and interact with the
consumer directly with their brands—but it’s critical to understand and navigate the legal minefields that are both dynamic and
evolving as the media evolves.
Why are advertisers and marketing professionals drawn to social media? Because more than 2.4 billion people use the Internet
every day14, and, according to a 2012 study by Nielsen, people are continuing to spend more time on social networks than any
other category of sites—20% of their time spent on PCs and 30% of their mobile time..15 Combine that with the fact that
smartphone ownership is over 64%16 (with the percentage even higher in other parts of the world) and the Internet audience is
larger than any media audience in history, and it is growing every day. It’s those eyeballs that marketers want.
In the UK alone, spending on online advertising grew by almost 5 percent in the first six months of 2009, while television
spending fell by 16 percent (see IAB UK News, “Internet advertising spend grows by 4.6 per cent”). It was also reported that UK
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online advertising spend overtook TV advertising spend for the first time.17 Almost two-thirds of businesses say they intend to
spend more on onsite social media, while 64 percent are looking to boost search engine optimisation efforts and 56 percent want
to invest more in mobile marketing. Looking forward, new global research by Econsultancy and ExactTarget has revealed that
66 percent of company marketers in the UK intend to spend more on Internet advertising this year compared with 2009. Total
Internet advertising spending will surpass £3.5 billion in the UK this year, according to a forecast from eMarketer. Morgan
Stewart, director of research and strategy at ExactTarget, comments: “The shift from offline to online is in full swing as marketers
look to measure direct increases in top line sales, site traffic and improve overall marketing return on investment.”
In the United States, a recent survey shows that 93% of marketers will be increasing or maintaining their spending on social
media ads over the next year.18 According to a 2012 study by eMarketer, social marketing spending already accounted for an
average of about 6.6% of marketer budgets. Over the next five years, marketers expect social marketing spending to jump up to
15.8% of spending.19 Where are companies spending these dollars? The possibilities are numerous.
National authors begin by examining the use of social media and the risks and gains involved. Branded channels, viral videos,
gadgets, widgets, promotions such as sweepstakes and contests within and even across social media platforms, are a few of the
ways companies are using social media to increase brand awareness. Even companies that are not actively using social media
platforms to engage consumers must monitor social media outlets for comments made about the company or its brands. Social
media cannot be ignored, and this section explores the legal implications of marketing in this manner.
Next, we look at the use of social media to foster brand engagement and interaction. Many companies are moving beyond simply
having a presence on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest, and are encouraging consumers to interact with their
brand. Companies are increasingly using social media to provide customer service and get product reviews. According to a
survey performed by The Connection, 47% of customers have sought customer service using social media, with the usage as
high as 59% among 18-24 year olds. These high usage rates makes sense considering that 57% of customers search for a
solution online first when they have a problem with a product.20 Marketers seeking new ways to engage consumers have turned
to social media as well, for example, to develop user-generated content (“UGC”) around their brands for advertising on platforms
like Instagram and Vine, and actively solicit their social networks to create buzz, viral and word-of-mouth advertising campaigns
using hashtags and share plug-ins. Some, such as foursquare and Yelp, offer small rewards for consumers in exchange for
“checking in” at a business. As newer platforms, like Snapchat, gain popularity, marketers will continue to find ways to transform
consumer trends into new marketing channels. Who controls and retains liability for the statements made and content provided in
the social media universe? Who owns the content? Will brand owners lose control of their brands?
Finally, we explore the impact of social media on talent rights and compensation. As discussed above, increasingly, ad spend is
moving to digital media. Along with this shift, the line between “content” and “advertising” has become blurred. Celluloid is being
replaced by digital files and projectors by flat screens, monitors, tablets and smart phones. What once aired only on television is
now being moved over to the Internet and new media by content owners and advertisers, or is going viral thanks almost entirely
to consumers with a little encouragement from advertisers. We will examine how this shift impacts talent compensation and will
discuss its application to the Screen Actors Guild -American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“SAG-AFTRA”)
commercials contracts.
In our review, we have covered advertising regulation in the United States, the UK and Germany. Note that the UK has a largely
self-regulatory environment. This self-regulation comes in the form of codes of practice that are designed to protect consumers
and create a level playing field for advertisers. The codes are the responsibility of two industry committees—the Committee of
Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), and are independently administered by
the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Online advertising, including via social networking and the techniques referred to in
this chapter, fall under the remit of the CAP Code (which is explained in more detail in Chapter 2).
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Social Media in Action in Advertising and
Marketing
Brand Awareness
The official Starbucks page on Facebook has more than
35.5 million fans and counting. The Starbucks YouTube
channel has more than 22,000 subscribers and nearly
11 million upload views of videos. There are more than
1.7 million Starbucks followers on Instagram, over
1.6 million Starbucks followers on foursquare, and more
than 5.4 million on Twitter. Don’t forget Pinterest and Vine,
with another 110,000 and 134,000 Starbucks followers,
respectively. There’s even a separate Facebook page
dedicated to one of Starbucks’ menu items, the
Frappuccino, with nearly 11 million “Likes”.
In this section, we explore the legal issues involved in the
use of branded pages and promotions and contests, taking
into account the different aspects of U.S., German and UK
laws and regulations.
Branded Pages
United States
Branded social media pages created and hosted using a
third-party service allow companies to quickly and easily
establish a social media presence. In order to do so,
companies, like individuals, must register and agree to
abide by the terms of use and policies, which serve as
binding contracts, that apply to these services and host
companies. As discussed in “Promotions and Contests”
below, this may not only restrict a company’s ability to use
the branded page for promotional and advertising
purposes, but may also grant or restrict rights within the
media with which a brand owner might not otherwise have
to contend. The third party bears much of the responsibility
for regulating the actions of the users who access, use and
interact with the service. The third party, for example, is
responsible for responding to “take down” notices received
pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”)
and for establishing age limits for users (See also Chapter
2 Commercial Litigation). The terms of service applicable to
Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat, and YouTube
specifically prohibit use by children under the age of 13.21
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram,
Snapchat, and Tumblr prohibit the repeated uploading or
posting of content that infringes a third-party’s rights,
including intellectual property, privacy and publicity rights,
and they provide instructions for submitting a DMCA takedown
notice.22 Although the third-party’s terms of service
provide a framework for both a company’s and individual
user’s activities, can a company afford not to monitor its
branded page for offensive or inappropriate content,
trademark or copyright infringement, or submissions
obviously made by or containing images of children?
Creating a presence and beginning the conversation is
easy. Controlling the conversation is nearly impossible.
Looking again at Starbuck’s as an example, a search for
“#starbucks” on Instagram currently yields nearly
7,5 million results and there are thousands of unofficial
“Starbucks” pages and groups on Facebook. This is the
current state of affairs. Facebook now requires that
individuals registering a page agree to their Pages Terms,
which says that “[a]ny user may create a Page to express
support for or interest in a brand, entity (place or
organization), or public figure, provided that it is not likely to
be confused with an official Page or violate someone's
rights.”23 Similarly, Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter all have
“Impersonation Policies” that prohibit “accounts that
mislead or deceive others” and “non-parody
impersonation.”24
Despite these efforts by social media platforms such as
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, and
Twitter, can these “legal” conditions and requirements
realistically act as a deterrent or a meaningful enforcement
mechanism? More significantly, will a company be forced
to rely upon these third parties to provide remedies or
enforce these terms before acting—or instead of acting?
So what are a company’s options in managing its brand
image? While a company could have a claim for copyright
or trademark infringement (see Chapter 14 – Trademarks)
and could attempt to shut down impersonator and unofficial
sites by contacting the social media platform to demand
that the infringer and infringing material be removed, these
measures could become (and may already be) virtually
impossible to implement because of sheer volume. Further,
depending upon the message being conveyed on an
unofficial page, a company might not want to shut it down.
For example, there are hundreds of “I love Starbucks”
pages and groups. If a consumer cares for a Frappuccino,
they can join one of the more than a dozen groups
dedicated to various flavors. But for every “I love
Starbucks” page or group, there is an “I hate Starbucks”
group or “Starbucks sucks” page. How does a company
respond to these so-called “suck sites”? As previously
mentioned, a company could try to litigate on the basis of
intellectual property infringement, but that could prove to be
an endless battle.
United Kingdom
As in the United States, advertisers in the UK have
embraced viral marketing, advergames, promotions, userNetwork
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generated content, blogs and brand ambassadors online,
as well as exploiting existing social networking sites to
grow brand awareness and promote products and services.
Social networks offer advertisers reach and engagement of
an unprecedented level, combined with clear branding
opportunities. However, with that opportunity comes
inevitable risk. In-house counsel need to keep abreast of
what their businesses are promoting on social media
properties to ensure compliance and minimise risk, while
maximising the opportunities to reach new audiences and
promote the brand.
Later in this chapter, we deal explicitly with the risks
associated with corporate blogging and user-generated
content, and how companies can take action to help
prevent infringement of rights and non-compliance with
regulation. In relation to branded pages, our guide for
advertisers concerning the addition of terms and conditions
for online advertisements (including use and effectiveness
of disclaimers and appropriate warnings) is available on the
Reed Smith website at www.reedsmith.com. The guide
covers issues such as linking to other sites and dealing
with difficult users.
Germany
European companies also make use of the possibilities that
social networks open up for them. Let’s take German car
manufacturers as an example. A popular brand owner,
BMW, has its own branded page on Facebook and
localised pages for several countries, including Germany,
Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa. The discussion board
on the page not only deals with maintenance and repair
issues has moved to showcasing more fashionable topics
such as Louis Vuitton branded tailor-made luggage for
BMW cars. BMW also asks its users to vote on polls and
gives them the opportunity to showcase their loved ones.
All-time competitor Mercedes Benz has changed its
Facebook page to allowing fans to post on the Mercedes’
wall (previously not possible). Like BMW, Mercedes posts
updates relating to new models and to topics related to
Mercedes that enhance the brand’s image in the online
world, such as Formula 1 wins or placements. Mercedes
also hosts an official Facebook page for the popular AMG
cars, while manufacturer Porsche places a much stronger
emphasis still on racing results. It need not be mentioned
that apart from the official pages, there are numerous
unofficial pages, sub-pages and groups relating to the car
manufacturers. Porsche even permits the users to design
their own Porsche and post it to their walls. All of these
gimmicks and interactions allow the user to feel close to
“their brand,” and giving them the opportunity to display
their own designed Porsche on their wall is concurrently
giving Porsche positive endorsement. However, the “legal
awareness” has risen – BMW’s and Mercedes’ pages have
an imprint (a requirement for telemedia services provider
under German law), Porsche even provides website terms
of use.
The legal aspects of these brand interactions do not differ
materially from the issues raised under U.S. and UK law,
as the terms and conditions of the third-party providers like
YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are essentially the same.
What must be taken into account, though, is that while the
European Union has harmonised laws in many areas,
including in the area of misleading or false advertising, of
commerce on the Internet, and on consumer protection,
these laws have been implemented differently in every
country. The scope of socially acceptable content may also
differ widely within the European Union, given the
differences between countries such as Sweden, Bulgaria,
the UK, and Spain. Brands that choose to treat Europe as
one homogenous state in the course of their social media
campaigns run a very real risk of contravening local laws
and, possibly just as importantly, offending local
sensitivities.
A new phenomenon in the advertising world that reaches
the Internet at high speed is so-called “fake advertising.”
Using the automotive industry again, a video shows a
compact car of a German manufacturer driven by a man
wearing a traditional Palestinian scarf. He parks the car in
front of a street café and activates a belt containing
explosives. The guests of the café do not even realise this
as no noise or other effect of the explosion reach the
outside of the car. The spot finishes with a scroll outlining
the model of the car (a Volkswagen) and displaying the
slogan “Small but tough.” The German car manufacturer
had nothing to do with this spot. Virals like this can be very
professional in appearance, which makes the
determination that it is a fake advertisement difficult. This
example triggers various legal questions concerning both
the producer of the viral and the company whose products
are “advertised.” While the advertised company may have
claims for trademark infringement, copyright infringement,
claims based on unfair competition and even based on tort
(passing off and endangering the goodwill of a company)
against the producer of the viral, the same company is also
at risk of being held liable if the viral infringes third-party
rights, and the advertised company had in any way initiated
or agreed to the viral (for instance by way of holding a
contest for the best video spot involving its compact car
and an unsuccessful participant subsequently airs the spot
on his Facebook profile). There are many examples of
established companies seeking to embrace social media
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by running user-generated advertising campaigns, only for
things to go horribly wrong.
Promotions and Contests
United States
Many companies are using their social media presence as
a platform for promotions, offering sweepstakes and
contests within or founded upon social media and user
networks. In fact, Instagram has recently developed a page
solely dedicated for this purpose, “Host a Photo
Campaign,” which provides helpful tips on how to host a
successful photo contest on Instagram and cites numerous
successful examples, including General Electric, Brisk Iced
Tea, Charity Water, and NBC News.25 Twitter has also
become one of the most popular platforms for promotions.
Some often examples include giveaways for the first
10 people to re-Tweet a Tweet to the first to correctly
answer a trivia question to the “most creative” Tweet in
response to a question. As a result of its popularity, Twitter
has posted guidelines for contests and sweepstakes on
Twitter to help make sure the contests and sweepstakes do
not violate Twitter’s other terms, though they are far less
rigorous than Facebook’s and simply serve as guidance,
rather than binding terms.26 Facebook’s terms of service
also set forth a number of requirements for businesses who
use the platform to run a sweepstakes and promotion. The
Pages Terms express state the business is responsible for
the lawful operation of that promotion, including: (a) the
official rules; (b) offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex:
age and residency restrictions); and (c) compliance with
applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion
and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining
necessary regulatory approvals). Facebook further requires
that promotions include a “complete release of Facebook
by each entrant or participant” and “[a]cknowledgement
that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or
administered by, or associated with Facebook.”27
As the number of promotions on Facebook increased,
Facebook revised its Promotion Guidelines in August 2013
to make it easier for businesses to create and administer
promotions by removing the requirement that promotions
on Facebook only be administered through apps
(previously business were not permitted to administer
promotions on personal timelines). Now, businesses are
able to: (1) collect entries by having users post on the Page
or comment or “Like” a Page post; (2) collect entries by
having users message the Page; and (3) utilize “Likes” as a
voting mechanism. 28 Twitter and Pinterest have also
developed guidelines for businesses administering
promotions on their platforms.29
Other companies have taken their contests off of a
particular social media platform and instead operate a
contest-specific microsite, often in coordination with
companies specializing in social media promotions, such
as Votigo, Wildfire and Strutta,. One such brand is Frito
Lay’s Doritos, who for several years has sponsored a wellknown
Super Bowl contest, encouraging people to submit
their own Doritos commercial on a dedicated URL, while
encouraging users to share their submissions via social
media.30 The winning commercials are then aired during
the Super Bowl. The 2013 version of the contest is
especially interesting as one of the winners also receives
the opportunity to work with Marvel on the next “Avengers”
movie; the other winner receive $1 million. 2013 also
marked the first time people outside of the U.S. were
permitted to participate – in fact, the contest was open to
entrants from 46 countries. Folgers has been administering
a similar social media contest on a dedicated URL which
encourages people to submit their take on the iconic jingle,
“The Best Part of Wakin’ Up” (See “User-Generated
Content” below for issues relating to UGC).31 In addition to
the grand prize awarded for the jingle itself, daily prizes
and a grand prize will be awarded via random drawings to
individuals who submit votes in the jingle contest. It doesn’t
take much imagination to come up with the legal issues
and challenges—consumer, talent union and regulatory —
that might be raised in social media-based promotions like
the ones held by Doritos and Folgers. What if the winner
(or performers featured in the winner) is a member of a
union? Who owns the video submissions? Will the semifinalists,
finalists and/or winners be required to enter into a
separate agreement relating to ownership of the master
recording?
Regardless of the platform or website a contest is featured
on, the same laws apply online as in offline contests, but
they may apply in unique or novel ways, and their
applicability may be subject to challenge. Because social
media is often borderless and global, companies must also
consider the possibility that individuals from across the
globe may find out about the contest and wish to enter.
Unless a company plans to research the promotion and
sweepstakes laws in every country around the globe (and
translate the official rules into every language), eligibility
should be limited to those countries where the company
does business and/or has legal counsel. Some companies
address this issue by developing a geo-fenced microsite
with an API for the applicable social media platform, which
(hopefully) prevents entrants from outside the eligible
territory. This represents both an opportunity and a
challenge—both fraught with legal and regulatory
possibilities.
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In the United States32, a sponsor cannot require entrants to
pay consideration in order to enter a sweepstakes. Unlike
skill-based contests, the golden rule of “no purchase
necessary to enter or to win” applies. In addition,
depending upon how the promotion is conducted and what
the aggregate value of prizes awarded in the promotion
are, New York, Florida and Rhode Island have registration
requirements (New York and Florida also require
bonding33). In New York and Florida, where the aggregate
prize value exceeds $5,000, a sponsor must register the
promotion with the state authorities, and obtain and file with
the state a bond for the total prize amount.34 In Rhode
Island, where the aggregate prize value exceeds $500 and
the promotion involves a retail sales establishment, a
sponsor must register the promotion with the Rhode Island
Secretary of State.35
Germany
As already highlighted earlier in this chapter, companies
that wish to conduct promotions, sweepstakes, raffles and
similar activities in Europe need to be aware that while
there is certainly European harmonised law, the Member
States may have implemented the Directives differently.
Certain jurisdictions like France are known for adding little
tweaks and adopting a very restrictive and consumerprotective
approach to advertising. While the abovementioned
golden rule of “no purchase necessary to enter
or to win” provides minimum guidance for contests in
Europe, companies should nevertheless obtain local
clearance advice. Various provisions in local law make the
running of promotions on a European-wide basis a
challenge. Italy, for instance, requires that if the raffle or
contest is actively promoted in Italy, the organising
company must have someone on the ground in Italy to
conduct it. This gives rise to a flourishing business
segment of promotion agencies. A company that advertises
a promotion via a social network should not fall prey to the
assumption that because the promotion is run from a
“.com” homepage it is subject to U.S. law only, or that it
could adopt the law of a particular country while excluding
all other jurisdictions. As soon as a promotion is aimed at
the citizens of a European country, that country is likely to
assume jurisdiction and deem its laws applicable to the
promotion.
Brand Interaction
Influencers and Native Ads
United States
“People are either going to talk with you or about you.”36
So how do you influence the conversation? Many
companies are turning to amplified word-of-mouth
marketing, by actively engaging in activities designed to
accelerate the conversations consumers are having with
brands (See Chapter 2 – Commercial Litigation). Some
examples include offering small rewards (e.g., discounts)
at businesses for “checking-in”, including customized
hashtags in posts, offering share plug-ins on the
advertiser’s site, using third-party reviewers (e.g.,
influencers) to create product reviews, offering giveaways
on third-party sites or creating a company-sponsored blog
(see “Customer Service and Customer Feedback” below).
Companies often provide products to influencers so that
they can write a (hoped-for favourable) review of the
product. For example, a New York Times blog investigated
a tweet by pop singer Miley Cyrus to her 12 million
followers, thanking a private jet company for a flight.37
Although Ms. Cyrus declined to comment, the company
admitted that she was given some consideration for her
tweet. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly unclear to
consumers whether celebrities are genuinely plugging a
product they admire or if they are just paid to tweet about it.
While this practice is generally acceptable, provided that
the reviews are legitimate, companies who fail to disclose
the connection between influencer and company may face
regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Part of the
regulatory concern is that unless the company discloses
the material connection, consumers will have no way of
knowing whether the reviews are real or artificial. In
September 2013, the Harvard Business Review released a
study that showed that many businesses that do not have a
good reputation online will in fact try to create one by
submitting fake reviews to web sites, such as Yelp. 38 As a
result, some companies, such as Yelp, have implemented
measures to combat fake reviews, including by utilizing a
filtering algorithm and by posting consumer alerts on
business listings that write fake reviews.39
The desire to have favorable online reviews has driven
some companies to seek out and hire reputationenhancement
firms to write fake positive reviews on sites
like Google and Yelp, a practice often referred to as
“astroturfing.” In September 13, 2013, the New York
Attorney General concluded a year-long investigation into
the manipulation of consumer-review websites, which
resulted in fining 19 firms a total of $350,000 for engaging
in the practice.40 Part of the Attorney General’s operation,
which went by the name of “Operation Clean Turf,”
involved setting up a fake yogurt shop in Brooklyn that was
seeking to combat negative reviews online. The Attorney
General found that the reputation enhancement companies
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who offered to assist the fake yogurt shop violated multiple
state laws against false advertising and engaged in
deceptive business practices.
Federal regulators are paying attention to these issues as
well, particularly with respect to the need to disclose
material connections. In 2009, the Federal Trade
Commission (“FTC”) revised its Guides Concerning the
Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (the
“FTC Guides”).41 The FTC Guides provide a general
principle of liability for communications made through
endorsements and testimonials: “Advertisers are subject to
liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made
through endorsements, or for failing to disclose material
connections between themselves and their endorsers.
Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the
course of their endorsements.”42 Later, in March 2013, the
FTC reminded advertisers again to disclose such material
connections in its revised guidance for Dot com
Disclosures.43
In sum, a company that provides products to a influencer
for purposes of a product review should never instruct the
influencer regarding what to say in the review, or ask to
edit the material substance of review prior to posting. While
companies should provide influencers with up-to-date
company-approved product information sheets, those
information sheets should not reflect the company’s opinion
or include prices. In the event of a negative review, the
company has the option of not providing products to the
influencers for future reviews. The company should also
caution its personnel about engaging in inflammatory
disputes with influencers (“flaming”) on any review or
community-based sites. In addition, since under the FTC
Guides a company could be liable for claims made by an
influencer, the company should monitor product reviews
made by influencers to ensure that the claims made are
truthful and can be substantiated.
Another strategy to help marketers influence the
conversation about their brands is native advertising.
"Native advertising" refers to when an advertiser blends
ads as editorial content to market more seamlessly. The
Huffington Post was one of the first publications to utilize
native advertising, when it teamed up with IBM to create
technology-based content.44 Other sites like BuzzFeed,
TheOnion.com, and College Humor all feature content that
look just like any other post, but are actually paid
advertisements.
While native advertising can result in less intrusive
marketing and brand association with an experience, the
downside is that the blurring of content can, in some
instances, lead to misleading consumers. Advertisers
should disclosure the sponsorship or endorsement
relationship clearly and conspicuously. The FTC has made
the issue of native advertising one of increasing agency
interest, with recent updates to its Search Engine
Advertising guidance, Dot com Disclosures, and
Endorsement guides all addressing potential issues with
native advertising. In addition, sites that employ native
advertising can run into content maintenance issues. Just
ask The Atlantic. After allowing the Church of Scientology
to post sponsored content on The Atlantic website, some
readers criticized the media company for the content.
Some readers called the content “bizarre” and “blatant
propaganda.”45 Two weeks after the incident, The Atlantic
posted new advertising guidelines to address native
advertising.46
United Kingdom
Applying the principles described above in relation to the
United States helps identify, from the perspective of
English law and regulation, the main risks associated with
external corporate blogging and participating in social
networking sites:
Damage to reputation: This typically arises if a
reviewer says something that may tarnish the
reputation of the company in the eyes of other
readers. It could be an innocent criticism of the
product or company or a more deliberate campaign.
Breaching advertising regulations: This can cause
damage to brand reputation, particularly where the
breach leads to advertising regulators publishing
adverse adjudications about the owner of the brand
Liability for infringement of intellectual property rights:
The biggest risk here is that a participant or reviewer
copies content for the post from another source
without permission. Music is particularly risky, but any
image, text or creative material may have been
sourced from a third party without their knowledge.
Liability for defamation or illegal content: Defamation
is perhaps one of the greatest risks, especially if
participants are given a free reign. See our later
chapter concerning defamation.
Breaching data protection laws and/or invading
privacy: See our later chapter for more details
concerning these risks.
Leaking confidential information: Often risks emanate
not from external sources but from employees within
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the company engaging in blogging. Details of a new
product launch or disclosure of poor financial figures
can innocently be disclosed if safeguards are not put
in place. This can cause damage to the business and,
potentially, breach of corporate securities rules.
Germany
Advertisement in blogs is also increasingly happening in
Europe, but the European Commission has not initiated
legislative action yet. A prominent example for using blogs
for advertisement was constituted by the Coty Prestige
Lancaster Group. The company decided to launch a teaser
campaign prior to the traditional campaign for the perfume
ck-IN2U. They created rather attractive and sexy fake
identities in various blogs and used them to tease the
blogosphere about the perfume. And at the end of each
post, they added the sentence “what are you in2?” After
being found out, Coty Prestige Lancaster Group quickly
stopped the campaign. While many reviewers perceived
this behaviour as contravening an unwritten reviewer’s
code of ethics (and indeed review site operators are
looking for ways of prohibiting unwanted advertising
activities on their sites), the more crucial question is
whether the multiple five-digit-claims that the responsible
advertising agency has received will hold up. Under
German law, for example, the agency may be obligated,
pursuant to the legal institute of “agency by necessity,” to
pay to the review site operators the amount saved by
avoiding the traditional booking of advertising space on the
site or surrounding the site. Comparable decisions have
been made with regard to the unauthorised use of
photographs. However, court decisions on advertisement
on review sites have not reached the press…yet.
Customer Service and Customer Feedback
Online reviews also foster customer feedback and
engagement with a brand. General Motors, for example,
has a a blog called the Fast Lane which helps to foster
engagement. 47 According to General Motors, the Fast
Lane is “a forum for GM executives to talk about GM’s
current and future products and services, although nonexecutives
sometimes appear here to discuss the
development and design of important products. On
occasion, Fast Lane is utilised to discuss other important
issues facing the company.”48 Fast Lane, of course, links
to General Motor’s Facebook page, where a consumer can
become a fan. Similarly, Starbucks has its “Ideas In Action”
blog, where consumers share ideas with the company. The
customer feedback received via the blog and social
networks led to the creation of a store-finding and menuinformation
application for the iPhone, and a second
application that will let customers use the iPhone as their
Starbucks card. According to Stephen Gillett, Starbucks’
chief information officer, “We think it’s really talking to our
customers in new ways.”49
Once you’ve started the conversation, you can use social
media to provide nearly instantaneous customer service
and receive customer feedback. Many companies now
provide customer service via Twitter. American Express,
for example, has set up a dedicated Twitter handle to field
customer care questions, to go along with its various other
social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube.50 GoDaddy, as another example, has a
dedicated social media team and provides live technical
support and best practice tips on Twitter.51 Other
companies like Southwest Airlines, Citi and eHarmony offer
similar support services on their social media accounts.
Many other companies also hold live Q&A sessions and
polls on Twitter and other platforms. Think kids say the
darndest things? Wait until you see what customers say
once they start talking.
A major fast food restaurant launched a Twitter campaign
as a way to promote the brand’s food through goodnatured,
heart-felt stories using a specific hashtag. Instead,
the Twitter-verse used it as an unsolicited opportunity to
bash the restaurant. Oops, now what? While the company
quickly pulled the campaign, such customer feedbackbased
campaigns can be hard to control. The hashtag
continued to trend even after the campaign was pulled. In
another example, a major retailer launched a campaign in
2012 in cooperation with a famous rapper. As part of the
promotion, the rapper agreed to visit whichever retailer
location generated the most Facebook likes. One writer
saw this as an opportunity to pull off a prank on the rapper
by creating a Facebook page dedicated to sending him to
the retailer’s Kodiak, Alaska’s location. Through the power
of social media, 70,000 users ended up liking the Kodiak,
Alaska location’s page, despite the fact the town only
boasts a population of 6,200. Nonetheless, the rapper
graciously showed up and performed at the retailer’s
Kodiak, Alaska location.
Still doubt the power of social media? The past year has
been full of social media horror stories from companies,
and perhaps no social media platform has served as a
reminder about the dangers of social media than Twitter. In
September 2013, fashion designer Kenneth Cole drew
criticism for his controversial Tweet about the Syrian war:
“’Boots on the ground’ or not, let’s not forget about sandals,
pumps and loafers. # Footwear.” The negative reaction the
Tweet drew caused the designer to delete the Tweet,
apologize, and issue a formal statement through a
spokesperson. In another example, in June 2013,
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outspoken, conservative Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy
spoke out against gay marriage on Twitter, only to delete
the tweet shortly after. By that time, though, it was already
too late as several Twitter users took screenshots and
shared the tweet. Chick-fil-A released a public statement
explaining why the tweet was taken down, however that did
stop public protests resulting at some of franchise’s
restaurants. The restaurant later released a statement
saying it did not intend to engage in political and social
debate. And perhaps the biggest faux pas came in
December 2013 from (of all people) the head of corporate
communications for media company IAC, Justine Sacco.
Prior to her trip to South Africa, Sacco infamously tweeted,
“Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm
white!” Her attempts to delete the Tweet and her entire
account were futile. Despite having less than 500 followers
at the time, Sacco’s Tweet went viral in no time. Soon
thereafter, she was fired. Who knew 140 characters could
get people and their companies into so much trouble?
A common culprit in a social media debacle is the result of
an employee mistakenly posting from the corporate
account, rather than his or her personal account. Such was
the case back in 2011, when an employee from Chrysler’s
digital agency, New Media Strategies, tweeted from the
@ChryslerAutos account: “I find it ironic that Detroit is
known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to
[expletive] drive.” Although the tweet was quickly deleted,
the tweet had already spread to blogs. Chrysler decided
not to renew its contract with New Media Strategies two
days after the tweet.
So what does a company do if it finds itself or its products
the subject of a negative or false post? First, it depends on
where the post was made. Was it a company-operated
page, or a third-party site? Second, it depends on who
posted the negative comment. Was it a company
employee? (See Chapter 6 – Employment) Was it the
author of the post? Was it a third-party commenter on a
page? Was it a professional reviewer (journalist) or a
consumer? More perniciously, was it a competitor? Finally,
the content of the post should be considered. Is a right of
free speech involved? Was anything in the post false or
defamatory? (See Chapter 2 – Commercial Litigation)
Companies should seek to correct any false or misleading
information posted concerning the company or its products.
This can be done by either seeking removal of the false
post or by responding to the post to provide the public with
accurate information. Where a post is defamatory, litigation
may be an option (See Chapter 2 – Commercial Litigation).
In the case of a negative (but truthful) product review or
other negative opinion posted about the company, if the
comments are made on a company-operated page, the
company, has the right to remove any posting it desires,
subject, of course, to its policies and the terms on which
the page is made available. Where comments are made on
a third-party’s page, a company could attempt to contact
the author of the page and seek removal of the post.
However, depending upon the content of the post, it may
not be in the company’s best interest to take it down.
One of the central tenets of social media is open dialogue.
Where a company avails itself of the benefits of social
media but then inhibits the conversation by selectively
removing posts, it may face a public-relations fiasco. One
approach to responding to negative posts may be to have
an authorised company representative respond to the post
on behalf of the company in order to further engage the
consumer in dialogue. If a company prefers not to have
such a conversation in an open forum, the company could
seek to contact the poster offline to discuss the poster’s
negative opinion of the company or its products.
User-Generated Content
United States
UGC covers a broad spectrum of content, from forum
postings, to photos to audiovisual content such as video,
and may provide the greatest potential for brand
engagement. Companies frequently and increasingly
create promotions around UGC (for example, urging
consumers to submit content-rich descriptions of why they
love a certain product or service).
Crowdsourcing, which refers to the practice of obtaining
services or content from the online community, for
example, has been an increasingly utilized strategy by
marketers. We previously mentioned the Frito Lay’s Doritos
Super Bowl commercial campaign. In addition, in 2013,
Frito Lay also conducted its “Do Us A Flavor” contest which
asked consumers to submit their ideas for a new flavor of
Lay’s potato chips.52 After garnering nearly 3.8 million
consumer-generated flavor submissions, the submissions
were narrowed down to three finalist flavors. With more
than a million votes cast on Facebook, Twitter, and text,
the next flavor— Cheesy Garlic Bread— was selected. The
grand prize winner was awarded $1 million in cash. Not too
bad for a bag of chips. Other marketers like Samuel Adams
and Arizona Iced Tea have also sought public input to
create new product flavors. With the popularity of
crowdsourcing on the rise, companies like Tongal and
Poptent have surfaced, providing content creators with a
platform to share their work and connect with others.
While offering consumers to ability to submit their own
UGC through crowdsourcing, there are also accompanying
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risks with respect to intellectual property and false
advertising. It’s a mistake to think that, “the consumer did
it” is an iron-clad defense against claims of intellectual
property infringement or false advertising. Especially in
contests that are set up as a comparison of one brand to
another, things can get dicey. In 2007, in what was a firstof-
its-kind case, Subway filed a lawsuit against Quiznos53
stemming from the “Quiznos v. Subways Ad Challenge.”
The Challenge solicited videos from users depicting that
Quiznos’ sandwiches have more meat than Subway’s
sandwiches. The lawsuit claimed that by airing the winning
video from the Quiznos contest, Quiznos had engaged in
false and misleading advertising under the Lanham Act. In
denying Quiznos’ motion for summary judgment, the court
found that Quiznos was a provider of an interactive
computer service, but declined to decide whether the UGC
videos at issue were “provided” by Quiznos or by a third
party (a requirement for CDA immunity). The court
determined that it was a question of fact as to whether
Quiznos was actively responsible for the creation of the
UGC.54 Nearly three years later, on February 23, 2010,
following the court’s denial of its motion for summary
judgment, Quiznos agreed to settle the dispute.
In 2013, the proprietor of a hotel brought a defamation suit
against TripAdvisor after his hotel was voted by users on
its annual “Dirtiest Hotels list.”55 The proprietor alleged that
TripAdvisor destroyed the hotel’s business by publishing
the user-generated comments, and that the list was based
on distorted ratings and misleading statements.
Nonetheless, the court found that the proprietor did not
state a plausible claim for defamation against TripAdvisor
because the list was based on the subjective views of its
users, not an objectively verifiable fact. Readers of the list,
according to the court, would understand the list published
by TripAdvisor to be communicating subjective opinions of
travelers who use TripAdvisor, which amounted to nothing
more than hyperbole.
Following the court’s decision in these two cases, the
question that remains is: how much control is too much? At
what point, is a sponsor of a UGC promotion “actively
responsible” for the UGC?
As discussed in the section on “Branded Pages” above, if a
company is accepting UGC submissions through use of a
third-party platform (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Vine, or
YouTube), odds are that the third-party’s terms of service
already prohibit content that is infringing, defamatory,
libelous, obscene, pornographic or otherwise offensive.
Nonetheless, whenever possible, a company should
establish community requirements for UGC submissions
prohibiting, for example, infringing or offensive content.
Similarly, although the third-party’s terms of service most
likely provide for notice and take-down provisions under the
DMCA, companies should have procedures in place in the
event they receive a notice of copyright infringement.
Another reason to implement your own policy is that the
social media platform providers, may themselves have a
safe harbor defense as Internet service providers under the
DMCA, whereas a company using an infringing work in a
commercial context, whether or not through a third-party
service, would not likely have such a defense available to it
should an infringement claim arise. Although the thirdparty’s
terms of service provide a framework for both a
company’s and an individual user’s activities, it is still
recommended that a company monitor its branded page for
offensive content, blatant copyright infringement, or
submissions obviously made by, or containing, images of
children. In advance of the UGC promotion, companies
should establish policies concerning the amount of
monitoring, if any, they plan to perform concerning content
posted via their branded pages.
In addition to issues relating to content and intellectual
property, companies should take steps to ensure that UGC
displayed on their social media pages does not violate the
rights of publicity of the individuals appearing in the
displayed content. This is especially true in light of the fact
more and more retailers are using photos from every day
consumers from platforms like Instagram, as reported in
the Wall Street Journal in May 2013.56 Despite this
increasingly prevalent practice, though, the legal risk of
using an individual’s content without his or her express
permission is very real. For example, in January 2013, a
U.S. federal court ruled that Getty Images and Agence
France-Presse, a news agency, were liable for
infringement for posting and distributing a photojournalist’s
images he posted on Twitter of the 2010 Haiti earthquake,
without his permission. Months later, the court ordered the
defendants to pay the photojournalist $1.2 million in
statutory penalties.57 A similar lawsuit was brought by
another photographer in June 2013 against BuzzFeed for
the use of an image it found on Flickr.58 The message is
clear that if you seek to use UGC in a commercial context,
whether or not on a social media page, best practice would
be to obtain releases from any individuals depicted in your
work.
In a more recent example, a nationwide class action was
brought against Facebook in connection with one of its
advertising programs called “Sponsored Stories.”
“Sponsored Stories” displayed a user’s “Like” in connection
with the user’s name and profile picture to try to convince
the user’s friends to similarly “Like” the brand. Advertisers
paid Facebook for these “Sponsored Stories”
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advertisements. A class action was brought against
Facebook in California federal court, alleging that
Facebook misappropriated their names, profile photos, and
likenesses in paid advertisements without their consent. In
denying Facebook’s motion to dismiss, the court held that
plaintiffs – even non-celebrities -- could claim economic
injury when their likeness is shared among people without
their consent. The parties eventually reached a settlement,
which was given final approval by the court in August 2013.
Companies should make clear that by submitting UGC to
the company, the submitter is granting the company a
worldwide, royalty-free right and non-exclusive license to
use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publicly
perform and publicly display the UGC. However, this does
not give a company a license to transform the UGC into a
commercial or print advertisement. In fact, in the event that
a company seeks to transform a UGC video into a
television commercial or made-for-Internet commercial, the
company must obtain a release from any individuals to be
featured in the ad and take into consideration the SAGAFTRA
requirements set forth in the commercials contract.
United Kingdom
A question that arises often where a company includes
social media elements or features on its own properties, or
in advertising or promotional campaigns, is whether those
elements or features should be moderated.
A conservative and perhaps safer approach is for brands to
moderate sites for unwelcome content or comments.
Moderation can take several forms: (i) pre-moderation; (ii)
post-moderation; and (iii) reactive moderation. The fact that
moderation affords control to the brand owner and helps
them limit any potentially risky business means that brand
owners often favour a pro-moderation approach. However,
moderation itself can be a risky business and can
sometimes be one that advertisers and their advertising
agencies or others ought not to do themselves.
By checking all material prior to publication, the operator of
a site could be said to assume responsibility for the
material that appears. This makes pre-moderation a
relatively high-risk and labour-intensive approach.
However, many brand owners feel uncomfortable about not
moderating, and the decision may well come down to the
sort of site in question. For example, we recommend that
any site used by children ought to be properly moderated
by specialists who are also provided with guidelines on
how to carry out their role. Equally, sites that carry less risk
may be better suited to a post-moderation or even reactive
moderation approach, whereby moderation only takes
place in response to feedback from users.
We recommend that moderation, and whether to take
responsibility for moderation, be considered carefully,
taking into account the nature of the product or service in
question and the potential propensity for damage to the
brand. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate to
outsource moderation activity to a specialist company that
can shoulder the administrative burden. In addition, sites
that carry user-generated content should include terms of
use with appropriate warranties. Finally, brands may wish
to seek insurance for liability created by user-generated
content.
Where advertisers are considering using third-party sites
for advertising purposes (for example, Facebook), they
may also consider whether or not to moderate the areas of
the site that are within the control of the advertiser.
The alternative to a moderated environment is for a brand
or agency to allow the site or property to operate without
moderation. There are many downsides to this approach.
For example, when content is unmoderated, the quality of
material posted is difficult to control. There is, on the face
of it, a legal advantage to unmoderated sites, in that a
brand or site operator can more easily seek an exemption
from liability for anything that is defamatory, infringing or
otherwise unlawful. This exemption is afforded by local
laws deriving from the E-Commerce Directive, as
discussed in later chapters, and the only material condition
of the exemption is that the operator of the site provides a
process for removing offending content expeditiously upon
being made aware of it. However, guidance from UK
government agencies counsels against unmoderated
environments generally.
In the case of either moderated or unmoderated sites, it is
essential that the process for the removal of content is
easy, and that concerned individual users can report
inappropriate content to the operator swiftly. The operator
must then be able to deal with the complaint or problem
and have clear guidelines for doing so. It is recommended
that operators provide a link on each page of the website
that clearly directs users to the process for reporting
inappropriate content. Phrases such as “Report Abuse,”
“Complain about this content” or “Flag as inappropriate” are
all commonly used as links. The operator of a site should
also require clarity in a complaint and seek to ensure the
user is required to explain exactly why a complaint is being
made, so as to enable the assessment of the merits of any
objection.
Germany
The laws in Europe concerning liability for UGC are similar
to those in the United States in some respects, but in other
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areas are markedly different. Importantly, the laws in
Europe are developing quickly in this area and are, some
might say, becoming more conservative and in favour of
rights holders than in the United States.
The European Union regulated certain aspects of
electronic commerce in its Directive 2000/31/EC
(“Directive”). The Directive was introduced to clarify and
harmonise the rules of online business throughout Europe,
with the aim of boosting consumer confidence. It also
seeks to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal
market by ensuring the free movement of information
society services between the Member States. The Directive
applies to the Member States of the European Economic
Area (“EEA”), which includes the 25 Member States of the
EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The Directive contains specific provisions on liability for
hosting services. The general principle is that a service
provider shall not be liable for the information stored if the
provider does not have actual knowledge of illegal activity
or information, and where a claim for damages is made, is
not aware of facts or circumstances from which it would
have been apparent to the service provider that the activity
or information was unlawful. If the service provider, upon
obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously
to remove or to disable access to the information, there is
no liability. Hence the service provider must act
immediately upon gaining knowledge that the material is
unlawful by either removing or disabling access to the
material.
The Directive further makes clear that a service provider
has no obligation to monitor the content. The Directive
states that Member States must not impose a general
obligation on service providers to monitor the information
that they transmit or store. A service provider can make
use of the aforementioned limitations in liability as long as it
is clear that the content is content from someone else, i.e.
UGC. Hence in case of UGC advertisements or uploads,
the service provider has to avoid assuming such UGC as
its own content to avoid liability in connection with such
content. The critical question for companies using UGC
arises when the company assumes UGC as its own
content. It is likely that UGC will be considered as a
company’s content if it is made as part of the company’s
own offering. A decision of the German Supreme Court59
illustrates the thin line between third-party content and own
content. In the case, the defendant offered free cooking
recipes on its website www.chefkoch.de. Every user can
upload its own recipes with pictures on that website. One
user uploaded a picture from a different cookbook website
– the plaintiff’s. The Supreme Court considered the
defendant liable as publisher of the picture by placing its
logo on each uploaded recipe, among other things. The
Supreme Court established several criteria which could
lead to the assumption that UGC will be considered as a
company’s content: • extensive granting of rights of use
regarding the UGC in favor of the company, • company’s
statement that UGC is checked before activation, • no
indication of UGC as such. The defendant hence should
have checked the legality of each picture that was
uploaded by users. In practice, this may be an impossible
task. Many companies that attempt to “clear” useruploaded
content before publication find that the majority of
submissions are unusable.
Even if a company does not assume responsibility for thirdparty
content, it is crucial that terms and conditions set
forth clear rules regarding UGC, in particular with regard to
rights ownership. To the extent copyrighted materials are
involved in the UGC, it is not possible to exclude monetary
compensation for the use of the copyrighted materials,
even if the user who provided the content agrees to such
exclusion. He/she is permitted to claim “appropriate”
compensation afterwards, e.g. in cases where certain UGC
becomes famous and important for the company who uses
it.
Related to the problem area “liability for UGC” is the
question whether the website provider infringes third party
rights in case of embedding infringing content on his
website by “framing”. Amongst German case law and
literature that question is at issue. The German Supreme
Court decided that framing is not subject to the right of
making works available to the public according to Section
19 a German Copyright Act. However the German
Supreme Court submitted that question at issue to the
European Court of Justice60 due to the construction of the
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain
aspects of copyright and related rights in the information
society. In particular the German Supreme Court wants to
know whether framing is subject to the right of
communication to the public of works and right of making
available to the public other subject-matter according to
Section 3 of the aforementioned directive. The decision of
the European Court of Justice is expected in the course of
2014.
The Bottom Line: You need to have specific Terms and
Conditions in place regarding content uploaded by users.
Those terms and conditions should specify that such
content does not violate any third-party rights, including
moral rights and copyrights, and does not contain any
defamatory, libelous, racial, pornographic content. You
should indicate UGC as such. You should not use UGC for
your own offering or otherwise you might assume liability
for its content. You need to observe the notice and takedown
principle. In case specific illegal content will be
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repeatedly uploaded, you need to take measures to
prevent such continuous infringement, i.e., terminate user
access, or install certain filter software. You must not
automatically assume that you will be protected by safe
harbour defences. Those terms and conditions should not
contain an extensive grant of rights of use regarding the
UGC in your favor and furthermore you should not state
that UGC is checked by you.
Talent Compensation
Commercial or Content?
United States
In traditional television and radio media, the 30-second
spot has reigned supreme as the primary advertising
format for decades. Within that format, in order to help
create compelling TV and radio spots, advertisers have
frequently engaged professional on-camera and voiceover
actors pursuant to the terms contained in industry-wide
union contracts with SAG-AFTRA, as well as musicians
under a contract with the American Federation of
Musicians (“AFM”).61 Those contracts dictate specific
minimum compensation amounts for all performers who
appear in commercials, depending upon the exhibition
pattern of those spots.
Now, with companies rapidly shifting advertising dollars
online, the cookie-cutter paradigms of traditional media
have given way to the limitless possibilities of the Internet,
mobile and wireless platforms and other new media—
including social media, such as Instagram videos, Vine
videos, and Flipagram. While 30-second spots remain one
part of the new media landscape, creative teams have
been unleashed to produce myriad forms of branded
content that straddle traditional lines separating
commercials and entertainment. This has understandably
created confusion and uncertainty amongst advertisers,
agencies, talent and studios, to name only a few of the
major players, with respect to the applicability of the SAGAFTRA
and AFM contracts in these unique online and
wireless venues.
As a threshold matter, it is important to note that the SAGAFTRA
Commercials Contract applies only to Internet/New
Media content that falls with the definition of a commercial.
Commercials are defined as “short advertising messages
intended for showing on the Internet (or New Media) which
would be treated as commercials if broadcast on television
and which are capable of being used on television in the
same form as on the Internet.” Put simply, if the content in
question cannot be transported intact from the Internet to
TV or radio for use as a commercial, then it is not covered
by Commercials Contract and the advertiser is not
obligated to compensate performers in accordance
therewith and can negotiate freely for appropriate terms.
“New Media” is defined as “digital, electronic or any other
type of delivery platform including, but not limited to,
commercials delivered to mobile phones and other digital
and electronic media. The term New Media is intended to
be all inclusive of digital, electronic or any other type of
delivery platform whether no known or unknown.”
Increasingly, the lines between television, Internet and New
Media are blurred, as consumers access traditional TV
programming on computers, tablets and smartphones.
What remains clear, however, is that branded
entertainment content and other forms of promotion that
don’t walk and talk like a commercial will not fall within the
coverage of the union contracts.
Made Fors and Move Overs
If the content in question does fall within the definition of a
commercial, the advertiser must determine whether the
content constitutes an original commercial designed for
Internet/New Media exhibition (a so-called “Made For”) or
an existing TV or radio commercial transported to the
Internet/New Media (a “Move Over”).
The Commercials Contract provides for minimum levels of
compensation, depending upon the length of use for the
spot for both Made Fors and Move Overs. For eight weeks
or less, performers must be paid 133 percent of the
applicable session fee for a Made For and 150% of the
applicable session fee for a Move Over. For a one-year
cycle, payment equals 350 percent of such fee for a Made
For and 400% for a Move Over.
New Digital Provisions of the Commercials Contract
In 2013, the JPC negotiated groundbreaking improvements
to the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Codes in the area of
Internet and New Media. Specifically, the JPC negotiated
the carveout of four types of commercials from coverage
under the Commercials Codes: usergenerated/
crowdsourced commercial contests, live events
commercials, hidden camera commercials, and man on the
street commercials. With respect to these areas,
producers no longer have to worry whether the content is
or is not a “commercial”. Instead, they are free to produce
the commercial (subject to the terms set forth below)
without paying for the commercial under the SAG-AFTRA
Commercial Codes and without hiring union performers.
User-Generated/Crowd-Sourced Commercial Contests:
Producers may now solicit, accept and display via the
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Internet user-generated/crowd-sourced commercials as
entries to a contest.
a. Such contest entries may be exhibited via the
Internet during the contest period without triggering
any application of the Commercial Codes including,
without limitation, Ad Lib or Creative Session Call
fees for the entry.
b. If a contest-winning commercial is exhibited on any
media platform after the expiration of the contest
period, such commercial will be subject to the rates,
terms and conditions of the Commercial Codes.
c. Non-winning contest entries must be pulled down
from the Internet or New Media upon declaration of
the winner. Should Producer choose not to cease
exhibition of the non-winning entries, such entries will
be subject to the rates, terms and conditions of the
Commercial Codes.
A Producer may film or record activities of persons in public
without covering such persons under the Contract,
provided such persons are neither scripted to speak any
dialogue nor cast for the commercial(s), as follows:
a. Live Events – “Live Events” are events attended by
at least 20 persons who are neither hired nor cast by
Producer to attend the event. An individual(s)
appearing in such footage will not be a Covered
Person(s) for purposes of the Commercial Codes.
However, such Live Events (1) may not be staged for
the purpose of producing a commercial(s); and (2)
non-covered participants at the live event may not
receive individual direction but may be directed as a
group.
b. Man on the Street Commercial – A “Man on the
Street Commercial” means a commercial(s) where
an interviewer interviews people on the street, at
public venues, or at live events and asks them
questions or makes statements or gestures to elicit a
response or reaction from them. An individual(s)
appearing in such footage will not be a Covered
Person(s) for purposes of the Commercial Codes.
The interviewer is a Covered Person for purposes of
the Commercial Codes whether or not they appear or
perform in the commercial(s).
c. Hidden Camera Commercials – A “Hidden Camera
Commercial” means a commercial(s) comprised of
footage captured by a hidden camera(s) without
direction to the individual(s) being filmed. An
individual(s) appearing in such footage will not be a
Covered Person(s) for purposes of the Commercial
Codes. Any person(s) appearing in the capacity of
an interviewer, however, will be a Covered Person
whether or not they appear in the commercial.
As a condition of the waiver, Producer must notify SAGAFTRA
that it has used the waiver and provide SAGAFTRA
with an electronic or physical copy of the
commercial(s) within 60 days of the first exhibition of the
commercial.
If a commercial produced pursuant to this waiver is
subsequently exhibited other than on the Internet or New
Media where such use is otherwise covered by the
Commercial Codes, anyone qualifying as a principal in the
commercial as subsequently exhibited will be a Covered
Person under the Commercial Codes and compensated
accordingly.
The addition of these provisions provides added flexibility
to signatory producers working in digital media.
Unauthorized Use
As noted above, the union contracts that govern the
payment of performers are generally based upon the
exhibition patterns for commercials. But what happens
when we enter a world where advertisers no longer control
where and when commercials appear (e.g., YouTube)? Is
the advertiser obligated to pay the actors under the
Commercials Contract for use of the commercial that was
not authorized by the advertiser? The answer is “no,” but
the person who posted the materials without permission is
liable for invasion of privacy and publicity. Unfortunately,
the pockets of those posters are generally too shallow to
warrant an action by the actor. This was a fertile area for
disagreement between the advertising industry and the
unions. In 2011, however, SAG-AFTRA have confirmed
that there is no requirement in the Commercials Contract
for a signatory to issue a take down notice in response to a
claim of unauthorized Internet use on, e.g., You Tube.
However, if signatories elect to cooperate and send a take
down notice, such cooperation will not be considered by
the union to be evidence of an accepted industry practice
under the Commercials Contract. Further. the sending of a
take down notice in response to a claim of unauthorized
Internet use will not be used precedent. Meaning, if a
signatory sends a take down notice in response to one
specific request from the unions, this does not mean that a
signatory is then obligated to send a take down notice in
response to any or all future requests.
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Current Legal and Regulatory Framework in
Advertising
United States
Depending on the advertising activity, various federal
and/or state laws may apply including, for example,
section 5 of the FTC Act (See Chapter – 2 Commercial
Litigation), the Lanham Act (See Chapter 2 – Commercial
Litigation and Chapter 14 – Trademarks), the DMCA, the
CDA (See Chapter 2 – Commercial Litigation), CAN-SPAM
and state unfair trade practice acts.
Europe
The Directive 2006/114/EC dated 12 December 2006
regulates misleading and comparative advertising; the
Directive 2005/29/EU dated 11 May 2005 regulates unfair
business-to-consumer commercial practices.
In addition, there are numerous self-regulatory regimes and
organisations dealing with advertising regulation. These
national bodies cannot be ignored. On a European level,
the European Advertising Standards Alliance (“EASA”) acts
as the chief self-regulator. EASA is based in Brussels and
is a European voice of the advertising industry. It acts as
the European coordination point for advertising selfregulatory
bodies and systems across Europe.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Social media implications and applications to advertising
and marketing cannot be ignored. While active or passive
participation can enhance and promote brand presence, a
danger of brand damage also always exists, and risks
should be minimized by prudent planning. All companies,
regardless of whether or not they elect to actively
participate in the social media arena, should have policies
in place to determine how to respond to negative
comments made about the company and/or its brands.
Companies that seek to play a more active role should
have policies in place that govern marketing agency and/or
employee interaction with social media, as well as the
screening of UGC. It is critical, however, that companies
not simply adopt someone else’s form. Each social media
policy should be considered carefully and should address
the goals and strategic initiatives of the company, as well
as take into account industry and business-specific
considerations.
Companies operating campaigns in numerous jurisdictions,
even across Europe, cannot take a one-size-fits-all
approach to compliance with advertising laws and
regulation. By its nature, social media has additional pitfalls
for advertisers. A non-compliant or culturally insensitive
message on a social media destination can cause
significant harm to a brand.
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— CHAPTER 2 —
Brand Protection and Reputation Management
Chapter Authors62
United States
Peter D. Raymond, Partner – praymond@reedsmith.com
David A. Scharfstein, Associate – dscharfstein@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom
Emma Lenthall, Partner – elenthall@reedsmith.com
Louise Berg, Senior Associate – lberg@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter explores emerging exposures associated with misleading advertising and defamation in social media.
The ever-growing number of conversations in social media venues creates new opportunities for advertisers to promote their
brand and corporate reputation. These same conversations, however, create new risks. Online disparagement of a corporation
or its products and/or services through social media can spread virally and very quickly, making damage control difficult.
Accordingly, corporations need to be aware of their rights and remedies should they fall prey to harmful speech on the Internet.
An organization also needs to understand how to minimize its own exposure and liability as it leverages social media to enhance
its brand and reputation.
Within the context of social media, the two greatest risks to brand and reputation are, respectively, misleading advertising and
defamation. Within the realm of misleading advertising, companies need to pay attention to new risks associated with the
growing phenomenon of word-of-mouth marketing.
Social Media in Action in Commercial
Litigation
False Advertising and Word-of-Mouth Marketing:
Understanding the Risks
The US position
The presence of social media increases the risk that your
organization will be touched by false advertising claims–
either as a plaintiff or a defendant. First, more
communication means more opportunity for
miscommunication generally and for a misstatement about
your or your competitor’s brand. Compounding this risk is
the fact that social media marketing and sales channels
(including word-of-mouth marketing programs) are now
highly distributed, making enforcement of centralized
communication standards difficult. Finally, social media
frequently operates as a kind of echo chamber: consumers
hear their likes and dislikes repeated back to them,
amplified, and reinforced by those who share similar
feelings.63 In light of all these factors, the growth of social
media is likely to see false advertising claims skyrocket.
Indeed, it is worth noting that a 2008 Federal Judicial
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Center Report concluded that between 2001 and 2007, the
number of consumer protection class actions filed annually
rose by about 156 percent.64
False Advertising Generally
Generally, the tapestry of laws covering false advertising
consists of Section 5 of the FTC Act65 (the “FTC Act”),
Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act,66 the state deceptive
practices acts, and common law unfair competition. All of
these laws target deception of one form or another, but
they differ in their requirements as to who can bring an
action, the burden of proof required, and the available
relief.
Section 5 of the FTC Act prohibits “unfair and or deceptive
acts or practices.”67 Actions under the FTC Act may only
be asserted by the FTC; there is no private right of action
under this Act. According to the FTC Policy Statement on
Deception (1983),68 deception exists if there is a material
representation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead
an otherwise reasonable consumer. Neither intent nor
actual harm is a required element, and the FTC, in making
a determination, is free to draw upon its experience and
judgment rather from actual evidence in the marketplace.69
The FTC will find an advertiser’s failure to disclose facts
actionable under Section 5 if a reasonable consumer is left
with a false or misleading impression from the
advertisement as a whole.70 The advertiser generally bears
the burden of substantiating the advertising claim.71 The
FTC Act permits monetary and injunctive relief.72
Private Rights of Action
The National Advertising Division
Prior to, or in lieu of, an FTC proceeding, parties may find
themselves before the National Advertising Division
(“NAD”), a self-regulatory body that also focuses on
resolving deceptive and misleading advertising. Parties
generally participate in NAD proceedings willingly so as to
avoid potentially more consequential action at the FTC.
Although claims can be brought by consumers or
competitors at the NAD, there is no private right of action at
the FTC or in federal court under the FTC Act. Consumers
seeking to file claims in court for consumer fraud and false
advertising must resort to applicable state deceptive
practices statutes and common law.
Section 43(a) of The Lanham Act
Competitors are also protected against deceptive practices
under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, which provides for
civil actions for injunctive and monetary relief (in state or
federal court) for false or misleading statements made in
commercial advertisements. The Seventh, Ninth and Tenth
Circuit Courts of Appeals have tended to restrict standing
under the Lanham Act to parties who are in direct
competition; the other Circuits have a slightly broader
standing threshold—but relief is not available to
consumers. Under the Lanham Act, it is not necessary to
show actual harm or intent to deceive to obtain an
injunction.73 To obtain damages, however, it is necessary
to show that customers were deceived and that the plaintiff
was harmed. Some courts raise a presumption of harm
where the plaintiff proves the defendant’s intent and bad
faith.
The plaintiff in a Lanham Act action has the burden of
proving that the claim is deceptive.74 The Lanham Act
prohibits false and misleading statements; accordingly, the
mere failure to disclose or omission to state a fact is not
per se actionable. However if the failure to disclose makes
a statement “affirmatively misleading, partially incorrect, or
untrue as a result of failure to disclose a material fact,” then
that statement is actionable.75 In cases of implied
deception, this means the plaintiff will have to introduce
extrinsic consumer survey evidence.
State Court Claims and Class-Action Lawsuits
In addition to FTC, Lanham Act, and NAD claims,
advertisers must be mindful of the threat of claims asserted
under the various state consumer deception laws, and
particularly mindful of the potential for class-action suits
under these statutes. In fact, as a practical matter, a
determination of liability by the FTC, NAD, or a federal
court is often a precursor to a class-action suit, as plaintiffs
(and plaintiffs’ attorneys) utilize the prior finding of liability
to bolster their claims that the allegedly false or misleading
advertisement caused damages to the entire class of
individuals who were exposed to it.76
As noted above, the growth of social media is likely to
result in an increase in enforcement actions and private
civil actions generally in connection with false advertising.
Moreover, as discussed below, the FTC Guides make
bloggers and advertisers using word-of-mouth marketing
particularly vulnerable to deceptive practices and false
advertising claims based on the blogger’s failure to
disclose a material connection to the advertiser.77
“Word of Mouth” Marketing
The Duty to Disclose
Social media has spawned a new advertising industry that
spreads brand messaging in an old-fashioned way: wordof-
mouth. Word-of-mouth marketing involves mobilizing
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users of social media to “spread the word” about the
advertiser’s goods and services. According to the Word of
Mouth Marketing Association, word-of-mouth marketing is
“[g]iving people a reason to talk about your products and
services, and making it easier for that conversation to take
place. It is the art and science of building active, mutually
beneficial consumer-to-consumer and consumer-tomarketer
communications.”78
Word-of-mouth marketing typically refers to endorsement
messaging. Specifically, an endorsement is “an advertising
message” that consumers are likely to believe is a
reflection of the opinions and beliefs of the endorser rather
than the “sponsoring” advertiser.79 When a television ad
depicts “neighbors” talking about the merits of the Toro
lawn mower, we don’t believe that these statements reflect
their personal beliefs; we know that they are actors
speaking for the advertiser. On the other hand, Tiger
Woods touting Nike golf equipment is an endorsement; we
believe that we are listening to his personal views. A thirdparty’s
statement, however, is not an advertisement (and
not an endorsement) unless it is “sponsored.” To determine
whether it is an endorsement, consider whether in
disseminating positive statements about a product or
service, the speaker is: (1) acting solely independently, in
which case there is no endorsement, or (2) acting on behalf
of the advertiser or its agent, such that the speaker’s
statement is an ‘endorsement’ that is part of an overall
marketing campaign?”80
As with all advertising, the bedrock concern of the FTC is
with “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” prohibited under
Section 5 of the FTC Act.81 Deceptive acts or practices,
generally, may include a failure to disclose material facts
relative to a particular advertising claim. Thus, in the
context of an endorsement, the relationship between the
advertiser and the endorser may need to be made
apparent to the consumer in order for the consumer to
properly weigh the endorser’s statement. The FTC Guides
state that advertisers are subject to liability for false or
unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements,
or for failing to disclose material connections between
themselves and their endorsers, and that endorsers also
may be liable for statements made in the course of their
endorsements.82 Section 255.5 of the FTC Guides requires
that where a connection exists between the endorser and
the seller that might materially affect the weight or
credibility of the endorsement, such connection must be
fully disclosed.
The FTC Guides distinguish three features of
endorsements in the context of social media:
(1) dissemination of the advertising message;
(2) advertisers’ lack of control; and (3) material
connections.
First, in traditional print and broadcast media, the
advertiser controlled the messaging. Endorsements were
embedded largely in a message controlled by the
advertiser. This has changed. As the FTC explains
(emphasis added):83
When the Commission adopted the Guides in 1980,
endorsements were disseminated by advertisers—not
by the endorsers themselves—through such
traditional media as television commercials and print
advertisements. With such media, the duty to disclose
material connections between the advertiser and the
endorser naturally fell on the advertiser.
The recent creation of consumer-generated media
means that in many instances, endorsements are now
disseminated by the endorser, rather than by the
sponsoring advertiser. In these contexts, the
Commission believes that the endorser is the party
primarily responsible for disclosing material
connections with the advertiser.
Consistent with this observation, the FTC Guides were
amended to provide that “[e]ndorsers also may be liable for
statements made in the course of their endorsements.”84
Second, advertisers will frequently find themselves in
relationships with apparently remote affiliate marketers,
bloggers and other social media users. However, the
advertiser’s lack of control over these remote social media
users does not relieve the advertiser of responsibility for an
endorser’s failure to disclose material information. “The
Commission recognizes that because the advertiser does
not disseminate the endorsements made using these new
consumer-generated media, it does not have complete
control over the contents of those statements.”85 The
Commission goes on to state, however, that “if the
advertiser initiated the process that led to these
endorsements being made—e.g., by providing products to
well-known bloggers or to endorsers enrolled in word of
mouth marketing programs—it potentially is liable for
misleading statements made by those consumers.”86
Importantly, for advertisers, the determination of liability
hinges on whether the “the advertiser chose to sponsor the
consumer-generated content such that it has established
an endorser sponsor relationship.”87 Again, that
relationship may exist with otherwise remote users. The
FTC points out, however, that “[it], in the exercise of its
prosecutorial discretion, would consider the advertiser’s
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efforts to advise these endorsers of their responsibilities
and to monitor their online behavior in determining what
action, if any, would be warranted.”88 To avoid prosecution,
if not liability, advertisers should heed the Commission’s
admonition:89
[A]dvertisers who sponsor these endorsers (either by
providing free products—directly or through a
middleman—or otherwise) in order to generate
positive word of mouth and spur sales should
establish procedures to advise endorsers that they
should make the necessary disclosures and to monitor
the conduct of those endorsers.
Finally, the FTC Guides indicate that social media
endorsers may have a heightened duty to disclose material
connections to the advertiser. “[A]cknowledg[ing] that
bloggers may be subject to different disclosure
requirements than reviewers in traditional media,” the FTC
states:90
The development of these new media has, however,
highlighted the need for additional revisions to Section
255.5, to clarify that one factor in determining whether
the connection between an advertiser and its
endorsers should be disclosed is the type of vehicle
being used to disseminate that endorsement—
specifically, whether or not the nature of that medium
is such that consumers are likely to recognize the
statement as an advertisement (that is, as sponsored
speech). Thus, although disclosure of compensation
may not be required when a celebrity or expert
appears in a conventional television advertisement,
endorsements by these individuals in other media
might warrant such disclosure.
. . .
The Commission recognises that, as a practical
matter, if a consumer’s review of a product
disseminated via one of these new forms of
consumer-generated media qualifies as an
“endorsement” under the construct articulated above,
that consumer will likely also be deemed to have
material connections with the sponsoring advertiser
that should be disclosed. That outcome is simply a
function of the fact that if the relationship between the
advertiser and the speaker is such that the speaker’s
statement, viewed objectively, can be considered
“sponsored,” there inevitably exists a relationship that
should be disclosed, and would not otherwise be
apparent, because the endorsement is not contained
in a traditional ad bearing the name of the advertiser.
Word of Mouth Marketing: Summary
The FTC’s message is thus clear: (1) bloggers and other
social media users are viewed as primary disseminators of
advertisements; (2) endorsers in social media, along with
the sponsoring advertisers, are subject to liability for failing
to make material disclosures relating to the endorsement
relationship (e.g., gifts, employment and/or other
connections and circumstances); (3) the FTC appears to
take the position that there is a higher threshold of
disclosure in social media than traditional media, and that
the endorsement relationship itself is likely to trigger the
obligation to disclose; (4) advertisers need to take
reasonable steps to assure that material disclosures are in
fact made; (5) advertisers cannot rely on the “remoteness”
of the social media endorsers or on the advertiser’s lack of
control over them to escape liability; (6) advertisers are
technically liable for a remote endorser’s failure to disclose;
(7) an advertiser’s ability to avoid discretionary regulatory
enforcement due to the endorser’s failure to disclose will be
a function of the quality of the advertiser’s policies,
practices and policing efforts. A written policy addressing
these issues is the best protection.
Recent Developments in Social Media Advertising Law
In March, 2013, the FTC released a revised version of its
so-called “.com Disclosures,” which provides “information
that businesses should consider as they develop ads for
online media….”91 and was last published in 2000. The
Disclosures reaffirm the FTC’s position that consumer
protection laws apply equally to all commercial activities
regardless of the medium on which they appear, including
on mobile and other space-constrained platforms like
Twitter. Therefore, advertisements, endorsements, and
other promotional communications that would be
accompanied by disclosures in traditional media must be
accompanied by equivalent disclosures in spaceconstrained
media, and “if a particular platform does not
provide an opportunity to make clear and conspicuous
disclosures, then that platform should not be used to
disseminate advertisements that require disclosures.”92 In
one of the examples provided in the Disclosures, the FTC
suggests that placing the text “Ad:” before an endorsed
tweet promoting a weight-loss product may sufficiently
disclose the promotional nature of the tweet, and placing
the text “Typical loss: 1lb/wk” may sufficiently disclose that
the results described in the tweet (“30lbs in 6 wks”) were
not typical.93
As advertisers continue to integrate their promotional
messages into social media, the issues discussed in the
.com Disclosures are likely to be the subject of a great deal
of litigation. In fact, in August, 2013, the actress Octavia
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Spencer filed suit against the manufacturer of a weight-loss
product named Sensa, after Sensa allegedly terminated
her promotional contract because she insisted upon
placing the hashtag “#spon” after her sponsored tweets.94
As of the time of this writing, the case is currently pending
before the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Another emerging trend associated with the advent of
social media is that false endorsement cases – which arise
under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act and have
traditionally involved claims that a celebrity or other famous
person’s name or likeness has been used improperly to
promote particular goods or services – are increasingly
being filed by non-celebrity plaintiffs.95
In Doe v. Friendfinder Network, Inc., for example, the
defendant operated a network of web communities where
members could meet each other through online personal
advertisements. Someone other than the plaintiff created a
profile – “petra03755” – in one of defendant’s communities
that contained nude photographs of the plaintiff and
representations that she engaged in a promiscuous
lifestyle. Biographical data, according to the plaintiff,
caused the public to identify her as “petra03755” to the
community. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant did
nothing to verify the accuracy of the information posted,
caused portions of the profile to appear as “teasers” on
Internet search engine results (when users entered search
terms matching information in the profile, including the true
biographical information about the plaintiff,) and
advertisements that in turn directed traffic to defendant’s
site. In denying the motion to dismiss the Lanham Act
claim, the district court stated:
The plaintiff has alleged that the defendants, through
the use of the profile in “teasers” and other
advertisements placed on the Internet, falsely
represented that she was a participant in their on-line
dating services; that these misrepresentations
deceived consumers into registering for the
defendants’ services in the hope of interacting with the
plaintiff; and that she suffered injury to her reputation
as a result….
For purposes of this motion, then, the court rules that
the plaintiff’s claim for false designation under
15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A) does not fail simply
because she is not a “celebrity.”
The UK position
While there is at present no specific legislation aimed at
social media, there is a plethora of legislation and selfregulation
that impacts on almost all activities connected to
blogging, social networking or undertaking new forms of
promotions on line. Some of the most important legal
controls are:
The Advertising Standards Authority and the ‘CAP’
Code
The Advertising Standards Authority is an independent
body which regulates all forms of advertising, sales
promotion and direct marketing in the UK. Different
regimes apply to broadcast and non-broadcast advertising.
Online advertisements are covered by the self-regulatory
‘non-broadcast’ Code of Advertising Practice (CAP Code).
96. While this Code only applies at present to
advertisements in ‘paid for’ space, advertisers’ own
marketing communications on their own websites and in
other non-paid-for space online under their control, such as
their Facebook page or YouTube channel, this may change
in the future. There is political pressure to extend the remit
of the ASA and the CAP Code to all promotional messages
on the Internet.
The ASA will not regulate any advertisements published in
foreign media or which originate from outside the UK.
However, the ASA does operate a cross-border complaints
system in conjunction with ‘EASA’, the European
Advertising Standards Alliance.
The CAP Code sets out a number of key principles to
protect consumers against false or misleading advertising
and other harmful advertising practices. For example, it
states that advertising should be legal, decent, honest and
truthful, and should not mislead by inaccuracy, ambiguity,
exaggeration or otherwise), should not cause offence and
should not contain misleading comparisons. It also
contains specific rules relating to particular types of
advertisement and products.
The UK non-broadcast advertising industry is selfregulating
and therefore compliance with the CAP Code is
voluntary. However, sanctions for breaching the Code can
include the following.
Refusal of further advertising space: The ASA can ask
sellers of ad space in all media to refuse to carry an
ad
Adverse publicity: ASA adjudications are published
weekly and can be widely reported by the media
Withdrawal of certain trading privileges (e.g.,
discounts for direct mail advertisers)
Enforced pre-publication vetting for repeat offenders
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Ineligibility for industry awards for repeat offenders
Legal proceedings: In the case of misleading ads or
ads which contain unfair comparisons, the ASA can
refer the matter to the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”).
The OFT can seek undertakings or an injunction
through the courts or issue an Enforcement Order
under the Enterprise Act 2002 (although it should be
noted that current planned reforms to consumer rights
legislation will abolish the OFT in April 2014 and
merge its enforcement functions into Trading
Standards).
Advertisers also need to be aware that more powerful
sanctions are in the pipeline and that, practically speaking,
the risk of damage to the brand by an adverse adjudication
is a real deterrent to most reputable advertisers and brand
owners.
It should be noted that the ASA does not automatically
intend to stamp out anything which pushes the boundaries.
The Codes are often subject to interpretation and the ASA
often surprises the industry with its decisions. As an
example, the UK Home Office displayed posters on the
side of vans driven through London, featuring a close-up
image of someone holding a pair of handcuffs and wearing
a uniform with a badge which stated "Home Office". The
text stated "In the UK illegally?" and "106 ARRESTS LAST
WEEK IN YOUR AREA*". Underneath, text stated "GO
HOME OR FACE ARREST Text HOME to XXXXX for free
advice, and help with travel documents". Complainants
challenged whether the phrase "GO HOME", was offensive
and distressing, because it was reminiscent of slogans
used by racist groups to attack immigrants in the past. The
ASA stated that it considered that, in context, the claim
would be interpreted as a message regarding the
immigration status of those in the country illegally, which
was not related to their race or ethnicity. The ASA
recognized that some aspects of the poster were likely to
be distasteful to some in the context of an ad addressed to
illegal immigrants but concluded that the poster was
unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence or distress
and it was clearly addressed to illegal immigrants rather
than to non-naturalized immigrants who were in the UK
legally or to UK citizens. Those parts of the investigation
relating to causing serious or widespread offence were not
upheld. Likewise, advertisements for various charities have
been very hard-hitting and have caused distress resulting
in high numbers of complaints from the public, yet the ASA
has chosen not to uphold these complaints. Perhaps the
ASA believes that some issues are so important that it
gives an extra degree of latitude. For example, a harrowing
advertisement for the children’s charity Barnardo’s a few
years ago, received almost 500 complaints from the British
public, yet the ASA said that the imagery was justified
because the purpose of the ad was to raise awareness of
the impact of domestic child abuse. However, the ASA has
recently indicated that its approach to shock-inducing
charity advertising may not be as lenient in the future. In
2013, it published a report asking “Are we being too
charitable?”97 and launched an investigation into the issue.
We will see the results of this investigation, and potentially
some guidance on the issue, during the course of 2014.
False Endorsements
Advertisers who place ‘paid for’ ads containing
endorsements should be aware that, according to the CAP
Code, they should obtain written permission before
referring to/portraying members of the public or their
identifiable possessions, referring to people with a public
profile or implying any personal approval of the advertised
products. They should also hold signed and dated proof
(including a contact address) for any testimonial they use.
Unless they are genuine opinions from a published source,
testimonials should be used only with the written
permission of those giving them. As always, the
endorsement must be true and in no way misleading.
Advertisers should take particular care when falsely
representing that a celebrity has endorsed their products or
services as they could be vulnerable to a claim for passing
off (regardless of whether the endorsement appears in
paid-for space). Unlike most other jurisdictions, it is
possible under English law to use dead and living
celebrities without consent, provided there is no implied
endorsement or a breach of any trade mark. The danger
with the Internet, however, is that material may be
accessible in jurisdictions outside the UK and therefore
using the image of celebrities without permission in the
online environment carries a greater degree of risk than on
more traditional media.
Passing Off
Passing off is a cause of action under English common
law. It occurs where consumers are misled by someone
who is making use of another person’s reputation, and can
take two forms:
direct passing off, where an individual falsely states
that his goods or services are those of someone else
(for example, if someone were to set up a fake
YouTube site);
indirect passing off, where someone is promoting or
presenting a product or service as impliedly
associated with, or approved by someone else when
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that is not the case (for example, where an advertiser
produces a fake viral which appears to show a
celebrity using their product. Liability could result even
if lookalikes or soundalikes are used).
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations
2008
False advertising and word-of mouth marketing on social
media could also fall foul of the Consumer Protection from
Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (which implement the EU
Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in the UK). The
regulations include a general prohibition on unfair business
to consumer commercial practices which is so wide that its
application could extend to a variety of commercial
practices on social media. The regulations also legislate
against misleading actions/omissions and aggressive
commercial practices, and set out prohibitions on 31
specific practices that will be deemed unfair in any
circumstances. Several of these could be relevant to
commercial activity on social media. As an example,
prohibition 11 prevents traders from using editorial content
and other forms of “native advertising” in the media to
promote their products or services without making it clear
that the promotion has been paid for. The prohibitions
apply to any ‘trader’, i.e., a natural or legal person acting in
the course of his trade, business, craft or profession.
Contravention can lead to criminal penalties. This does not
bode well for so-called ‘street teams’ as used by some
brands to promote products. Street teams are often young
people who are employed on a part-time basis to eulogise
about a particular brand or product on social media
platforms. Often difficult to spot, street teams can be
hugely effective at driving brand equity because consumers
do not realise that they are being targeted – instead, they
believe that they are truly on the receiving end of genuine
word-of-mouth recommendations. The regulations should
also be adhered to by advertisers using celebrity
endorsements on social media, where it isn’t clear that the
celebrity is being paid to advertise the relevant
products/services. As we will discuss later in this White
Paper, the ASA has recently suggested the use of key
words and hash-tags to indicate beyond a shadow of a
doubt such paid-for endorsement activities.
Advertisers may also find useful the Word of Mouth
Association UK Code of Ethics useful see
http://womuk.net/ethics/. The Word of Mouth Marketing
Association (“WOMMA”) and WOM UK are the official trade
associations that represent the interests of the word of
mouth and social media industry. The Code sets standards
of conduct required for members that include sensible
guidelines on the disclosure of commercial interests behind
on line commercial activities and social network sites.
The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing
Regulations 2008
The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing
Regulations 2008 prohibit misleading advertising and set
out rules for comparative advertising. Advertising is defined
as ‘any form of representation which is made in connection
with a trade, business, craft or profession in order to
promote the supply or transfer of a product’. This broad
definition could clearly cover false advertising and word-of–
mouth marketing (as well as other content) on social
media. A trader who falls foul of the regulations can be
punished by a fine (or imprisonment for engaging in
misleading advertising). A trader is defined as any person
who is acting for purposes relating to his trade, craft,
business or profession and anyone acting on their behalf.
There is a defence for the ‘innocent’ publication of
advertisements.
Social networking: a new form of advertising
regulation?
The most effective means of controlling advertiser activity
in the modern world is the ability for consumers to voice
their discontent.
Sometimes social networking sites may enable consumers
to send a message to advertisers where the regulator can’t.
In January 2010, more than a thousand people joined a
Facebook campaign to ban UK billboard advertising a
website for those looking for “extramarital relations". The
ASA had rejected a complaint about the billboard on the
grounds that the ad would not cause "serious or
widespread offence" and said that its remit was to examine
the ad in isolation, rather than the product it was promoting,
which is a legally available service. At the time of writing,
the group had over 2,700 members
Equally the damage that can occur when a brand
misleads the public can much more easily be
broadcast to a wider audience via social networking
and blogging sites.
Defamation and Harmful Speech: Managing
Corporate Reputations
The U.S. position
In addition to confronting issues involving online brand
management generally and word–of-mouth advertising
specifically, corporations face similar challenges in
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protecting reputation, including risks associated with
disparagement and defamation.
The architectures of the Internet and social media make it
possible to reach an unlimited audience with a flip of the
switch and a push of the send button—and at virtually no
cost. There are few barriers to people speaking their mind
and saying what they want. Furthermore, because of the
anonymity social media allows, users are increasingly
choosing to express themselves with unrestrained, hateful,
and defamatory speech. Words can hurt. Defamation can
destroy reputations. For individuals, false postings can be
extraordinarily painful and embarrassing. For corporations,
who are increasingly finding themselves victims of
defamatory speech, a false statement can mean loss of
shareholder confidence, loss of competitive advantage,
and diversion of resources to solve the problem. While the
traditional laws may have provided remedies, the
challenges to recovering for these actions that occur over
social media are enormous because the operators of the
media that facilitate defamatory postings are frequently
immune from liability. (Of course, if a corporation is the
operator of a blog or other social media, there will be some
comfort in the “immunities” offered to operators of these
media.) The immunity under the applicable federal law, the
Communications Decency Act (the “CDA”), and some other
key issues associated with online defamation are
discussed below.
Defamation Generally
Although the law may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
to make a case for defamation, a plaintiff must generally
prove: “(a) a false and defamatory statement concerning
another; (b) an unprivileged publication to a third party;
(c) fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the
publisher; and (d) either actionability of the statement
irrespective of special harm or the existence of special
harm caused by the publication.”98 Defamation cases are
challenging to litigate. It should be noted that in the United
States, the First Amendment sharply restricts the breadth
of the claim. Defamation cases frequently carry heightened
pleading requirements and a shortened statute of
limitations. If the victim is an individual and a public figure,
he or she will have to prove malice on the part of the
defendant to make a successful case. Finally, statements
of opinion are generally not held to be defamatory, but the
lines between opinion and fact are often very difficult to
delineate.
Anonymous Speech
Online defamation presents added complications. Online,
and in social media specifically, the source of the harmful
communication is frequently anonymous. At the first line of
attack, piercing the anonymity of the speaker can be
challenging because of heightened standards under First
Amendment and privacy laws. A plaintiff victim will often file
his case against a Jane or John “Doe” defendant and seek
to discover the identity of the defendant right after filing.
The problem with this approach is that many courts require
plaintiffs to meet heightened pleading and evidentiary
standards before obtaining the identity of the defendant
and, if plaintiffs cannot meet the heightened pleading
standard to obtain the identity of the defendant, they will be
unable to pursue their cases. In one leading case, a New
Jersey Appellate Court established a test that requires
plaintiff “to produce sufficient evidence supporting each
element of its cause of action on a prima facie basis,”
before the court would “balance the defendant’s First
Amendment right to anonymous speech against the
strength of the prima facie case presented and the
necessity for the disclosure.”99
Special Challenges: Service Provider Immunity
As noted above, the challenges to the corporate victim are
compounded by the fact that its remedies against the
carrier or host (the website, blog, search engine, social
media site) are limited. The flipside, of course, is that
corporations may have less exposure in operating these
kinds of sites—at least for content that they don’t develop
or create. (See Chapter 1 – Advertising). A blogger will be
liable for the content that he creates, but not necessarily for
the content that others (if allowed) post on his blog site.
Early case law held that if a site operator takes overt steps
to monitor and control its site and otherwise self-regulate, it
might be strictly liable as a publisher for a third party’s
defamation even if the operator had no knowledge of the
alleged defamatory content. Arguably, this encouraged site
operators not to monitor and self-regulate.100 Other early
case law also held that if the operator knew about the
defamation, it would be liable if it did not do something to
stop the conduct.101 These holdings arguably created an
incentive to take down any potentially dangerous
information to avoid liability—and thus, according to some,
threatened to chill speech and dilute a robust exchange of
ideas.
This early case law was superseded in 1996 by the
CDA.102 Section 230(c) of the CDA provides that: “[n]o
provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be
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treated as the publisher or speaker of any information
provided by another information content provider.”103 The
term “information content provider” means “any person or
entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the
creation or development of information provided through
the Internet or any other interactive computer service.”104
Under Section 230(c), the operator, so long as not
participating in the creation or development of the content,
will be “immune” from a defamation claim under the statute.
The CDA makes it challenging to attach liability to a
website, blog, social media platform or other electronic
venue hosting offensive communication. Under U.S. law,
these service providers have a virtual immunity from claims
arising from content posed to their website unless they
participate in the creation or development of that content.
Cases involving social media make the breadth of the
immunity painfully clear. In Doe v. MySpace, Inc.,105 a teen
was the victim of a sexual predator as a result of conduct
occurring on MySpace. The teen’s adult “next of friend”
sued MySpace for not having protective processes in place
to keep young people off the social media site. In effect,
the suit was not for harmful speech, but for negligence in
the operation of MySpace.106 The Texas District Court
rejected the claim, and in doing so highlighted the potential
breadth of the “immunity”:107
The Court, however, finds this artful pleading [i.e., as
a “negligence” claim] to be disingenuous. It is quite
obvious the underlying basis of Plaintiffs’ claims is
that, through postings on MySpace, Pete Solis and
Julie Doe met and exchanged personal information
which eventually led to an in-person meeting and the
sexual assault of Julie Doe…. [T]he Court views
Plaintiffs’ claims as directed toward MySpace in its
publishing, editorial, and/or screening capacities.
Therefore, in accordance with the cases cited above,
Defendants are entitled to immunity under the CDA,
and the Court dismisses Plaintiffs’ negligence and
gross negligence claims….
Recent case law has confirmed the CDA’s broad grant of
immunity to republishers of interactive content. The Ninth
and Tenth Circuits, for instance, recently affirmed the
dismissal of actions against Google stemming from
allegedly “discriminatory” search results and allegedly
defamatory user reviews, respectively, based upon
Google’s immunity from liability for third-party content
under the CDA.108
Nevertheless, Plaintiffs continue to reach for creative
attacks on Section 230. In Finkel v. Facebook, Inc., et
al.,109 the victim of alleged defamatory statements claimed
that Facebook’s ownership of the copyright in the postings
barred its right to assert a Section 230 defense. The
plaintiff urged, in effect, that the defendant could not claim
ownership of the content and simultaneously disclaim
participation in the “creation and development” of that
same content. Rejecting this argument, the New York trial
court stated that “‘[o]wnership’ of content plays no role in
the Act’s statutory scheme.”110 Furthermore, the court
reiterated Congressional policy behind the CDA “by
providing immunity even where the interactive service
provider has an active, even aggressive role in making
available content prepared by others.”111 The Finkle
decision is important Because many sites assume
ownership of content through their terms of use, and a
contrary ruling would materially restrict application of the
CDA in those cases.
Some courts have explored plaintiffs’ assertions of service
provider “culpable assistance” as a way of defeating the
provider’s CDA defense. In Universal Comm’n Sys., Inc. v.
Lycos, Inc.,112 the plaintiff argued that the operator’s
immunity was defeated by the construction and operation
of a website that allowed the poster to make the
defamatory posting. The First Circuit rejected the argument
for a “culpable assistance” exception to the CDA under the
facts as presented, but left open the possibility of such an
exception where there was “a clear expression or other
affirmative steps taken to foster unlawful activity.”113
In Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v.
Roommates.com, LLC,114 the Ninth Circuit held that the
CDA did not provide immunity to Roommates.com for
questions in an online form that encouraged illegal content.
Roommates.com’s services allowed people to find and
select roommates for shared living arrangements. The
forms asked people questions relating to their gender and
sexual orientation. Although Roommates.com clearly did
not provide the content in the answers, the Ninth Circuit
held that it was not entitled to immunity. The majority ruled
that Roommates.com was not immune for the
questionnaire itself or for the assembling of the answers
into subscriber profiles and related search results using the
profile preferences as “tags.” The court noted that the
questions relating to sexual preferences posted by
Roommates.com were inherently illegal and also caused
subscribers to post illegal content themselves by answering
the questions.115 In a case that evoked a sharp dissent
and defense of a strong immunity, the clear take-away from
the Roommates.com decision is a view that the immunity is
far from absolute.116
The New York Court of Appeals, however, recently rejected
a plaintiff’s contention that the CDA should not apply to a
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real estate blog that allegedly “implicitly encouraged users
to post negative comments.”117 In fact, the Court held that
“[c]reating an open forum for third parties to post content—
including negative commentary—is at the core of what [the
CDA] protects.”
Ultimately, companies that operate their own blogs or other
social media platforms, such as a Twitter page can
generally avoid liability for speech torts on their sites if they
stick to traditional editorial functions—and do not allow
those activities to expand into any conduct that could be
interpreted as creation and development of the offensive
conduct.118 Although exercising editorial control is not
penalized, the question confronting the courts is the point
at which a company goes beyond editing or beyond
providing a forum, and into the realm of creation and
development.119 Entities that operate social media sites
therefore need to be especially careful not to allow their
“editing” to turn into content creation or embellishment.
CDA Immunity: Scope of the IP Exception
One important issue dividing the courts is the scope of the
immunity as it relates to intellectual property. Specifically,
although the CDA confers a broad protection on service
providers, it also provides that it “shall [not] be construed to
limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual
property.”120 In other words, a blog operator, for example,
cannot assert a CDA defense to claims that, although
involving speech, are rooted in harm to the victim’s
intellectual property. If the victim asserts, as against the
operator a claim for copyright infringement based on a
blogger’s uploading of protected material on to the blog
(clearly involving “speech”), the operator has no CDA
defense. The victim and the operator will have to resolve
their claims under the copyright law, and particularly the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Likewise, if the victim
asserts a claim under Section 1114 of the Lanham Act that
its federally registered trademark is being wrongfully used
on the blog, the operator arguably cannot rely on the CDA
as a shield against liability.121
The courts differ over the scope of the intellectual property
exception to immunity, and specifically over the definition of
intellectual property for purposes of the statute. In
Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill, LLC,122 the court opted for a
narrow reading of “intellectual property” and hence a
broader scope for the immunity. Specifically, the Ninth
Circuit “construe[d] the term ‘intellectual property’ to mean
‘federal intellectual property.’”123 Accordingly, without
determining whether the state law claims truly involved
“intellectual property,” the Ninth Circuit held that the
intellectual property exception does not, as a threshold
matter, apply to state law claims, and therefore affirmed
dismissal of various state law claims on CDA grounds.
On the other hand, some courts have opted for a broader
reading of “intellectual property” that would have the
exception cover relevant state law. For example, the court
in Doe v. Friendfinder Network, Inc. determined that
intellectual property under the CDA exception
encompasses applicable state law and, on that ground,
refused to dismiss the plaintiff’s right of publicity claim
against the website operator.124
Reporter’s Privilege
Application of existing rules to new technologies can raise
yet more hurdles in speech cases. For example, suppose
false or confidential information about your company
appears on a blog. As part of damage control efforts, you
may want to find the source of the information–or compel
the blog to disclose the source. This leads to an interesting
question–to what extent are blogs actually “newspapers.”
The question is one that courts have been forced to
consider, because newspapers traditionally have a
“reporter’s privilege” that allows them to resist revealing
their sources. For example, in 2004, Apple faced such an
issue with respect to someone who allegedly leaked
information about new Apple products to several online
news sites. Apple sought the identity of the site’s sources
and subpoenaed the email service provider for PowerPage,
one of the sites, for email messages that might have
identified the confidential source. In 2006, a California
Court of Appeals provided protection from the discovery of
sources by the constitutional privilege against compulsory
disclosure of confidential sources.125
Although some courts have distinguished between the
constitutional protections afforded to so-called “traditional”
media and their non-traditional counterparts (e.g.,
bloggers),126 the distinction has rapidly evaporated in
recent years. In Citizens United v. Fed. Election
Comm'n,127 the Supreme Court noted that it has
“consistently rejected the proposition that the institutional
press has any constitutional privilege beyond that of other
speakers” and further observed that, “[w]ith the advent of
the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media . .
. the line between the media and others who wish to
comment on political and social issues becomes far more
blurred.” Most recently, in Obsidian Fin. Group, LLC v.
Cox,128 the Ninth Circuit, in the context of a defamation suit
against a blogger, rejected the notion that “traditional” or
“institutional” members of the press were entitled to a
greater degree of protection under the First Amendment
than their non-traditional counterparts: “The protections of
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the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant
was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional
news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure,
went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get
both sides of the story.” The obvious import of this recent
case law is that bloggers, in additional to the “traditional”
press, are entitled to the “reporter’s privilege” and need not
disclose their confidential sources.
Ratings Sites
Social media has given rise to a proliferation of ratings
sites. Many businesses are beginning to feel the effects of
online negative reviews. The ratings sites themselves,
however, need to tread carefully because negatively
affected businesses are jumping at the chance to shift their
losses back to the ratings site.
Traditionally, ratings sites have two primary defenses.
First, to the extent that the site operator itself rates
products, services, or businesses, the site operator’s
system and/or list may be protected under the First
Amendment as its “opinion.” Second to the extent that the
site is carrying the ratings of third parties, the ratings site
operator is protected under Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act for the tortious speech of the
third parties who post their ratings on the site (e.g.,
defamatory ratings).
The cases supporting an opinion defense reach back to
cases challenging securities and credit ratings, such as
Jefferson County Sch. Dist. No. R-1 v. Moody’s Inv.
Services, Inc.129 In Search King Inc. v. Google, Inc. v.
Google Technology, Inc.,130 which relied on Jefferson
County Sch. Dist., Search King allegedly promoted an
advertising business that identified highly ranked sites and
then worked out deals with those sites to sell advertising on
behalf of other companies. Google allegedly disapproved
of Search King’s business model (which capitalized on
Google’s PageRank ranking system) and responded by
moving Search King itself to a lower page rank—causing it
to move off the first page for certain queries. Rejecting
Search King’s claim for interference with business
advantage on the grounds that Google’s PageRank
algorithm is protected opinion, the court found that
manipulating the results of PageRank were not actionable
because there was “no conceivable way to prove that the
relative significance assigned to a given web site is false.”
Cases involving credit and securities ratings continue to be
worth monitoring as relevant precedent for Internet ratings
cases. In one of the cases growing out of the recent subprime
crisis against Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and
other securities ratings agencies, a New York federal court
rejected “the arguments that the Ratings Agencies’ ratings
in this case are nonactionable opinions. ‘An opinion may
still be actionable if the speaker does not genuinely and
reasonably believe it or if it is without basis in fact.’”
Rejecting the argument that Jefferson County Sch. Dist.
mandated a different result, the court noted that even
under that case “‘[i]f such an opinion were shown to have
materially false components, the issuer should not be
shielded from liability by raising the word ‘opinion’ as a
shibboleth.’”
Ratings sites that merely publish the reviews of third
parties appear to enjoy broad immunity under the CDA. In
Levitt v. Yelp! Inc.,131 the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit
alleged that Yelp extorted money from businesses that did
not pay to advertise on its site by removing certain positive
reviews, re-ordering reviews such that negative reviews
appear at the top of the business listing, and even creating
false negative reviews. The court dismissed plaintiffs’
allegations, finding that plaintiffs had raised no more than a
“possibility” that Yelp employees actually created negative
reviews, and that the other two forms of alleged conduct –
removing certain reviews and changing the order of
appearance of certain reviews – “fall[] within the conduct
immunized by [the CDA].”132 Plaintiffs also argued that
Yelp “creates” its aggregate business rating, which appears
as a “star” rating at the top of each business’s page, and
that the aggregate content is therefore not shielded by the
CDA. The court also rejected this theory, finding that the
aggregate rating was “based on user-generated data”
notwithstanding the fact that Yelp vetted its database to
“filter out false reviews.”133
Importantly, the court noted that Plaintiffs “in effect seek to
import an intent-based exception into [the CDA], whereby
the same conduct that would otherwise be immune under
the statute…would no longer be immune when motivated
by an improper reason, such as to pressure businesses to
advertise.”134 Although “sympathetic to the ethical
underpinning of Plaintiffs’ argument,” the court declined to
give it effect, noting that the relevant section of the CDA
contained no such exception, and that an intent-based
exception would not only “prove problematic,” but would
also undermine the statutory purpose of “avoid[ing] the
chilling effect of imposing liability” on providers of thirdparty
content.135
Defamation Law in England
The UK position
Generally speaking the English courts are less vigorous in
their defence of free speech than their American
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counterparts. There is no equivalent to the First
Amendment in England.
Jurisdiction
As a result of the greater protection given to reputation in
comparison with other jurisdictions (such as the United
States), the courts of England and Wales have in recent
years become the forum of choice for some defamation
claimants, regardless of whether there has been significant
circulation in this jurisdiction. However, since the
Defamation Act 2013 came into force on 1 January 2014, a
new test will apply for actions against persons who are not
domiciled in the UK, an EU member state or a Lugano
Convention state. Under section 9 of the Defamation Act
2013, a court will not have jurisdiction unless it is satisfied
that England and Wales is the most appropriate place in
which to bring an action in respect of the statement. The
court will have to look at the extent of publication globally to
work out where it would be most appropriate for the claim
to be heard.
What is defamation?
To prove defamation under English law, the claimant must
show that a statement:
- is defamatory (i.e. it tends to lower the claimant in the
eyes of a right thinking person);
- identifies or refers to the claimant;
- is published by the defendant to a third party.
Under the Defamation Act 2013 there is a requirement for a
claimant to show that the statement caused “serious harm”
to its reputation in order for a statement to be defamatory.
And a profit-making body must show that the statement
has caused or is likely to cause “serious financial loss”. The
way in which the courts will interpret these provisions
remains to be seen but it seems likely that it may make it
more difficult than previously for companies to bring
successful claims in defamation.
Internet-based defamation
A number of claims have been made under English
defamation law in respect of social networking sites. In
October 2012 the New Zealand cricketer, Chris Cairns,
successfully pursued a libel claim against Lalit Modi (a
senior official in Indian cricketing) over Mr Modi’s tweet
alleging that Mr Cairns was guilty of match fixing. The
tweet was originally published to only around 65 people.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld an award of damages
of £90,000 as it recognised that any comments could reach
a wider audience very quickly, particularly when the original
audience was a specialist audience (here, a cricket loving
audience). 136
And many will be familiar with the case brought by Lord
McAlpine against Sally Bercow (the wife of the Speaker of
the House of Commons).137 The proceedings followed a
report which alleged that an unnamed conservative
politician had been involved in the sexual abuse of boys in
care. A number of tweets falsely linked him to the report,
including one from Ms Bercow which stated “Why is Lord
McAlpine trending? *innocent face*”. It was held that
Ms Bercow’s tweet “joined the dots” and wrongly linked
Lord McAlpine to the allegations, even though all she was
doing was repeating information that was already online.
The decision also illustrates how emoticons could be
interpreted to demonstrate the meaning of a message to its
readers.
Republication
Until the introduction of the Defamation Act 2013 there was
no single publication rule in English law. Previously a
claimant had only one year from the date of publication to
bring a claim for defamation but a fresh cause of action
arose each time a statement was published (which meant
that each hit on a website would constitute a fresh
publication and the clock would start to run again). Under
section 8 of the Defamation Act 2013 a cause of action will
accrue on the first publication to the public or a section of
the public and republication in “substantially the same
form” as the first is not actionable. This will be helpful for
those who hold archived content online.
Anonymous speech
A Norwich Pharmacal order is an order which the English
courts may make requiring a third party to disclose
information to a claimant or potential claimant in a legal
action. Where a third party is involved in the wrongful acts
of others (whether innocently or not), they have a duty to
assist the party injured by those acts and so a court will
order them to reveal relevant information.
Norwich Pharmacal orders can be used to require social
networking sites to disclose the identities of site users.
Internet service provider immunity
A defendant must be the publisher of a defamatory
statement in order to be liable for defamation. At common
law the definition of a publisher is very wide and catches
anyone who participates in the publication of a statement.
That led to complaints being made against ISPs who were
often seen as a easier target, as a poster might often be
difficult to identify and not worth pursuing.
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The Defamation Act 2013 provides that a person who was
not the author, editor or publisher of a statement may not
be sued for defamation unless the court is satisfied that it is
not reasonably practicable to bring an action against a
party who has actually published the statement. That is
likely to offer protection to ISPs and hosts of social media
content where it can be shown that they did not publish and
did not have reason to believe that they were contributing
to the publication of a defamatory statement.
It is likely that there will still continue to be some
uncertainty as to whether an ISP (particularly one who
exercises editorial control over statements) may be
regarded as having published statements.
There is a defence pursuant to section 5 of the Defamation
Act 2013 which is available to an operator of a website who
did not post the statement and has acted without malice.
However, the defence is defeated where a claimant can
show that it was not possible to identify the person who
posted the statement (which will be the case where the
claimant has insufficient information to bring proceedings
against them), the claimant gave the operator notice of the
complaint about the statement and the operator failed to
respond in accordance with provisions contained in
regulations.
The Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013
(the Regulations) which also came into effect on 1 January
2014 provide a procedure with which the operator of the
website must have complied in order to benefit from the
section 5 defence.
It is made clear in the new provisions that an operator of
the website will not lose the defence by virtue only of
having moderated the content of the website. However,
exercising editorial control beyond mere “moderation” may
well result in the website operator being unable to rely on
this defence.
It seems likely that there will be litigation over who qualifies
as an “operator of a website” and what is meant by
“posting” a statement, as there are of course many ways in
which a statement can find its way on to a particular site.
The new defence under section 5 is broader than those
that remain available pursuant to regulation 19 of the ECommerce
Regulations and under section 1 of the
Defamation Act 1996. Regulation 19 only protects a party
who has no actual knowledge of illegal activity or
information or knowledge of the facts or circumstances
from which it is apparent that the activity or information is
illegal. An ISP would lose immunity if, on obtaining
knowledge of the illegal activity, it fails to act expeditiously
to remove it or to suspend access to it.
Section 1 of the Defamation Act 1996 provides a similar
defence where a secondary publisher takes reasonable
care in relation to the publication of the statement and did
not know or have reason to believe that what he did
caused or contributed to the publication of a defamatory
statement.
Section 5 will apply even where a website operator
moderates content and/or becomes aware of the
defamatory content by receiving a valid notice of complaint.
However it will be important to comply with the procedure
laid down by the Regulations, which could lead to a
significant administrative burden depending on the number
of complaints received by an operator.
The court has power under Section 13 of the Defamation
Act 2013 to order a website operator (whether or not liable)
to remove or to stop distributing a defamatory statement.
Protection of sources
Like the U.S., the UK has laws which protect journalistic
sources. However, unlike the U.S., protection is not
afforded only to newspapers. The relevant provision
(section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981) states that
‘no court may require a person to disclose, nor is any
person guilty of contempt of court for failing to disclose, the
source of a publication for which he is responsible, unless it
is established to the satisfaction of the court that disclosure
is necessary in the interests of justice or national security,
or for the prevention of disorder or crime”. This wording
clearly extends beyond journalists and could apply to social
media. However, as the public policy reasoning behind the
section may not be there in the case of many publications
on social media, a court may be more ready to find that
disclosure is necessary.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Clients who are victims of speech torts must be prepared to act – but they must use the right tool when the problem arises.
These tools range from a conscious choice to do nothing, responding with a press release; responding on the company’s own
blog, fan page on Facebook and/or Twitter feed; and/or engaging a reputation management company (for example, making use
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of search engine optimisation techniques to reduce visibility of negative comment). The negative publicity associated with
disparaging comments can be greatly exacerbated by “sticky” sites that get high rankings on Google and other search engine
sites causing for example a negative blog to be prominently listed when a customer types your organisation’s name into a search
engine.
Your organisation is well advised to undertake a multi-prong strategy: consider the legal options, but consult with search engine
and reputation management specialists to see if there might be a communications/technical solution. Of course, litigation,
including proceedings to unmask the anonymous speaker, should be considered. But a heavy-handed approach may simply
make a bad situation worse – and at great expense. Litigation – or even a cease-and-desist letter that finds its way to an internet
posting – may give your organisation exactly the kind of publicity it does not want.
Frequently, malicious posters will time their communications to coincide with a key corporate event, such as the company’s
earnings reports, in order to intensify the damage from the comment. The damage can be “done” in literally a matter of hours. A
quick response can make all the difference. Accordingly it is important for companies to understand the risks to brand and
reputation in social media, to have policies in place for managing internal and external communications, and to have contingent
plans for dealing with reputation and brand disparagement, whether as the responsible party or as the victim, before the event
happens – so that the response can be quick and the damage minimal.
Clients who find themselves on the end of a complaint should be prepared to act quickly in order to mitigate any damage done.
And if the relevant websites are accessible in the UK, ISPs and other content hosts should be careful to follow the takedown
procedure laid down by The Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013 in order to benefit from the widest defence
available. Content hosts should also require users to register before they are allowed to post so that they can be contacted if a
notice of complaint is served. If the host has no email address, it must remove the post within 48 hours if it wants to rely on the
Regulations to avoid liability. As a general point, It would be advisable to incorporate provisions in subscriber contracts giving
the ISP or content host the right to remove material in certain circumstances (provided the right to remove is linked to reasonable
and objective criteria). .
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— CHAPTER 3 —
Copyright (EU)
Chapter Authors
Stephen Edwards, Partner – sedwards@reedsmith.com
Dr. Alexander R. Klett, Partner – aklett@reedsmith.com
Introduction
We have referred to copyright in several of the earlier chapters: in relation to advertising and marketing, commercial litigation,
and in the chapter on trademarks, principally with reference to U.S. law and in particular the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(“DMCA”). We thought it would be helpful to pull those threads together and to add specific copyright elements, as well as a
European law perspective, so as to provide an overview on the significance of copyright to social media across the continents.
Copyright is, after all, at the heart of social media. This chapter will highlight some important differences between U.S. and other
countries’ copyright laws that companies engaging with social media must have in mind.
In dealing with the position under U.S. law in previous chapters, we make the following points:
In relation to branded pages, we ask rhetorically whether a company can afford not to monitor its branded page for, among
other things, copyright infringement, even though the provider of the social media service takes responsibility for responding
to takedown notices received pursuant to the DMCA. We explicitly answer that question when discussing user-generated
content, where we suggest that companies should have procedures in place if they receive a notice of copyright
infringement, not least because (unlike the social media operator) they themselves will not likely have a defence under the
DMCA to an infringement claim if they use an infringing work in a commercial context.
In discussing defamation risks and the immunity offered by the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”) in the United
States, we noted that a blog operator (but effectively any company using social media) cannot assert a CDA defence to
claims that are rooted in harm to the victim’s intellectual property. In consequence, if the victim asserts, as against the
operator, a claim for copyright infringement based on the blogger’s uploading of protected material onto the blog, the
operator has no CDA defence, and the claim must be resolved under copyright law and in particular the DMCA.
At the end of the discussion in chapter 12 [10] of the relationship between social media and trademark protection, we
advise that “it is of the utmost importance to have strategies in place in order to best protect your ownership of intellectual
property. By aggressively policing your trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights, intellectual property owners
will be in the best position to prevent a claim that they have waived their ability to enforce their ownership rights, while at the
same time discouraging others from any unauthorised use of such marks and works of authorship.”
If we look at these issues from a European perspective, the same concepts hold good, although it is not the DMCA that governs
but rather the E-Commerce Directive138, as applied by national law in the Member States of the European Union and the
European Economic Area. As in the United States, as a general matter, the operator of a social media service is given protection
against copyright infringement claims if it operates an effective notice and takedown procedure but, as in the United States, this
protection available to the operator may not be available to a company that provides a branded marketing page on which users
are able to upload infringing content. Some European courts, such as the German Federal Court of Justice, consistently take the
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view that while in line with the E-Commerce Directive139 constant proactive monitoring of sites cannot be expected, an operator
has an obligation to prevent subsequent evident infringements by the same infringer.140 Only in exceptional cases, according to
this case law, can an operator be sued to obtain injunctive relief as a precautionary measure if infringements of intellectual
property rights on the site of the operator are feared.141 In general, European courts agree that an obligation to monitor and
review content will only exist for operators of services such as social media services with respect to significant, evident
infringements.142 Companies should therefore have procedures in place to ensure that any evidently infringing material or
infringing material they are made aware of by right holders can be removed as swiftly as possible.
Copyright Infringements on Social Media
Services
The question of whether the use of third-party content
protected by copyright by a user on a social media site
constitutes copyright infringement can be answered in a
fairly straightforward way. If there is no consent by the right
holder, such use will inevitably constitute an illegal act of
making the work available to the public under most modern
copyright regimes. Most operators of social media services
provide in their terms of use that the user is responsible for
making sure that material provided by him on the service
does not infringe third-party copyrights. As has been
discussed above, the interesting question then becomes
whether the operator of the service can be held liable and
can be asked to stop the infringement quickly, particularly
in situations in which the identity of the infringer (the user)
is difficult to establish or the infringer is located in a
faraway country.
Conversely, however, one can ask whether content
legitimately created by users of social media services
enjoys copyright protection itself. If this is indeed the case
one may wonder to what extent the operator of the service
or other third parties may be allowed to refer to, cite or
otherwise make use of such content.
With respect to tweets, which by definition can be no longer
than 140 characters, one may doubt whether they will be
sufficiently creative and original to enjoy copyright
protection. In many cases, tweets will only consist of short
regular phrases that may not be regarded as an original
work of authorship in the U.S. sense,143 an original work in
the UK sense144, or a personal intellectual creation as
required under German copyright law.145 Consequently, in
many cases, none of the three regimes will provide
copyright protection to tweets.
To the extent Twitter states in its terms of use:
You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post
or display on or through the Services.
this should actually be qualified by indicating that in most
cases, tweets will be in the public domain for lack of
originality or creativeness. It is not impossible, however, to
create short poems or other brief literary works with no
more than 140 characters. If originality and creativity can
be established, the situation would be different. The
analysis would also be different for longer original works
broken down into sequences of tweets and made available
on Twitter one by one—such as a short story published on
Twitter in small bits of no more than 140 characters each,
provided the single tweet enjoys protection on its own.
If a tweet or parts of a tweet can be found to be protected
by copyright, the use of the respective content by third
parties can constitute copyright infringement if fair use
(United States), fair dealing (UK), or a similar exception
under the respective applicable domestic copyright regime
cannot be established. There is no rule, either, under U.S.
or European copyright regimes requiring that in order to
infringe a literary work, passages of a certain length need
to be copied, provided the sequence used enjoys copyright
protection as such.
As a consequence, so-called retweeting, (i.e., repeating
somebody else's tweet under one's own user name) may
constitute copyright infringement as well, provided the
earlier tweet is sufficiently original and creative to be
protected. Citation exceptions provided146 may not help in
this context as mere repeating of an entire text without
incorporating it into one’s own original work does not
constitute citation.
Facebook, MySpace, et al.
The limitations existing with Twitter with regard to the
number of characters do not exist on other social media
services such as Facebook and MySpace, among others.
The further possibility to upload photographs and/or
audiovisual content onto such services leaves no doubt as
to the possibility of copyright infringement if third parties
copy or otherwise make relevant use without permission of
materials taken from somebody’s page on Facebook or a
similar site.
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Terms of Use and Applicable Law for
Copyright Law Purposes
Most social media services have terms of use providing for
comprehensive non-exclusive copyright licences granted
by users to the operator. Typically, such terms of use also
provide for U.S. law in the state in which the service is
based. Twitter, for example, provides the following in its
terms of use:
These terms and any action related thereto will be
governed by the laws of the State of California without
regard to or application of its conflict of law provisions
or your state or country of residence. All claims, legal
proceedings, or litigation arising in connection with the
service will be brought solely in San Francisco
County, California, and you consent to the jurisdiction
of and venue in such courts and waive any objection
as to inconvenient forum.
While such terms, if they have been validly made the object
of the agreement between the user and the operator of the
social media service, may apply for general purposes of
international law of contracts, the question needs to be
asked whether for purposes of copyright law such a choice
of law and venue clause will make all foreign copyright
regimes inapplicable.
From a European perspective the answer is clearly: no.
According to European case law (and the view of leading
European scholars), the posting to social media services of
works by users in Europe is governed by the copyright laws
of the particular European country in which the user
resides, regardless of the contractual regime agreed to in
the terms of use. This may be surprising, but it needs to be
taken into account, particularly in connection with copyright
regimes providing for increased protection for copyright
owners, such as under German copyright law.
Moral rights, compulsory remuneration rights, legal
limitations on the scope of copyright licences and the
prohibition of assignments of copyright provided in the
German Copyright Act, for example, will all continue to
apply for the benefit of a German right holder or with
respect to uses in Germany, even if the operator of the
social media service provides for California law.
Companies are well advised, therefore, not to be misled
into believing that simple choice-of-law clauses, even if
they have been validly agreed, will enable them to avoid
the much stricter and much more pro-author provisions in
certain European copyright regimes, compared with what
the U.S. Copyright Act provides.
Music Licensing Issues
In dealing with the copyright issues faced by U.S.
companies engaging with social media in the U.S. market,
we did not mention an issue that looms large for European
and multi-national companies operating within Europe. If a
company wishes to enliven its web-presence by using
music, the rights-clearance arrangements that will be
needed are very different if the company is operating in
Europe rather than in the United States. A U.S. company
can usually clear rights for the U.S. market by means of
obtaining two or, at most, three licences, from the music
rights societies and from the record company concerned.
To reach the whole of the EU market, a multiplicity of
licences may be needed, depending on which music is to
be used. Some music is clearable through a single licence
covering the whole of the EU, but choose the wrong work
and you could be looking at having to obtain 30 or more
licences.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Police your own copyrights and be mindful of
copyright protection that may exist for content
provided by others. Be aware of the fact that the
international nature of global social media services
requires that you not only rely on one domestic or one
contractually agreed regime, but that you also keep an
eye on foreign laws involved with users based abroad.
When clearing rights for using content yourself, be aware
of the international scope of the intended use as well, and
make sure that you truly obtain sufficient geographic rights
for the intended use.
If you operate a site enabling users to upload content, put
in place a procedure allowing you to remove, as swiftly as
possible, evidently infringing material or material of which
you have been told that it is infringing.
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— CHAPTER 4 —
Copyright (U.S.)
Chapter Authors147
United States
Kathyleen A. O’Brien, Partner – kobrien@reedsmith.com
Jennifer M. Westhoff, Associate – jwesthoff@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter explores key challenges which copyright owners face in the ever evolving world of social media.
In the last decade, the use of social media has exploded. For millions, social media is no longer a curiosity. Instead, it is now an
integral part of their daily cultural, political, and social lives. As technology expands and becomes less expensive, more and more
people have access to content online. Not only can they disseminate their own original content through social media, they can
also access and use the content of others. This raises new challenges for copyright owners who seek to protect their valuable
content from infringement and business owners who seek to use the content of others to promote their products and services
through social media.
The following paragraphs discuss your rights with respect to copyrighted content under the following three common scenarios:
(1) use of original content you have posted on a social media site by that site; (2) use of original content you have posted to a
social media site by unauthorized third parties; and (2) your use of original content commenting on your business posted to a
social media site by third parties. In each of these scenarios, your rights with respect to the dissemination of the content differ.
Use of Original Content You Have Posted on a
Social Media Site by That Site
The terms of service for many social media sites like
Twitter148, Facebook149, Instagram150, and YouTube151
give the site a non-exclusive royalty-free license to use the
content you post. On some sites, such as Pinterest, that
license is limited to use on just that site. But on other sites,
such as Facebook, and by extension Instagram152, by
posting any content to your wall, you grant the site broad
rights to use that content, including in advertising which
appears on the site. For this reason, it is important to read
and understand the scope of any license you are granting
to a social media site before posting content there.
Use of Original Content You Have Posted on a
Social Media Site by Unauthorized Third
Parties
Although you may understand and view a social media
site’s use of your content as a quid pro quo for your use of
that site, do you have a different view if another user, or
another website, accesses your copyrighted content and
reposts it for their own purposes? In 2010, a
photojournalist named Daniel Morel was in Haiti when the
earthquake struck. Morel took a now iconic photograph of a
woman peering out of the rubble and posted it to Twitter
using a third-party service called TwitPic. The next day,
Agence France Presse (AFP) and Getty Images picked up
the image and began publishing it with stories about the
earthquake. Morel, who had not authorized the use of his
photograph, sent cease-and-desist letters to both
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companies. AFP responded with a lawsuit claiming
“antagonistic assertion of rights.”153 AFP claimed that
Twitter’s terms of service gave AFP a non-exclusive
license to use, copy and distribute the photograph. In
January of 2013, US District Court Judge Allison Nathan
found that AFP’s unauthorized use of the photograph in
various news stories violated Morel’s copyright. In
November of that same year, a jury found that AFP’s
infringement was willful and awarded Morel $1.2 million,
the highest statutory damages available.154 The Morel
case suggests that although individual social media sites
may use a user’s content for site purposes, third parties
may not mine social media sites for free content.
Unfortunately, at this juncture, the case law on point is very
limited and many questions remain unanswered.
The anonymity of the Internet emboldens users to engage
in conduct that they would never consider otherwise.
When a writer misappropriates a copyrighted work in print
or film, the media backlash can be immediate. But when a
user misappropriates a work on the Internet where pseudonames
and IP addresses can change faster than the latest
Hollywood fashions, how can you protect yourself? If a
third party is using your copyrighted content without your
permission on a major social media site, such as
Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, whether it is edited without
your consent or posted without proper credit, the quickest
recourse is to seek to have the item removed by sending a
takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) to the user and the owner of the social media site.
The DMCA protects copyrighted works by prohibiting
unauthorized digital duplication through the criminalization
of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent
the measures meant to control access to the copyrighted
works.155 To facilitate online service provider (OSP)156
compliance with the DMCA, all OSPs are required to
implement a notice and take down procedure that allows
copyright holders to notify the OSP that it is hosting
infringing content.157 If you find an infringing copy of your
work on a social media site, you can fill out a notice form or
send an email notice to a designated contact person at that
site which contains the following: (1) your name and
contact information; (2) information that identifies the
allegedly infringing work; (3) information that identifies the
work that you are claiming has been infringed; (4) a
statement that the you have a good faith belief that
infringement has occurred; (5) a statement that you are
authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; and
(6) a statement that the information in the notification is
accurate.158 When large, well-established social media
sites like Facebook159, Twitter160, or YouTube161 receive
notice of a potential copyright infringement, they will first
take down the allegedly infringing content and then alert
the poster of that content of the infringement claim. The
poster can either do nothing, in which case the content will
no longer appear on the site, or send a counter-notice to
the social media site which disputes your copyright
infringement claim, in which case the site will notify you
that the poster disputes your claim. If you fail to file a
lawsuit within 10-14 business days of your receipt of the
counter-notice, the social media site can put the work back
up162.
Even is the infringing content is removed, there may be
circumstances in which litigation is the only means
available avenue to obtain the relief you seek, for example,
in circumstances in which you have suffered serious
economic injury or the infringer posts the infringing content
on a multitude of websites at a rate that would require you
to hire a small army to keep up with the necessary take
down notices and you need to obtain an injunction to stop
that conduct. One benefit to a counter-notice is that the
accused infringer must identify himself by providing his true
name and bona fide contact information. This provides you
with an actionable defendant should you decide to pursue
litigation. However, if the accused infringer fails to file a
counter-notice, determining his true identity may prove to
be a real challenge. Unfortunately, a social media site’s
obligation to assist you often begins and ends with the
DMCA notice and take down procedures. If the infringer
fails to file a counter-notice, it is likely to take either a
subpoena or a court order to compel the social media site
to hand over his contact information and aside from his IP
address, they may not have bona fide identification
information to provide to you. A number of courts have
found that an IP address is not enough to satisfy the court’s
pleading standards for an actionable defendant. For
example, in Elf Man, LLC. v. Cariveau, in January of 2014,
a federal judge in Washington State, relying on the
landmark opinions in Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com, Inc.163,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.164,
and Ashcroft v. Iqba,l165 held that an IP address linked to
an individual defendant was not sufficient or specific
enough evidence to create an actionable claim against that
defendant.166 In that case, the judge gave the plaintiffs
more time to gather more specific evidence linking the IP
address owner to the infringement but also voiced his
sincere doubt that such evidence could be found.167 The
problem is that an IP address, particularly one which is
linked to an internet café, public library or some other
public site, does not place a specific individual in the chair
in front of the computer at the time your copyrighted work
was posted. Under these circumstances, having enough
evidence to (1) bring suit against the infringer; and (2)
actually prove infringement can be a daunting task. In a
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world where the only trace of an infringer is his IP address,
you may have little viable recourse against him.
Your Use of User Generated Content
One of the benefits of social media is that it gives you the
ability to collect information about how your customers
perceive your business and the goods or services that you
offer. Social media empowers consumers to heap praise or
air grievances and many businesses can trace success or
failure back to their online reviews. But who owns those
reviews? If a Yelp user reviews your restaurant positively,
can you use their glowing remarks in advertising? If a client
Tweets about the excellent service they received at your
hair salon, can you post that to your Facebook page?
Generally, the review is owned by the author who posts it
and your ability to use it is governed by the terms of use of
the social media site on which the post appears. While you
always should pay close attention to the terms of service of
the specific social media site at issue, there are some
general guidelines that you can follow when you seek to
use such user-generated content (UGC).
Typically, companies seek to use UGC either through
republication on the same social media site, such as a
retweet, or through publication of the comment in a
different way, either in print or at a different online location.
Generally, the reposting of UGC in the same forum in
which it was originally posted, such as retweeting a tweet
or highlighting a Facebook comment, is a lawful practice
which falls within the terms of service to which the original
poster agrees. In contrast, issues arise when a company
seeks to post UGC in a new location, whether it’s a screen
shot posted to the company’s website or a review
republished in print advertising. In most cases, the site’s
terms of service recognize that the author is the owner of
the content. As a result, you should ask the author’s
permission of the author before republishing his UGC
elsewhere. It is important to understand that different
websites have different policies even if you obtain the
author’s permission to use his UGC. For instance,
Facebook prohibits the use of UGC in advertisements even
if the author grants permission,168 while Twitter will allow
such use in most cases as long as the author has granted
permission.169
The safest way to obtain UGC that can be used in
advertising is to directly solicit such content from users.
Any solicitation should be accompanied by a set of rules for
submitting content which protect third party rights. Typical
rules prohibit the submission of content which is not the
original work of the submitting party, including content
which (1) is the subject of any copyright or trademark
owned by a third party; (2) contains the name, image or
likeness of any third party; or (3) is defamatory.
Additionally, your business must follow the Federal Trade
Commission’s Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,170 as well
as all state laws and guidelines.
Looking at the Future: Social Media and Your
Copyrights
Social media is no longer the business of plucky Harvard
undergrads and creative friends. It is a billion dollar
industry in which profits are generated by engaging users
and inundating them with ads and the opportunity to make
purchases. The business of social media has become
adept at monetizing its users. Twitter and Facebook are
now publicly traded -companies; Facebook and Google
have made billion dollar purchases of other social media
sites. So what does this mean for your business? You now
must be more vigilant than ever to protect your original
content. If your company uses InstaGram, that content is
now subject to Facebook’s terms of service. If your
company posts on YouTube, your content is now at the
mercy of Google. Social media sites can change their
terms of service at their whim and can claim license or
ownership over your content. Every copyright holder who
uses social media must remember that it is a business
whose goals may be at odds with your own. As the
business of social media continues to evolve rapidly so
must your company’s strategy to both take advantage of its
benefits and safeguard your own rights.
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— CHAPTER 5 —
Data Privacy & Security
Chapter Authors171
United States
Paul Bond, Partner – pbond@reedsmith.com
Mark S. Melodia, Partner –mmelodia@reedsmith.com
Christine Nielsen Czuprynski, Associate – mcczuprynski@reedsmith.com
Lisa Kim, Associate – mlkim@reedsmith.com
Frederick Lah, Associate – mflah@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom
Cynthia O’Donoghue, Partner – codonoghue@reedsmith.com
Introduction
According to statistics published on Facebook,172 over a billion people use Facebook monthly. That’s one out of every seven
people in the world. Nowadays, most major brands have a presence on at least one of the main social media platforms, whether
it be Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, or Foursquare. The social media market is constantly expanding too, with
newer social media offerings like Vine, Snapchat, and Jelly popping up and gaining popularity.
The benefits of social media are clear -- social media helps companies stay connected and interact with their customers about
new promotions, offerings and products. On the other hand, social media poses unique risks, particularly with respect to data
privacy. The effects of a data breach for a social media company can be particularly harmful because of the high number of
users. And as social media companies continue to find new, innovative ways to collect, use, and monetise their data, they will
continue to be scrutinized by regulators and serve as an attractive target to class action lawyers. Since the publication of our last
version of this White Paper, both the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the United States Department of Commerce have
developed guidance to help companies in their efforts to protect the privacy of consumers and Internet users.173 In addition,
there have been other amendments to federal and state laws to account for new technologies. There have been developments
from an international aspect as well.
Social Media in Action in Data Privacy &
Security
Personal data collected by social media companies is at
risk from all sides. Thieves and hackers want to steal and
resell personal information and data. Employees are
tempted to misuse customer data, for monetary gain or to
satisfy idle curiosity, perhaps with no malicious purpose at
all.174 Even standard business processes pose risks to
personal data. Social media enterprises collect, store, use,
share, and dispose of personal data every day, including
non-public financial information (for example, credit,
banking and payment information). Each of these inflection
points is an opportunity for something to go wrong, for a
law to be broken or a data subject put at risk.
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And let’s not forget the value that this information
possesses. In this age of Big Data, virtually all companies,
not just social media companies, are looking to utilize and
gain commercial leverage from the data collected. It should
come then as no surprise that regulators and plaintiffs’
lawyers are focusing their efforts not just on data breaches,
but also on data practices. Over the past few years, various
regulatory investigations and class action lawsuits have
been brought against social media companies over their
alleged collection, use, and sharing practices, and the
choices consumers have with respect to those practices.
This chapter explains some things social media companies
and companies that use social media should know in this
ever-evolving space.
Company Obligations Set Forth in the User
Agreement
User agreements are private agreements between the
publisher and its users, and they define the rights and
obligations of each party. Typically, user agreements have
at least two components: (1) a privacy policy and (2) a
terms of use. While there is no legal distinction between
putting them into one document rather than splitting them,
in both the US and Europe, best practice is to separate the
privacy policy from the terms of use. In addition, websites
targeting persons in the European Economic Area175 and
Mexico need to include information on the types of storage
or cookie technologies used and the purpose. Users must
consent to the placement of cookies on all devices,
computers, tablets, mobile phones, etc., and be given the
opportunity to opt out of having those items placed on their
devices. Where cookies are used, individual must be
provided with clear and transparent notice about cookie
use. Creating a separate document, page or display makes
these terms conspicuous and creates better “notice and
disclosure” or transparency for consumers.
Cookie policies are statements about what types of cookies
may be set by a website and for what purposes they may
be used and should also give users information on how to
either opt out or change their browser settings. Privacy
policies are statements made by companies about their
practices regarding personal information. Companies on
the Internet, social media or otherwise, post privacy
policies to disclose information practices in accordance
with federal and state statutes.176 Terms of use, on the
other hand, describe the terms and conditions governing
the relationship between the user and the publisher or
operator of the service. Because cookie policies and
privacy policies are effectively part of the terms and
conditions—the rights and obligations—between the
parties, we may simply refer to them as the “agreement” in
these materials.
Because these agreements run between and among
publishers and users (and sometimes a company that is
using a service or website), a company’s obligation with
respect to personal data will change depending upon
whether it is the social media service (e.g., Facebook,
MySpace or Twitter), a company-sponsored fan site (e.g., a
Starbucks sponsored fan site on MySpace) or an unrelated
third-party fan site.
Social Media Companies
Social media companies, as authors of these agreements,
have the primary responsibility to ensure all personally
identifiable information that is collected, used, stored and
shared, is used in accordance with the user agreement
(and, of course, law and regulation). But, this does not
mean that social media companies must be overly
conservative in their user agreements. Most social media
companies do not charge any recurring user fees for use of
their site or service. So, access to and data from users in
the community is a social media company’s primary
commodity to monetise the site.
This ability to commercially exploit data is tempered by
data protection and privacy laws. The need for ‘information
monetisation’ can create in an adversarial relationship
between the site user and the social media company. As a
result, many consumer advocacy organisations are
analysing and notifying consumers of updates to social
media website user agreements, namely terms of use and
privacy policy agreements.177 The increase in focus on
such user agreements has resulted in regulatory and
consumer scrutiny for some social media companies, most
notably Facebook and its one billion users.
Nearly every change Facebook has made to its privacy
policy over the past few years has drawn a lot of attention.
In December 2009, Facebook made changes to its privacy
policy that caught the eye of the Federal Trade
Commission and ultimately lead to a settlement, which was
announced in 2011.178 The FTC’s complaints centered
mostly on Facebook’s alleged misrepresentations in its
privacy policy, which it had unilaterally implemented
without notice to its users.179 Specifically, the FTC alleged
that Facebook shared information with advertisers when it
promised not to, and though it promised to verify the
security of what it called “Verified Apps,” it did not in fact do
so. The FTC, after an open comment period, approved the
settlement in August 2012.180 In November 2012,
Facebook again announced changes to its privacy policy,
which drew the concern of privacy advocacy groups.181 In
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August 2013, Facebook proposed clarifications to its
privacy policy, this time centered around the use of profile
information for advertising purposes. Following complaints
from privacy advocates that the changes may be contrary
to Facebook’s 2011 settlement with the FTC, the FTC
stated that it was monitoring whether the changes complied
with that settlement.182 In November 2013, Facebook
affirmed the changes in a blog post that explained how and
when profile information was used in advertising.183 In
October 2013, Facebook made another privacy change,
this time affecting teenagers. Facebook users age 13-17
had previously not been able to change their privacy
settings to allow for the general public, rather than just their
“friends,” to view their posts, but that rule was relaxed.184
Compared to the United States, Europe has traditionally
taken a more stringent approach to data protection. Article
8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union and the European Union Lisbon Treaty explicitly
provides that data protection is a fundamental human right.
There is also a greater focus on raising awareness. For
example, Europe even organised a “European data
protection day”, held annually on 28 January.185 As a
result, social networking sites tend to be the subject of far
greater public scrutiny than in the United States. Privacy
groups and thorough press coverage ensure that any
changes to the privacy policies of service providers and
any risks or abuses related to these services are
comprehensively discussed and brought to the attention of
social media users.
Google, for example, has had its fair share of scrutiny. The
European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been embroiled in
numerous disputes involving Google. In 2010 Louis Vuitton
brought a case against Google France for trademark
infringement for the supply of their luxury trademark to
advertisers as keywords as part of Google Adwords.186 In
this case the ECJ found in favour of Google, declaring that
brand owners will not be able to stop Google from selling
their trademarks as keywords to competitors to trigger
advertisements through Google Adwords, provided the
advertiser clearly shows they are not the trademark
proprietor.187 The ECJ also mediated in a case against
Google Inc. and Google Spain S.L referred by Spain’s
highest court the Audiencia Nacional de España. This case
tested the principle of the ‘right to be forgotten’ in the EU
whereby individuals demanded the deletion of their data
from the data host’s search engine results.188 The ECJ
declared Google could not be considered a controller of
personal data appearing on web pages which it processes
and also found in Google’s favour ruling that an internet
search engine provider cannot be required to withdraw
information from its index. In the interests of freedom of
expression the ECJ held a subjective preference does not
amount to a compelling legitimate ground for a person to
restrict or terminate dissemination of their personal data on
internet search engines, even where harmful or contrary to
their interests.189
More recently in 2014, a high court in the UK has
announced190 that Google must face a breach of privacy
claim brought by a group of over 100 claimants known as
the ‘Safari Users Against Google’s Secret Tracking.’191
The group claims that Google misused their private
information, bypassing their privacy settings to unlawfully
monitor their browsing history by placing secret cookies on
Apple Inc.’s Safari browser.
Google has also found itself in hot water with data
protection authorities across Europe following changes to
its privacy policy in March 2012 which triggered
investigations in Germany, Italy, UK, Italy, Netherlands,
Spain and France192 as well as in South Korea.193
Google’s changes to its privacy policy resulted in it
consolidating its 60 privacy policies into one document,
which controversially permits Google, without consent, to
combine data collected from users across all Google
services including Google Search, Google Chrome, Gmail,
Google DoubleClick advertising, Google analytics, Google
maps and You Tube. The privacy policy GPP2012 has
been found to be incompatible with EU and other countries’
data protection laws for failing to provide users with
sufficient information about how their browsing data is
collected and used, or giving them an opt-out. Critics have
called for the policy changes to be reversed;194 however,
Google has failed to take any action to date. As a result
Google is now facing fines of €150,000 in France195 and
€900,000 in Spain.196 Critics have condemned the fines as
an insufficient deterrent, just pocket money for Google
However imminent reform in EU data protection law could
mean Google will be forced to pay attention, given that the
level of possible sanctions proposed under the draft Data
Protection Regulation could result in a fine of up to or 5%
of worldwide annual turnover. 197
Facebook has not escaped the headlines, especially when
in December 2009 it struggled to get the balance right
when it changed its site by making user’s profiles publicly
accessible by default, in turn prompting many users to
switch social networks.198 Facebook was also publicly
criticized following a subject access request by an Austrian
student which exposed that Facebook retains personal
data about users infinitely, even after users had the
information from their account.199 Lobbying by the student
group Facebook v. Europe200 prompted the Irish Data
Protection Commissioner to conduct an audit of
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Facebook’s data processing practices in 2011.201
Facebook largely complied with the audit reports
recommendations, including for example, by simplifying its
privacy policy, adding a tool that allows users to see all
data held about them, changing to the ‘like’ button to
remove the last octet of logged IP addresses, and
suspending its facial-recognition tool. In 2011, however, the
German data protection authority further challenged the
legitimacy of Facebook’s facial recognition feature on the
basis that it required users to actively opt-out if they did not
want their details to be collected and referenced for tagging
purposes.202 In 2012 the German data protection authority
also issued a decree demanding that Facebook change its
controversial real name policy to allow users to adopt
pseudonyms in the interests of privacy.203
Company or Third-Party Sponsored Fan Site or Portal
Many companies, however, do not own or operate a social
media website, and thus, do not author the social media
user agreement. Instead, these companies are monitoring
content regarding their products and services on fan
sites/portals run by another company. For example,
Starbucks does not operate its own social media website,
but operates portals on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube. The key for removing information that may be
detrimental to Starbucks or any brand is to know where the
content lies (on a company or third-party sponsored portal),
and the user agreement of the social media website the
offending information lies upon.
For portals or fan sites that are sponsored by the marketing
company, it is simple for the company to remove offending
information. As discussed below, most of the major social
media networks offer page administration options for
content removal on company-sponsored portals though,
there are variations as to how each of those options work.
In general, though, the company can directly control
content posted to the portal by designating in its
administrative options to pre- or post-screen usergenerated
content.
For portals or fan sites that are not sponsored, it is more
difficult to administer content and remove known privacy
violations. Removal of third-party content involving your
company or brand is governed by the respective social
media site’s user agreement. These will be different
depending on the site or service. Take, for example, if one
of your employees records a confidential session (a health
care visit, tax preparation, loan application meeting, etc.)
between the employee and one of your customers. Could
the company seek removal of the confidential video? The
question of whether a corporation could remove this
content on behalf of its customer is different depending
upon what social media service is used.
On YouTube the answer is no. On YouTube, the
remedy for removing content is flagging it for removal.
Under the YouTube privacy policy, YouTube will not
permit privacy flagging on behalf of other people.204
Alternatively, companies could issue cease-and-desist
e-mails directly to the employee posting the content
on YouTube.
On Twitter the answer is probably no, also. The
Twitter Rules prohibit posting “other people’s private
and confidential information, such as credit card
numbers, street address or Social Security/National
Identity numbers, without their express authorization
and permission.”205 The remedy for removing that
content is to report the violation of the Rules, but the
report can only come from the person to whom the
private information belongs.206
On Facebook the answer is possibly. On Facebook,
the remedy for removing content is reporting abuse of
Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
(the “Terms”).207 In Section 5 of the Terms, Facebook
will not permit posting of “anyone’s identification
documents or sensitive financial information on
Facebook.”208 Depending on the content of the private
information disclosed in the videotaped confidential
meeting, a company could report a violation on behalf
of its customer.
On Instagram the answer is possibly. On
Instagram, the remedy for removing content is
reporting an abuse of Instagram’s Community
Guidelines.209 Those Community Guidelines have a
general prohibition against “being rude,” which can
involve using the service to “abuse, attack, harass or
impersonate others.”210 If the company could make a
case that the post was made to abuse and attack,
Instagram might be persuaded to remove the video.
The same is true for Pinterest. The Pinterest
Acceptable Use Policy prohibits posting any content
that “may create a risk of any other loss or damage to
any person or property” and that “contains any
information or content that the poster do not have a
right to make available under any law or under
contractual or fiduciary relationships.211 Pinterest
reserves the right to remove any content that violates
the Terms of Use or the Acceptable Use Policy212,
and allows others to report violations of those
policies.213 If Pinterest believes the content violates its
policies, it will remove the offending content.
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On MySpace the answer is yes. On MySpace, the
remedy for removing content is submitting a request to
delete inappropriate content that violates the website’s
Terms of Use Agreement.214 Under the Terms of Use
Agreement in Section 8, any postings that would
violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, and/or any
other rights of any person are prohibited.215 In this
scenario, there would be both an individual privacy
right on behalf of the customer and a contractual
confidentiality right of the company (provided a proper
confidentiality provision is in place with the employee).
Notwithstanding the removal of some content by social
network providers from the service, it may still surprise
some users how their data is stored. Snapchat, a photo
sharing app, allows users to edit and share photos with
their friends and to set a time limit for how long the
recipient can view the photos. After the photos are viewed,
the photo is then deleted from the device and Snapchat’s
servers. After a forensic researcher claimed that the
images sent via Snapchat are recoverable and do not in
fact disappear forever,216 the company experienced
negative backlash from the press and its users. In
response, Snapchat released a public statement describing
in detail how the images are stored and deleted, reassuring
users that the images are deleted from its servers and user
devices after viewing. Snapchat did note, though, that it is
possible to access the files by circumventing the app and
“jailbreaking” the phone with the right forensic tools.217
Further concerns may arise from users about how their
data is utilized by social networking sites. Social media
companies employ technological measures that recognise
a user’s computer, and in some cases, the companies may
use the same technological measures to participate in a
behavioral advertising network or assist in the collection of
data for analytics. In a push for more transparency in the
collection of this data, the FTC Privacy Report advocates
for “Do Not Track,” a mechanism meant to give the user
more control over the collection of the data that identifies
his or her computer. While Do Not Track is by no means a
legal requirement, even if the user selects the feature in his
or her browser, some companies have publicly supported
the feature, such as Twitter218 and Pinterest.219
Notwithstanding the contractual user agreement rights and
obligations on social media, a number of national and
international laws also govern this area.
Company Obligations Set Forth in National and
International Law
US position
Today, businesses operate globally with technology that
knows no national boundaries. Nothing comes more
naturally than sharing and sending information halfway
around the world. Social media epitomises that modern,
global ethos.
Every jurisdiction in the world can claim the right to protect
its citizens–and information about them. The United States
has a very different concept of “personal information” and
what qualifies as adequate protection than its counterparts
in the European Union and other parts of the world. A
social media company’s practices can be compliant with
United States law and still run afoul of legal mores
elsewhere. By way of example, in January 2013,
WhatsApp, the instant messaging and media sharing
mobile app, was said to have violated Canadian and Dutch
privacy laws in a report published by those countries data
protection authorities. The report said that the app had
violated privacy laws because users were not given the
choice as to whose contact details they had to share with
WhatsApp and that users were forced to provide their
entire address book – both users and non-users.220 While
the FTC did not bring an action against WhatsApp for these
alleged privacy violations, they did end up entering into a
consent decree with Path, a social networking journal
service, over similar charges. In the complaint, the FTC
alleged that the user interface in Path’s app was
misleading and provided consumers with no meaningful
choice regarding the collection of their personal
information. The FTC alleged that Path automatically
collected and stored personal information, such as name,
address, phone numbers, email, Facebook and Twitter
usernames, from the user’s mobile device address book
even if the user had selected the “Find friends from your
contacts” option.221
Europe position
Social media services accessible in Europe will also have
to comply with the relevant Data Protection Directive
95/46/EC, the implementation of which differs between the
28 EU Member States, and they may also be subject to
any additional national measures. At present the existing
Directive is set to be overhauled and may be replaced by a
more coherent and comprehensive legislative package: a
General Data Protection Regulation222 and a Directive.223
Drafts were first published in January 2012 and there were
high hopes for a swift reform, however, the controversial
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substantive content of the proposals has resulted in
protracted debate.224 As a result, recent comments from
the European Commission indicate that the legislative
package may not be adopted until 2015 at the earliest.
Specific elements of the proposed Regulation could
significantly impact social media companies, Article 20 will
provide individuals with the right to object to a social media
company profiling them on the basis of their social media
account content. The right of data portability under Article
18 will also make it easier for individuals to switch social
media service providers, taking with them a copy of all their
account data in electronic format. Social media sites also
face onerous obligations in relation to Article 17 which
expands the ‘right of erasure’ under the Directive 95/46/EC
which would allow users to request the deletion of all
objectionable data replicated on third party hosting web
pages such as links and posts on social media sites. The
potential burden of this obligation was highlighted in a
recent court case in the High Court of Ireland225 where a
student was wrongly accused of a crime in a Facebook
post that went viral. The court held the distress caused to
the individual justified ‘the right of be forgotten’. As a result,
a mandatory injunction was granted, ordering YouTube,
Google and Facebook to take down the offending material
about the individual within 14 days. This judgment alone
could set a precedent for further cases involving individuals
objecting to offending material about them on social media
sites and has the potential to conflict with the right to
freedom of expression.
The EU’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has set
forth an opinion on online social networking.226 This
Opinion, adopted June 12, 2009, opines that “social
networking services” or “SNS” are generally data
controllers, and SNS subscribers are generally data
subjects. In the view of these authors, even those SNS
located outside the EU are bound to respect EU strictures
on data processing and onward transfer as to residents of
EU member countries. Where a subscriber’s information is
only available to a self-selected circle of friends, the
Opinion posits that the exception allowing sharing of
personal information within households applies. However,
when access to the subscriber’s information is shared more
broadly, with or without that subscriber’s consent, “the
same legal regime will then apply as when any person
uses other technology platforms to publish personal data
on the web.”227 The Working Paper goes on to state a
number of other positions regarding marketing by SNS,
complaint procedures, and (advocating) the availability of
pseudonyms.
United Kingdom position
The UK has its own domestic data protection law in place
which implements the EU Data Protection Directive.228 The
Data Protection Act 1998 (‘Act’) requires organisations
processing personal data to comply with eight distinct data
protection principles. The UK also has in place domestic
legislation implementing the EU e-Privacy Directive.229
The ICO published guidance in 2013 on how the Act
applies within the context of social networking and online
forums.230 An exemption from the Act applies in limited
circumstances to individuals who process personal data for
domestic purposes only. Where this exemption does not
apply, any individuals uploading personal data on online
forums and social media sites, and organisations running
those sites, are deemed data controllers under the Act and
must adhere to certain responsibilities. This includes taking
reasonable steps to check the accuracy of any personal
data posted on sites by third parties. To satisfy this
obligation, the ICO recommends having a clear and
prominent policy about acceptable and non-acceptable
posts, as well as implementing a complaints mechanism to
deal with any disputes concerning inaccurate posts and a
procedure to delete such posts.
Privacy Policies/Notices: Guidance and General
Principles
On both sides of the Atlantic surveys have been carried out
to assess whether privacy policies sufficiently and clearly
inform users of how their personal data will be used and for
what purposes. Although in the UK privacy policies are not
a legal requirement under the Act, a privacy policy is a
simple way to satisfy the fair processing requirement,
which is one of the data protection principles under the Act.
Recent regulatory guidance from the ICO231 supports the
use of transparent, clear and simple privacy policies which
adapt a “layered” approach, with the most important
information highlighted in a clear manner. The ICO requires
organisations to take proactive steps to visibly
communicate a privacy policy, preferably via the same
method through data is collected. As a means to an end,
organisations should make sure that their privacy policies
focus primarily on informing the consumer and not on
protecting the entity.232
Privacy policies should be reviewed regularly to make sure
that they continue to comply with any changes in the data
processing activities of a social media company and the
relevant data protection and privacy laws applicable. If not,
they can expose a company to possible regulatory
enforcement. Over the past few years, both Facebook233
and Myspace234 have been hit with deceptive charges by
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the FTC over their allegedly misleading disclosures in their
privacy policies. In both cases, the FTC alleged that the
companies’ information sharing practices were inconsistent
with the promises set forth in their privacy policies.
Aside from the social media companies themselves,
companies who simply offer users the ability to share or
“Like” content from their own pages should also make the
appropriate disclosures in their privacy policies as to the
type of information they share and access from social
media platforms.
In addition to avoiding regulatory scrutiny, there are other
obvious benefits to ensuring privacy policies are
transparent. Not only will consumers be less likely to
complain, it may also provide a competitive advantage from
consumers having more confidence in the organisation and
how their personal data is being processed. This may lead
to consumers entrusting the organisation with further
personal data it would not otherwise have received. This
seems to be one of the most important trends in social
media today – do users trust the site operator?
The Next Direction in Privacy Law 235
Privacy and data protection law will continually be
outpaced by technological developments. As such, the
main challenge for social media companies is that the
privacy “obligations” seem to be developing on-the-fly in
this area. For example, in 2007, Facebook launched its
Beacon advertisement system that sent data from external
websites to Facebook, ostensibly for the purpose of
allowing targeted advertisements. Certain activities on
partner sites were published to a user’s News Feed.
Facebook even provided a pop-up, opt-out mechanism to
help respect subscriber privacy choices. Despite the fact
that there were no US laws clearly prohibiting this practice,
soon after Beacon’s launch, a civic action group created a
Facebook group and online petition demanding that
Facebook not publish their activity from other websites
without explicit permission from the user. In less than ten
days, this group gained 50,000 members. Beacon
amended its Terms of Service as a result. A class action
lawsuit was filed against Facebook as a result of Beacon.
The lawsuit was ultimately settled in September 2009, and
the Beacon advertisement service was shut down.
Facebook also agreed to donate $9.5 million to a non-profit
foundation to promote online safety and security.236
More recently, Facebook fought off litigation in connection
with its Sponsored Stories advertising campaign, where
Facebook delivered users ads featuring the photos and
names of friends that had “liked” the companies sending
the ads. In that case, Facebook faced allegations that it
had failed to adequately disclose to users the extent to
which their likeness and names would be used in
advertisements, and thus, allegedly failed to garner
consent as required by California law. 237 That case
eventually settled, with the judge approving a $20 million
settlement.238 In addition, Facebook announced that it
would be dropping its Sponsored Stories campaign.
Clearly, as important as existing laws are the developing
sensibilities of both consumers and privacy officials. The
predominant theme appears to be a profound antipathy
toward the aggregation and use of information of consumer
behavior, without, at a minimum, adequate disclosures.
Social media companies need to proceed very carefully in
capitalising on the wealth of information that they are
assembling, developing subscriber and policymaker
support for programs in the works, and adequately
disclosing program information to consumers, at a
minimum, in the user agreement. Moreover, companies
need to realise that even where the law has been slow to
catch up, consumer reaction and the threat of regulatory or
legal action has often shaped privacy practices in social
media. Keeping on top of those trends is critical.
Leading industry groups have stepped up to assist in this
area by developing self-regulatory principles to guide
companies in this area. The “Self-Regulatory Principles for
Online Behavioral Advertising,”239 which were created and
released in 2009 as a joint business initiative by the
American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association
of National Advertisers, Interactive Advertising Bureau,
Direct Marketing Association and the Better Business
Bureau, identifies seven principles to guide companies in
this advertising space. The principles, which correspond
with self-regulatory principles proposed by the FTC, are:
education, transparency, consumer control, data security,
material changes, sensitive data and accountability.
These Principles are more than just guidelines. The
Council of Better Business Bureaus, along with the trade
groups, created a corresponding Interest-Based
Advertising Accountability Program to review the practices
of companies in the online advertising space and foster the
widespread adoption of them. To date, the Accountability
Program has issued more than 20 decisions identifying
instances of non-compliance.240
This initiative appears to have now crossed over to Europe.
The Article 29 Working Party has published several
opinions241 on online behavioural advertising including
best practices to comply with the E-Privacy Directive242,
which requires an organisation to obtain a user’s prior
informed consent to collect cookies for the purposes of
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targeting online behavioural advertising. The Article 29
Working Party has also publicly supported industry
initiatives to establish a European wide self-regulatory
standard. For example the European Advertising
Standards Alliance (EASA) and the Internet Advertising
Europe have adopted a ‘Best Practice Code For Online
Behavioural Advertising.”243 The European Interactive
Digital Advertising Alliance244 has also launched an
interactive icon to be displayed on advertisements, to
provide users with information about how and why a
particular advert was targeted and delivered to them,
including the opportunity to opt-out.
In the UK the Committee of Advertising Practise (CAP),
which writes and maintains the UK advertising codes,
specifically introduced rules for organisations conducting
online behavioural advertising.245 These rules require
organisations to provide users with a comprehensive notice
about what web viewing behaviour is being observed and
that the organisations seek explicit consent to use such
data for the purposes of online behavioural advertising.
Another social media phenomenon is the exploitation of
geo-location technology. Many social media networks,
such as Foursquare, have incorporated “check-in”
functions whereby the user can disclose their arrival to a
particular physical place. By “checking-in,” the user opens
themselves up to location-based advertisements, such as
recommendations of places to go, things to do nearby, and
tips from other users for that location, as well as advertises
for that particular “check-in” location. For example, Yelp, an
“online urban guide” and business review site encourages
businesses to offer “Yelp Check-in Offers” so that
customers are incentivized to broadcast to their friends that
they are at the business’ location.246 Although these
features clearly have some benefit to the user, the
collection of geo-location information, especially when not
necessary to the functioning of the mobile application or
adequately disclosed to the user, has caught the attention
of regulators and attorneys generals alike.
In February 2013, the FTC issued a staff report
recommending ways in which critical players in the mobile
market can better inform consumers about their data
practices. These recommendations particularly addressed
the collection of sensitive content, like geo-location
information, and recommended, among other things, that
there be just-in time disclosures to consumers to obtain
their affirmative express consent before allowing collection
of such information.247 Similarly, the CA attorney general
Kamala D. Harris—one of the most active attorney
generals in the privacy space—also issued her own
recommendations to assist those in the mobile
marketplace, which emphasized only collection information
and data necessary for an app’s functionality and special
notices to draw attention to data practices that may be
unexpected.248 Regulatory actions addressing these
mobile privacy concerns have already begun.249
Company Engagement in (or Avoidance of) Thirdparty
Legal Disputes
Increasingly, information gathered by social media sites is
at the center of legal controversies to which social media
companies themselves are strangers.
Monitoring of individuals on social media sites is
increasingly controversial in the context of Edwards
Snowden’s revelations about mass surveillance
activities in America by the NSA.250 This has triggered
the exposure of further mass surveillance within the
EU by the governments of certain Member States.
This has called into question all transfers of data
operating under Safe Harbor certification and could
result in Europe shutting boundaries to all crossborder
transfers of data.251
Employer-employee relationships are being
increasingly tested, by disputes concerning social
media accounts operated by employees on behalf of
their employers. For example in the UK courts have
debated whether employees or employers are
deemed to own any client contact information
generated by employees on behalf of their employers
via LinkedIn.252
Social media sites are routinely used for sting
operations seeking out sexual predators and other
criminals.253
A New York court admitted evidence from the
plaintiff’s Facebook page offered to disprove claims
that the plaintiff’s injuries resulted in a loss of
enjoyment in life reasoning that a user of social media
does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in
information shared with others through Facebook,
notwithstanding her privacy settings.254
The alteration or destruction of posts on social media
sites can lead to sanctions for spoliation.255
A Canadian court allowed discovery of a Facebook
profile in a motor vehicle accident suit, despite the
document being subscriber-designated as limited
access.256
An Oklahoma court has evaluated whether invitations
to Twitter and Facebook posts were considered
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violations of an former employee’s non-solicitation
agreement.257
Employees’ social media posts have formed the basis
for wrongful discharge claims.258
If an employer terminates an employee for cause,
recommendations that the employers had made
regarding that employee on a site like LinkedIn may
be evidence of pretext.259
Subscribers’ posts may violate their own company’s
privacy policies, or even reveal their own company’s
trade secrets.260
Libelous posts on social media sites have been found
to be actionable.261
Recent court rulings have highlighted that traditional
methods of service are being abandoned in the favour
of substituted service via social media.262 A landmark
decision in Australia263 and a similar ruling in New
Zealand264 first permitted service by Facebook where
the defendants’ whereabouts were unknown save for
their profile on a social media site. Another court case
in Canada265 ruled it was permissible to notify a
defendant of court proceedings by sending a message
to their social media account inbox. Following the
trend, a High Court Judge in the UK allowed an
injunction to be served on a defendant through Twitter
for the first time266 setting the precedent for a High
Court ruling permitting service via Facebook in
2012.267 Evidently courts are increasingly prepared
to deploy modern technology in support of litigants
needing to serve unscrupulous opponents. Service by
social media is now becoming the routine norm, rather
than the exception in today’s technological society
where our presence online is increasingly visible.
Both the social media enterprise and individual companies
on social media can protect themselves. As stated above,
each social media enterprise already has (or should have)
a detailed suite of policies, reflected in the user agreement,
to determine how the company fits in to the substance and
process of third-party legal actions. Likewise, all companies
should put policies in place governing employees’ actions
on social media to avoid company vicarious liability.
Ultimately, subscribers should also take steps to protect
themselves because regulators can do only so much to
protect subscribers’ personal data and privacy.
Children
The popularity of social networking with young people
makes the issue of data protection and privacy more acute.
A central concern is that young people lack the awareness
of the associated risks of these services and the potential
for abuse when revealing personal data. Online risks for
young users include illegal and age-inappropriate content,
improper contact and conduct, including potentially risky
behaviors. In January 2013, the FTC adopted amendments
to COPPA to account for evolving technologies and the
ways in which children are accessing the Internet through
mobile devices and social networking. The final
amendments include expanding the scope of “personal
information” to include geolocation information if precise
enough to identify a name of a street and city, photographs
or videos containing a child’s image, a screen or user
name to the extent that it functions as online contact
information, and persistent identifiers if it can recognize a
user over time and across different websites. Social media
companies may end up collecting one or all of these pieces
of data in the course of their everyday operations. To the
extent that they are collecting this data from children under
13 years of age, they will need to comply with the
requirements of COPPA. 268
Children’s privacy has become a state issue as well
recently, with California having passed an “eraser button”
law, the first of its kind in the U.S. The law, which takes
effect January 1, 2015, applies to operators of websites
and mobile apps, such as social media companies, whose
products and services are directed toward minors (defined
as under age 18), and who have actual knowledge that
their products and services are being used by minors.
Under the law, these operators will be required to notify
minors of their right to remove posted content and provide
instructions on how to do so.
The impact of digital media on privacy issues for young
people has been a key focus in both the UK and
throughout Europe. A central theme of the 35th
International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy
Commissioners269 was the ‘appification of society’ with
children’s privacy rights becoming increasingly vulnerable
as young people become more addicted and dependent on
the internet and social networking.
A central aim of the European Digital Agenda is to address
the dilemma that growing numbers of children are on
social networking sites but do are not taking the necessary
steps to protect themselves, failing to set their profile
settings to private, and therefore placing themselves in
harm’s way. Recent surveys conducted highlight that 77%
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of 13-16 year olds and 38% of 9-12 year old in the EU have
a profile on a social networking site, with 25% setting their
display settings to ‘public’.270 A recent CNIL, the French
data protection authority, study by the Department of
Studies, Innovation and Foresight as part of their reports
for “Privacy 2020” also found children to be the most active
user group for photo sharing and tagging on social network
sites.271
To achieve a safer internet environment for children, the
European Commission and major social networking
companies, including Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace,
agreed the “Safer Social Networking Principles for the
EU”.272 These principles were aimed at giving young
people extra protection from violations of their privacy and
the potential abuse of their personal information. Key
principles include: ensuring services are age-appropriate
for the intended audience273; empowering users through
tools and technology to manage the service274; providing
easy-to-use mechanisms for users to report conduct or
content that violates the Terms of Service of the provider;
encouraging users to employ a safe approach to personal
information and privacy; and assessing the means for
reviewing illegal or prohibited content.
However, a year on, the review of the implementation of
the principles published by the European Commission on 9
February 2010 suggests that whilst the principles have
been a step forward in tackling online risks for young
people, more still needs to be done. According to the
Commission less than half of social networking companies
make profiles of users aged under 18 visible only to friends
by default, and only one-third replied to user reports
requesting assistance.275 Whilst currently the Commission
is in favor of a multi-stakeholder collaboration with
providers and adopting a ‘best practice approach’ to
manage potential risks, if providers do not toe the line, the
consequence may be regulatory intervention.
In 2011 the European Commission supported a further
initiative, the CEO Coalition To Make the Internet A Better
Place For Kids.276 Most recently, the European
Commission announced the launch of ‘Safer Internet Day’
on 11 February 2014 where Vice President and
Commissioner of the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes, will
grant European Awards for websites with Best Online
Content for Kids.277
In the UK, the Information Commissioner has published
numerous good practice notes for website operators whose
sites are directed at children including the “Personal
Information Online Code of Practice.”278 The Home Office
Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet has also
published good practice guidance for providers of social
networking and other interactive services . There are also
several websites that have been created to increase
education and awareness about online safety for children.
279
Protections To Deter Criminal Activity
Data security class action litigation usually focuses not on
the (often judgment-proof) criminal wrongdoers
themselves, but on the companies those wrongdoers
happened to work for, with, or through. Moreover,
governments around the world have drafted businesses
into the war against identity theft. Hefty fines can result
from a lack of due diligence.
The UK ICO has a broad range of enforcement powers
and can issue severe penalties for breaches of the Data
Protection Act 1998 , including up to two years
imprisonment and a maximum fine of £500,000.280The UK
Government has proposed to put in place tougher
sanctions to act as deterrents, for example, up to two years
imprisonment and maximum fines of £500,000, the latter of
which is expected to take effect in April 2010.281 The UK,
as well as other European countries, is taking data
protection law seriously, and service providers should bear
this in mind. There have, however, been a couple of
successful challenges against the ICO’s monetary penalty
decision.282
In social media enterprises, an even greater risk than
identity theft or financial fraud exists. There are reported
cases of users of social media have been exposed to
emotional abuse and have been sexually assaulted, among
other crimes. Attempts have been made to hold the social
media enterprises themselves liable for not doing more to
stop these abuses.
Precautions to detect likely criminal activity, to the extent
practicable, and having social media policies or other types
of employment agreements establishing company
expectations, are essential for any business’s selfpreservation.
Typically, companies can take actions such
as routine audits and establishing human resources
notification policies for crimes involving employees in the
workplace. Social media policies and other types of
employment agreements are now essential for individuals
doing work for your business. We recommend evaluating
all of the types of individuals employed by your company
and developing a social media agreement that will fit for:
employees, contractors, hired talent (representing the
company in an endorsement/marketing context), and
outsourcing contracts, where applicable (See Chapter 6 –
Employment.).
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Additional complications for social media enterprises can
arise in connection with the data they possess about their
users. Social media companies have often been the
subject of subpoenas in connection with criminal
prosecutions. Some companies, such as Facebook,
Google, and Twitter, have even set up guidelines for
requesting records.283 In some instances, the companies
have refused to comply with subpoenas by invoking the
Stored Communications Act, which in its broadest sense,
limits the type of information that can be disclosed by
electronic communication or remote computing service. For
example, in 2012, Twitter sought to quash a subpoena to
turn over thousands of Tweets from a writer in connection
with his involvement in the Occupy Wall Street
movement.284 The judge ordered Twitter to produce the
records, saying that the writer did not have a reasonable
expectation of privacy in the postings, comparing the
Tweets to screaming out a window.285 Despite Twitter
appealing the order, the records eventually were produced
in court.286
Addressing Traditional Data Security Concerns
Every social media enterprise needs a comprehensive
written information security program. The very open
architecture that allows social media enterprises to thrive
also allows information security threats to multiply, making
them an attractive target to hackers. There have been a
number of hacking attacks made on social media
companies over the past few years. In December 2013, it
was reported that over 2 million usernames and passwords
were stolen in a hack from Facebook, Twitter, and
Gmail.287 Less than a month later, in January 2014, 4.6
million accounts were hacked in a Snapchat hack.288 Both
of these attacks followed the 2012 hack on LinkedIn of 6.5
million passwords.289 It is clear that social media
companies have become a prime target for cybercriminals.
Social media enterprises need to enlist not just their
employees, but also their subscribers, in rapid response to
developing privacy threats based on well-understood
policies and procedures. Failing to do so may result in
dilution of a brand’s value as regulators and consumers
react to lapses in security.
A written policy is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure
compliance. A written policy without implementation and
adherence is a dead letter. Plain language review, easy-tofollow
training materials, employee testing, vendor auditing,
security breach drills, and the like are indispensible to
making sure policy is part of day-to-day procedure. At the
same time, outreach to subscribers to let them know what
to expect (and not expect) from the company will help
subscribers defend themselves from spoofers, phishers,
and similar would-be attackers.
Also, like every company, social media companies should
have plans for: the protection and secure disposal of
personal data (including in hard copy); the implementation
of major litigation holds; and response to the loss or theft of
personal data (including, where required or appropriate,
through notice to data subjects).
Is the Company Properly Insured against Data
Privacy Incidents?
The last risk you need to plan for is the risk that all other
mitigation will, ultimately, not be sufficient. As noted above,
no system is perfect. Data privacy and security lawsuits
can cost millions or tens of millions of dollars to resolve.
The right level of coverage, either under general policies or
specific endorsements, is something that every company
needs to determine on an ongoing basis.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Understand the sensitive nature of information that flows through social media. Recognise the serious compliance and litigation
risks that the collection and distribution of such information entails. Consider contractual tools to mitigate these risks, including
properly drafted privacy policies and terms of use. Know your obligations under all applicable data privacy and security laws, and
have a nuts-and-bolts plan to meet those obligations. Stay ahead of developments in data and privacy security law, so that, to
the extent possible, the compliance program put in motion today will be deemed adequate even under the standards of
tomorrow. Lastly, know your coverage position with respect to data privacy and security incidents, and properly adjust that
coverage in light of known and suspected risks.
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— CHAPTER 6 —
Employment Practices
Chapter Authors290
United States
Sara A. Begley, Partner – sbegley@reedsmith.com
Eugene K. Connors, Partner – econnors@reedsmith.com
Casey S. Ryan, Partner – cryan@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom
Laurence G. Rees, Partner – lrees@reedsmith.com
Carl De Cicco, Associate – cdecicco@reedsmith.com
Ed Hunter, Associate – ehunter@reedsmith.com
Introduction
With apologies to Will Shakespeare, quite the networker himself in Elizabethan times, to net or not to net is NOT the question.
Because networking is virtually pandemic these days, the real question is not whether, but where, when and in what ways,
should we net with each other to achieve networking benefits and avoid its misuses. Because most networkers are employees,
the follow-up question, addressed here, is how far can and should employers go to “guide” and “monitor” employee networking
“choices,” and work to prevent and reduce the broad and ever-growing scope of problems and liability arising from the use of
social media in the employment context.
Recent surveys have found that approximately 60 percent of employees either do not know if their employer has a social media
use policy or believe that their employer does not.291 A Deloitte LLP study found that 74 percent of employees surveyed agree
that it is easy to damage a company’s reputation on social media.292 By June 2009, the number of employers who had
terminated an employee for conduct related to his/her use of a social media site doubled to 8 percent, compared with only
4 percent in 2008.293
While there is currently no specific statute codifying the law regarding use of social media in the employment arena, employers
should look to their current electronic use policies, as well as to the laws and guidance developed over the past several years
regarding best practices for company and employee use of electronic media involving email, Internet, BlackBerry, other PDA,
tablets and cell phones, and confirm that the policies in place are sufficiently broad to prevent, or at least limit, abusive use of
social media by the employees. Relevant policies naturally draw from the established principles of maintaining proper workplace
environment and establishing reasonable restrictions on employee behaviour. Examples include: employee privacy, both on and
off site, as well as consent issues relating to workplace searches; adherence to anti-discrimination and harassment law,
protection of company trade secrets and other intellectual property tenets; and prevention of defamation, tortious interference
with contractual relations or unfair trade practices. The most prudent course to protect against liability in the employment realm is
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to examine each policy that guides the behaviour and conduct of employees, and modify, where required, to create an organic
document that broadly interprets this burgeoning form of communication and publication.
Social media may be utilized by companies in a variety of imaginative ways related to employment. As we know, social media is
a powerful recruitment tool that can be used to create a buzz or intrigue about the employer and connect heavily recruited talent
with the company. It is now de riguer for employers and recruiters to “online” a prospective candidate by scanning his or her
LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, Twitter, or other business or social networking pages. It can also be used to educate employees and
the public about company advances, enhance PR, respond to negative press, and detect theft or misappropriation of trade
secrets, abuse of overtime, sick leave or fraudulent medical claims by employees. As discussed below, these online resources
can provide valuable information and an immediate global connection with the public, but must be used consciously and
appropriately by both employers and employees to avoid legal misuse.
Misuse of social media can be devastating to a company, both legally and from a public relations perspective. Social media
employee banter relating to protected traits such as race or gender may violate an employer’s anti-harassment policy and create
a hostile work environment, just as it does when communicated in person by employees. An employee’s tweets about the
employer’s new R&D project may result in leaking valuable proprietary and trade secret information. An online smear campaign
about a competitor’s product by an employee, without the employer’s knowledge and approval, can subject an employer to an
unfair trade practices or tortious interference claim. A manager’s online gossip about an employee’s purported drinking problem
that proves to be false may result in a defamation claim. Employees griping via social media about their work environment can
not only impact the employer’s reputation, but also potentially provide a window for the employer into employee morale and its
potential negative impact on productivity. Finally, an employer’s “inattention” to online behaviour by employees can make it
legally liable, if it knew, or should have known, of the behaviour, but failed to take adequate measures to correct the situation, or
to notify the appropriate authorities. These concepts should all be familiar to employers. The social media phenomenon merely
adds a new, albeit infinitely expansive, arena in which employment issues can arise. Put simply, online “talk” by employees has
created a hornet’s nest of new challenges for employers. The legal principles and best business practices employers should use
to face these challenges remain the same as those they have used to monitor and control other technology advances that
increase the speed and amount of communication among employees, such as email, texting or any other such medium.
This chapter provides companies with an overview of how social media affects the workplace and the resulting issues to consider
and manage in connection with employee use of social media. We begin by examining the possible uses of social media by
employers and then turn to use by employees, and end with a discussion of how a company can seek the removal of content
posted by employees in social media.
Social Media in Action in Employment
Employer Use of Social Media
Does your company have a company-sponsored page on
one or more social media sites? If so, what do you use it
for? Many large companies create and use social media
sites for everything from marketing promotions (See
Chapter 1 – Advertising & Marketing) to attracting job
applicants. Such uses are arguably the most acceptable
and productive for a company. To minimize legal risk,
companies should reasonably and consistently monitor
sites for derogatory or otherwise harmful content, and,
when it occurs, remove it immediately, block the offending
author, and take curative action. Because the company
controls the site, such action should be simple and quick.
Does or should your CEO have a Facebook or other social
media presence? Sometimes a CEO may create his/her
own social media page to market the company or “counter”
harmful media blasts. At other times, it may be strictly
personal with nothing to do with the company. It is
sometimes difficult to discern whether a CEO’s social
media page reflects his/her role as CEO or is a personal
outlet. (See section below regarding employee use of
social media.) An example of this is the resignation of
former Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who
used Twitter.294
Potential issues under U.S. law
Does your Human Resources Department use social
media as a recruiting tool? Do they use it to investigate the
credentials and qualifications of job applicants? Is it used to
track the activities of current employees? If so, be sensitive
and current on possible privacy rights, compliance with the
federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, the National Labor
Relations Act (“NLRA”), the federal Electronic
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Communications Privacy Act, Title VII, and state laws that
outlaw adverse employment action for off-site actions by
employees that are not unlawful, such as smoking.
An employer may also use social media to ferret out
fraudulent medical (including Family Medical Leave Act)
claims. Insurance carriers and employers are increasingly
using social media sites to expose claimants supposedly
too injured to work, but boastful of their physical prowess
on their personal sites.295
Social networking sites have unlocked countless electronic
doors for employers to learn about employees. While
employees can be and are “themselves” on one site and
anonymous or disguised on others, employers act at their
legal peril to pretend to be “someone else” when
monitoring employees and applicants. There are a number
of ways an employer may obtain an employee’s actual or
implied consent to monitor her/his off duty social
networking. But an employer must always act with integrity,
because courts have held “disguised” employers liable for
pretending to gain access to employee-created social
networking groups.
In addition, even with consent to monitor, only seek workrelated
information. An employer must take steps to avoid
obtaining more information than required to make an
employment decision. Information to avoid includes an
employee’s membership in a protected class, a lawful
association such as a union, or in legal political activities.
Even where there is no unionized workforce present,
communications between employees that discuss efforts to
organize, or engage in conduct that is protected under
section 7 of the NLRA, may not impose policies that
unlawfully interfere with the employees’ exercise of those
rights. Employers must also refrain from monitoring what is
lawful communication between employees regarding
unionization or union business to avoid charges of
surveillance, which also violates the NLRA.
Public employers must, as with all practices, observe due
process rights of employees with respect to conducting
searches and any resulting disciplinary action. The mere
fact that the conduct occurs on the Internet does make the
conduct either protected or unprotected; rather, the context
in which the conduct occurs—such as is it a comment
posted by the employee, is it accessible on a public site or
page, what issues the comment addresses—must be
considered.
Finally, and particularly in privacy-type cases, courts and
juries are easily offended and punish employers that use
more intrusive methods over other available, less intrusive
alternatives.
Potential issues under English law
Employers in the UK face similar issues in relation to the
use of social media as part of application and vetting
processes. An employer’s use of a job applicant’s data,
which is available on the Internet through social media, is
governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”). The
DPA requires an employer to obtain an applicant’s consent
for the collection and use of such data to be used as part of
an application or vetting process.296 In addition to data
protection issues, exploring information relating to a job
applicant that is available on the Internet through social
media may expose the employer to claims of discrimination
if the employer decides not to proceed with that applicant
(regardless of the employer’s actual reasons for choosing
not to do so). For example, there could be such an
exposure where the data available through social media
gives information as to an applicant’s race, colour, religious
beliefs or sexual orientation that might not otherwise be
apparent through the application process. Employers
should therefore consider whether the benefits of obtaining
information through social media outweigh the risks of
potential litigation.
The use of information available through social media to
investigate possible employee misconduct or breaches of
an employment contract also gives rise to potential issues.
It is unlikely that employees or workers would provide
consent for employers to comb through information that is
available through social media. Accordingly, the employer’s
interest in searching for and using such information in the
absence of employee or worker consent must be carefully
balanced against (and be shown to outweigh) any
detriment to the employee or worker in order for the use of
such information not to breach the DPA or any rights of
privacy that the employee or worker may have.297
Employers should therefore consider including, as a
standard contract term, a provision by which the employee
gives consent. Employers should also have a clear and
well-publicised policy that establishes that such information
would be used in the event of an investigation as a step
toward demonstrating that the employer does indeed have
such an interest. Employers should also refrain from
searching and using information available through social
media until a reasonable belief of wrongdoing has been
established through less intrusive means of investigation.
Dismissals of employees that are based on information
obtained in breach of the DPA or that unreasonably infringe
upon an employee’s home or private life may be found by
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an Employment Tribunal to be unfair. Such dismissals may
also be found to constitute an unreasonable breach of the
ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance
matters, which may result in any award of compensation
made to an employee by an Employment Tribunal being
increased by up to 25 percent.298
Potential issues under French law
In recruiting new employees, employers should proceed
with caution in seeking information available on applicants
through social media, because this could be risky on a
number of counts.
In particular, such a practice could be in breach of the strict
rules laid down in the French Labour Code regarding
recruitment methods, which state, for example, that
information requested of an applicant must have a direct
link with either the job opening in question or the
candidate’s professional capabilities. In addition, the Works
Council is to be kept informed of recruitment methods and
techniques.299
While it may be difficult to establish an employer breach of
these regulations by vetting candidates through the
Internet, the risk of unlawful discrimination (based on union
membership, race, etc.), remains significant. While
relatively few complaints are actually brought before
tribunals concerning the recruitment procedure300, such
actions have multiplied over the past few years through the
work of the HALDE301, the official body acting for equal
opportunities. Arguably more destructive to companies
than actual litigation is the damage to their reputation when
doubtful and discriminatory recruitment practices are
alleged by this organization302.
Another administrative body publishing guidelines and
monitoring the use of social media, especially by
recruitment agencies, is the data protection agency, the
CNIL.303 Its 2009 report included warnings against
excessive and illegal acts by employers when utilising
social media in the recruitment process, particularly by
invasions of privacy and illegal discrimination.
In this context, a number of professional organizations,
recruitment agencies and companies304 composed a
Charter on social media in which the signatories shall not
use social networks to collect personal information on
applicants305.
A central question in employer use of social media in
investigating the behaviour of existing employees concerns
the admissibility of evidence. As in the United States, the
mere fact that employee conduct occurs on the Internet
does not determine whether it is protected. Instead, such
protection should depend rather on the extent to which the
page containing the comment can be accessed by others.
In a pending case before the Labour Court, judges will rule
on whether a comment posted by an employee connected
from home on his personal Facebook page should be
considered as private correspondence.306
Unlike the suggested solution in the UK, however, an
employee’s agreement in advance to permit online
monitoring of his or her activity by the employer is likely to
be held null and void in France because both the Labour
Code and the courts are very protective of employee civil
liberties such as freedom of expression and the respect of
private life.
Moreover, unlike the United States, employees are
generally immune from discipline and other sanctions for
off-duty lawful (nor even unlawful) conduct. But we expect
the omnipresence and ever-increasing use of new
technologies for professional and personal use will
undoubtedly test such “hands off” limits.
Employee Use of Social Media
Potential issues under U.S. law
Do any or many of your employees have or contribute to
social media pages or spaces? If so, do they visit them at
work? During working hours? Using company equipment?
The answer to each question is likely yes. Facebook alone
boasts more than 400 million users. A 2009 Deloitte survey
revealed that 55 percent of all employees visit social
networking sites at least weekly, with 15 percent admitting
access for personal reasons from work.307. In such
situations, an employer can and should lawfully restrict an
employee’s use of social media within reasonable limits at
work, and on break-time if it impacts anyone’s work
adversely. A properly worded notice to employees provides
an employer with a strong right to control the use of its own
property, such as computers, cell phones, and PDAs.
Similarly, again with proper notice, employers may also
monitor the use of the company’s property without
restriction.308
An employee’s “on-the-clock” time belongs to the
employer, and it therefore can and should restrict or limit
an employee’s use of social media while on duty, even if
the employee is using personal equipment. However, if an
employer permits on-duty use of social media when an
employee uses his or her own equipment, the employer
generally may not use electronic means to observe or
monitor that personal use, unless, as stated, it adversely
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impacts the workplace, either by reduced productivity or by
conduct that may expose the employer to liability. At least
one court has held that an employer has a duty to remedy
co-employee harassment to avoid a hostile work
environment, when its male employees used a company
bulletin board to harass a female employee based upon
her sex and in retaliation for her filing a lawsuit.309
Social media sites can be, and are often, used as
communication tools between employees. However, at
times, these employee communications cross the line into
harassing, threatening, or other unlawful conduct, or
divulging trade secrets or other confidential information
about the employer or a competitor. In such a situation,
whether an employer may be held legally liable for
damages resulting from the offending employee’s post,
remains in gestation.310
The next question is whether an employer can or should
use content posted on social media sites as a basis for
disciplining or discharging an employee. Content posted
anonymously is, of course, exceedingly difficult to police,
and several state laws prohibit employers from taking
adverse action against an employee for engaging in lawful,
off-duty conduct, including political activity or affiliations
specifically protected under state law. Moreover, employers
must be cautious about taking adverse action against an
employee whose social media use could be protected
under the NLRA or federal and state whistleblower laws,
such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Finally, “public” (meaning
government) employers have the additional burden of
avoiding any violation of their employees’ First Amendment
and other Bill of Rights protections by disciplining them for
content posted on a social media site.
On the other hand, employers cannot “play ostrich” to
employee abuse of social media sites. Consequences of
doing so include loss of confidential information and/or
trade secrets; irreparable damage to reputation or other
aspects of a business, either through employee misconduct
or apparent company condonation or endorsement by
inaction; or liability for employee content that is defamatory,
threatening or otherwise unlawful. Employers also have a
duty to report illegal activities to the proper authorities and
to take internal action when it becomes aware than an
employee has engaged in unlawful activity.311 Recently, the
FTC revised the Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.312 It is
unclear to what extent, if any, an employer may be liable
for an employee’s statements in social media; but the FTC
provides an example in Part 255.5 that indicates that both
employers and employees may be liable in some
circumstances. Under Example 8 of 16 C.F.R. Part 255.5,
an online message board designated for discussions of
new music download technology is frequented by MP3
player enthusiasts. Unknown to the message board
community, an employee of a leading playback device
manufacturer has been posting messages on the
discussion board promoting the manufacturer’s product.
Knowledge of this poster’s employment likely would affect
the weight or credibility of her endorsement. Therefore, the
poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose her
relationship to the manufacturer to members and readers
of the message board. 16 C.F.R. Part 255.1(d) provides
that “[a]dvertisers are subject to liability for…failing to
disclose material connections between themselves and
their endorsers. Endorsers also may be liable for
statements made in the course of their endorsements.”
Therefore, in Example 8, both the employee and the
employer may be liable for the employee’s failure to
disclose his material connection with the employer.
Potential issues under English law
Employers based in the UK may also lawfully restrict
employees from accessing social media through use of the
employer’s equipment. A policy that is properly worded and
well-publicised within the company would be key to
achieving this objective and would ideally be coupled with
the use of technological means to prevent employee
access to social media using employer equipment, either
absolutely or for certain periods of the day.
Where an employer lacks technical means to prevent
access to social media through its equipment, an employer
may consider monitoring to detect any breaches of its
policy (any such policy needs to provide employees with
clear guidance as to the levels of use permitted – if any).
Employers in the UK do not have an absolute general right
to monitor employees’ use of the employer’s electronic
equipment, and the more intrusive and/or secretive any
monitoring is, the more likely it would be that such
monitoring would be unlawful.313 Accordingly, employers
should consider using spot checks rather than ongoing
monitoring, and setting flags so that any monitoring just
returns details as to when social media websites are
accessed, rather than monitoring the actual content viewed
or submitted. If it becomes relevant to consider the content
viewed, it is more likely to be lawful for an employer to do
so as part of an investigation that is triggered by less
intrusive monitoring.
Where employees use their own equipment, such as their
personal mobile phones, to access social media, the
position is the same as applies in the United States.314 The
UK employer cannot monitor electronically, but may
investigate and, if necessary, implement disciplinary
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proceedings if there are productivity or other performance
or conduct issues, or if employees use social media
through their own equipment to act unlawfully – for
example, by behaving inappropriately toward co-workers.
It is now an established principle that an employer can be
liable for an employee’s use of social media that
discriminates against or harasses or threatens a co-worker,
where the act of harassment or other discrimination is
carried out by an employee during the course of their
employment. However, whether such liability arises in a
given situation will depend on the facts of the particular
case. It is more likely that the employer would be
vicariously liable for an employee’s use of social media if
the employee in question is a manager who publishes
something inappropriate concerning one of the persons for
whom that manager is responsible. Whether any such
misuse occurs during or after working hours or includes the
use of the employer’s equipment may also be factors as to
whether the employer would be vicariously liable. As an
illustration of these principles, an employer was recently
held to be vicariously liable for acts of harassment
committed by two employees who posted comments about
a colleague’s sexuality on the colleague’s Facebook
page.315 The conduct was committed in the workplace,
during working hours and involved dealings between
employees and their manager – therefore it was carried out
“in the course of employment”. The case also
demonstrated that the question of whether an employer is
aware that the conduct being complained of is happening
(the employee in this case had reported the matter to the
employer), or even condones or sanctions it, is irrelevant to
the issue of vicarious liability.
Whilst the courts have readily held employers vicariously
liable for acts of discrimination or harassment carried out
during the course of employment, they have demonstrated
a willingness to protect the employer’s right to preserve its
reputation when dealing with employees who post
offensive comments on social networking sites outside of
the workplace. In a number of recent cases, the
Employment Tribunal has upheld the decision of employers
to dismiss employees who expressed offensive views on
social networking sites or through “chain” email
correspondence. 316 In dismissing the employees’ claims in
these cases, the Tribunal has emphasised that, once an
employee publishes offensive content, there can no longer
be any reasonable expectation that the comments will be
kept private, and therefore the employee may not be able
to rely on their right to respect for private life that would
otherwise be available under the Human Rights Act 1998.
Whether content published by or about an employee can
be the basis for disciplinary proceedings will depend largely
upon the circumstances. For example, was the content
published during or after working hours? Did the employee
disclose confidential information of the employer? Was the
employer identifiable as employer of the employee? Did the
employee use the employer’s or the employee’s own
equipment to publish the content? Does the content
constitute inappropriate behaviour toward a co-worker and,
if so, can publishing the content be linked to the
employee’s professional (as opposed to private)
relationship with that co-worker? Does the content, such as
a status update, indicate that the employee has been
untruthful toward their employer (forexample, showing the
employee to be well and active when the employee has
informed the employer that they are unfit to attend for
work)?317
As with monitoring, it is important that the employer collects
uses any such content with due regard to the DPA and any
privacy rights that the employee may have.
Caution should be exercised before taking any adverse
action against an employee who publishes content that
raises a complaint against the employer. Whilst the
inappropriate publishing of any such information needs to
be dealt with, the employer should also investigate the
substance of the complaint made by the employee.
Content might conceivably be published in such a way as
to constitute a written grievance (which a failure to deal
with through the grievance process may expose the
employer to an increase in compensation of up to
25 percent where the employee brings a successful
complaint before the Employment Tribunal). That said this
is unlikely where the employee had not taken any steps to
draw the information to the employer’s attention.
Potential issues under French law
As in the UK, employers may technically impede employee
access to social media sites from their own computers, cell
phones and PDAs.
They may also lawfully restrict employee use of social
media at work by specifying such restrictions in a specific
document related to the use of information technologies, a
“charte informatique.” In this case, employers would need
to monitor employee use of social media (websites visited
and length of the visits)318, given the liability they incur
regarding IT security issues and the behaviour of their
employees on the Internet.
In both cases, the employer must comply with a very formal
procedure, which includes informing the employees,
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consulting staff representatives and completing a
declaration to the CNIL319, given the personal data which
will automatically be collected in this process.
However, in cases of co-employee harassment, the French
employer cannot be too careful. Even such close
monitoring of Internet activity would occur too late to
release the employer from its liability. Indeed, according to
French case law, employers have a duty to prevent coemployee
harassment from occurring in the first place320.
The employer would therefore be liable where co-employee
harassment occurs, even if he had taken measures to
detect the “electronic” harasser and to protect the victim
(by dismissing the perpetrator).
Nevertheless, it could always be put forward as evidence of
the employer’s good faith in case of litigation, that the
employer had included in the aforementioned “charte
informatique” clear prohibition of any harassment or similar
behaviour through social media.
Removing Content Posted by Employees from the
Site
If an employee posts derogatory, defamatory, harassing,
threatening, confidential or other unlawful or inappropriate
content, what can and should the company do to remove
the content from the social media site?
Most social media sites have terms of use that prohibit the
posting of any content that is threatening, harassing,
defamatory or otherwise unlawful. Presumably, then, any
such content would be voluntarily removed by the site after
it is brought to the site’s attention.321 Not all sites, however,
prohibit the posting of content that may constitute
confidential information, but that is not copyrighted or may
not rise to the level of a trade secret or other legally
protected information. For example, Facebook’s terms of
use only prohibit the posting of content that “infringes or
violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the
law.”322
If, for instance, an employer complains to Facebook that a
post discloses confidential information pertaining to the
company, but fails to prove that the information is legally
protected, Facebook may not remove the offending post.
Indeed, currently, no laws require Facebook to remove
such a post.
In the UK, a further step that might be considered is to ask
the employee concerned to remove any offending content.
If the employee refuses to do so, it may, depending on the
content, be possible to bring a disciplinary action against
the employee for refusing to follow a reasonable and lawful
order.
Current Legal and Regulatory Framework in
Employment
Little case law exists in the United States or the UK
pertaining to employee use or abuse of social media, and
no statutes or regulations specifically govern such conduct.
Currently, an employer’s management of its and its
employees’ use of social media must be guided by the
basic principles related to employee privacy rights and
protections, anti-discrimination and harassment law,
intellectual property law, free speech concerns, and other
applicable law.
The role of intellectual property law in social media is fairly
straightforward, and an employer should not be inhibited in
any way from policing or enforcing its right to protect its
intellectual property from being exploited on social media
sites. However, anti-discrimination and harassment laws,
laws protecting an employee’s right to engage in lawful offduty
conduct, privacy rights and other concerns such as
free speech rights, play a larger role in shaping how an
employer may use, or control its employees’ use of, social
media.
In the United States
An employer can and should always prohibit employees
from posting anything that amounts to unlawful harassment
or discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
and its amendments323, as well as numerous state laws,
prohibit harassment of employees by other employees
based on certain protected characteristics. What conduct
constitutes harassment based on a protected characteristic
and whether such conduct is sufficiently severe or
pervasive to be unlawful are often difficult to unravel. To
further complicate the issue, and to reiterate, several states
prohibit employers from taking adverse action against an
employee for engaging in lawful, off-duty conduct.324 It is
therefore unclear in some states whether an employer
may, for example, lawfully discipline an employee for
posting, on his or her own time and equipment, sexist or
racist jokes on his or her MySpace page.
By the same token, case law is still unclear on what, if any,
circumstances expose an employer to vicarious liability for
an employee’s alleged harassment of another on a social
media site. One court recently held that an employer was
not liable for an employee who used his company phone
and computer to harass non-employees. Another
dismissed a negative supervision claim because it was not
reasonably foreseeable that unsupervised Internet access
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would result in harm to others. In another decision, the
same court held that an employer is only required to
prevent foreseeable on-the-job misconduct, not to
supervise an employee’s private conduct or persistently
scan the World Wide Web to ferret out potential employee
misconduct. 325 Nevertheless, in the Title IX context (which
prohibits harassment of students on the same bases and
imposes liability for such harassment on schools in certain
circumstances), parents have sought to hold schools liable
for, inter alia, the use of Facebook and other social media
sites to “sexually harass” their children.326 However,
because the cases also included numerous other types of
alleged harassment, such as face-to-face confrontations,
etc., it is difficult to tell what role, if any, the content on
Facebook played in determining whether the school did (as
in one case) or did not (as in the other) have any liability for
the alleged harassment.
Other examples of where an employer must use caution
are whether to prohibit and/or discipline employees for
social media content that could arguably be construed as
“protected, concerted activity” under the National Labor
Relations Act327, or where the disciplinary actions may be
illegal retaliation under a host of federal, state, and local
anti-retaliation statutory provisions. Under the NLRA, for
instance, an employee may be free to express his/her
opinion on working conditions, even if it is derogatory to the
company and/or other employees. Employee privacy rights
may also play a role, depending upon how the employer
became aware of the offending conduct. Finally, to repeat,
government employers must consider their employees’
First Amendment and similar rights if the scope of the
prohibited use of social media arguably affects an
employee’s right to speak on an issue of public concern.
In the UK
Because of anti-discrimination legislation and contractual
and statutory obligations upon employers to protect
employees from harassment, employers can prohibit
employees from posting content that bullies, harasses or
discriminates against their co-workers. Although we are
starting to see cases before the Employment Tribunals
which test the boundaries of these protections, as indicated
above, there are a number of open questions as to the
circumstances in which an employer can take action
against an employee who behaves inappropriately toward
a co-worker through social media.
In France
As in the United States and the UK, there are neither
statutes nor regulations specifically governing employee
use of social media.
The first employment law rulings on questions of social
media in the workplace are eagerly awaited, particularly as
regards the courts’ treatment of the issue of whether
evidence collected through social media is admissible.
However, there is some recent case law in related areas
(dealing with issues such as new technologies, monitoring
of employee behavior and data protection) that may
provide us with clues on the position of the French
Supreme Court328, as regards the importance of the
protection of employee civil liberties when faced with the
interests, rights and obligations of entrepreneurs.
For example, the first Supreme Court decision on the
Sarbanes Oxley whistleblowing obligations was rendered in
December 2009 to a frenzy of media attention. In this case,
involving a leading French software company, the
whistleblowing policy was contained within a Code of
Conduct that also included rules on the use of information
classed both as confidential and also “for internal use.” The
chapter on whistleblowing was held as being in violation of
data-protection laws and as not providing enough
protection to employees, whilst the rules on the treatment
of information “for internal use” were held to be in breach of
freedom of expression and of a separate collective right of
expression enjoyed by employees with regard to their
working conditions329.
Another trial court case on whistleblowing held that the
facility to denounce delinquent conduct through an intranet
site did not sufficiently protect employee rights, as proper
procedure as regards the staff representatives had not
been respected and the examples of targeted behavior
were much wider than those aimed at by the Sarbanes
Oxley legislation330.
Finally, case law surrounding blogging and online
communication by trade unions and staff representatives or
employees in contentious situations with their employer
usually considers the level of public access to the chosen
media, as well as the content and the context of the
publications in order to reconcile the conflicting rights and
interests of the concerned parties.
Social media and its associated advantages and risks are
now inextricably linked with other topical HR subjects, such
as stress and psychosocial risks, harassment,
discrimination and diversity, the growing status of the
CHSCT (Health and Safety at Work Committee), etc. For
these reasons alone, Social Media cannot be ignored.
Employers must consider developments in these other
areas and factor such considerations into the drawing up or
revision of company policies and handbooks, IT charters,
codes of ethics, etc. Finally, when considering the drafting
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and implementation of any such documents, French
employers must pay attention to possible procedural
obligations in terms of staff representatives, as well as
guidelines and regulations set down by organisations such
as the HALDE and the CNIL.
Bottom Line—What You Need To Do
If your company has not developed policies for use of social media by your employees, do it now. A properly drafted and
enforced policy on the use of social media by employees is an employer’s most effective tool in protecting itself against legal
liability and harm to its reputation, and good will from the use of social media.
In most cases, a properly drafted policy pertaining to employee use of social media will assist an employer in protecting its
interests and guiding employees on acceptable and unacceptable online behaviour. However, policies are not one-size-fits-all.
They must be tailored to the culture, needs and realities of your specific workplace.
Some elements to consider in creating and implementing a social media use policy include: (1) stressing the ownership and
ability to monitor the company computer system(s) and related equipment, and explaining that no duty of privacy can be
expected with the usage of these systems; (2) the company’s level of tolerance for personal use of social media; (3) whether
the company should permit or even require use of social media for marketing and business development; (4) how the company
will handle employees who post arguably inappropriate, but not unlawful, posts such as illicit photos, profanity or other
potentially derogatory content; (5) how the company will comply with laws protecting employees’ rights to engage in lawful offduty
conduct, but still ensure nothing damaging is posted online; (6) how the company will train employees, once the policy is in
place, so they understand what is forbidden (for example, one person’s definition of “crude” may vary from another’s); (7) how
the company will monitor compliance with and enforce the policy; (8) what the repercussions will be for violations; and
(9) keeping the policy simple and reactive to ever-morphing social media.
Employees need guidance in their use of social media: every employer should have such a policy in its Employee Handbook,
and should strictly monitor and enforce compliance, or face exposure to currently unknown legal or professional risk.
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— CHAPTER 7 —
Food and Drug Administration
Chapter Authors331
Colleen T. Davies, Partner – cdavies@reedsmith.com
Celeste A. Letourneau, Partner – cletourneau@reedsmith.com
Tisha H.B. Schestopol, Counsel – tschestopol@reedsmith.com
Kevin M. Madagan, Senior Associate – kmadagan@reedsmith.com
Jennifer L. Pike, Associate – jlpike@reedsmith.com
Jillian W. Riley, Associate – jwriley@reedsmith.com
Introduction
Social media, the now-entrenched Internet and smart-phone phenomenon, enables decentralized, real-time communication
among small and large groups of individuals, organizations and businesses. This fast-paced, interactive communication venue
supports quickly evolving content that is available instantaneously and can be retransmitted exponentially to a broad audience.
The amorphous nature of social media, however, renders it unpredictable and elusive – two characteristics that can pose unique
challenges, especially with regard to advertising, for regulatory authorities and the companies they regulate. One of these
authorities, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), has jurisdiction over manufacturers and distributors of medical
products, including prescription drugs, biologics, medical devices, and emerging biotechnology products.
The following chapter explains why the FDA-regulated prescription drug and medical device industry has been very slow to adopt
social medial, even though other business sectors have fervently embraced social media as a product marketing tool. It also
reviews FDA’s emerging policy on social media activities, and identifies potential risks associated with using social media to
disseminate promotional messages about FDA-regulated prescription products. Suggestions on how to proceed in the current
environment are also provided.
Social Media in Action in FDA-Regulated
Industry
Conversations through online social media communities
among health care professionals and consumers about
FDA-regulated products and disease-states are happening
all the time. Sermo®, for example, one of the largest online
physician social networks spanning 50 states, was
launched in 2006 to provide a venue for physicians to
exchange observations in real-time about drugs, devices,
and clinical issues.
Consumers are equally active on social media. A 2012
report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP indicated that one
third of U.S. consumers use social media sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for health-related matters.
These include forums for seeking information on specific
diseases, about medical treatment, and for communicating
opinions about drugs and devices.332 Forty-five percent of
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consumers said information found via social media would
affect their decisions to seek a second opinion, and roughly
40% of consumers said they have used social media to find
health-related consumer reviews.
It should come as no surprise, then, that manufacturers of
FDA-regulated prescription products want to engage their
customers through social media. Unfortunately, their ability
to do so is hindered significantly by FDA regulations that
were written before the social media phenomenon.
FDA-regulated companies are not avoiding social media
entirely; many have a social media presence through
company blogs, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter
accounts. But prescription product marketing through social
media largely has been restricted to create a more
controlled environment. To the extent that these social
media platforms are being used to disseminate promotional
information about prescription products, the very features
that make the media “social” – such as the ability to post a
responding comment – have been disabled, and likely shall
remain disabled, until FDA issues more definitive guidance
about how FDA-promotional regulations will apply to social
media.
Current Regulatory Framework for
Promotional Communications
FDA’s advertising regulations were developed at a time
when advertising largely was limited to print, television, and
radio advertisements, which are, for the most part, static
cohesive swaths of information that are unchanged by
others’ comments, reactions, or discussion. The underlying
principles of these regulations require that promotional
messages be truthful, non-misleading, and fairly balanced
between the benefits and risks associated with a particular
product.333
Promotional Standards for Prescription Drugs
– 21 C.F.R. § 202.1
Promotional pieces:
Cannot be false or misleading in any particular.
Must reveal material facts about the product being
promoted, including facts about the consequences
that can result from use of the product as suggested in
the promotional piece.
Should present information about effectiveness and
information about risk in a balanced manner.
When FDA evaluates a promotional message for
compliance with 21 C.F.R. § 202.1 and other advertising
standards, the agency looks not just at specific product
claims and risk-related statements, but at the net
impression of each message (i.e., the collective message
communicated by all elements of the communication).
Characterization of data, broadening of approved
indications, minimization of risks, and claims of superiority
from improper comparisons to other products are not
permitted.
In practice, this means that every promotional
communication about a prescription product generally
follows a scripted protocol for disclosing benefits and risks
and providing access to all material safety and efficacy
information about the product contained in the product’s
prescribing information.
Protocol for Promotional Communications
(Examples)
Benefit and risk information must be presented in
clear, understandable, and non-technical language for
the intended audience.
The quantity and treatment of risk information must be
comparable to the quantity and treatment of benefit
information, including how it is conveyed.
Except for “reminder” advertisements, every
promotional communications must disclose the
complete product indication and provide access to the
product’s full prescribing information.
Headlines and subheads should be consistent for both
benefit and risk information.
The communication must include material information
(i.e., information that is objectively important, relevant,
or substantial to the target audience) about the
product’s risks.
Risk information should appear as an integral part of
the main communication. (FDA will consider whether
the placement of risk information interferes with
readers’ perceptions of the relative importance or
utility of the information.)
White space (i.e., background space between and
around letters) must be considered at all times
because it influences the prominence and readability
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of text and will be considered by FDA when the
agency evaluates a promotional communication.
When these, and other, advertising standards are applied
to a new social-media technology (e.g., Twitter, Pinterest,
Flickr, Facebook) – where communications are not static
and there is loss of control over the presentation of
information – applying regulatory standards can be
challenging, to say the least.
How does a company ensure a fair and balanced
presentation of important efficacy and safety information
within a social media environment without interfering
significantly with the discussion or social media stream?
Given these standards, is it even possible for a company to
fully utilize a social media platform as it was intended
without removing the “social” aspect?
FDA’s Emerging Social Media Policy
Since the inception of the Internet, and wide adoption and
acceptance of social media, the FDA-regulated drug and
device industry has been without formal FDA guidance or
standards governing product promotion in these venues –
resulting in confusion about how to interpret and apply
traditional statutory provisions, regulations, and policies
concerning advertising and promotional labeling to Internetand
social-media- based communications.334
In 1996, FDA held public hearings on Internet advertising
and promotion, promising to issue regulations or guidance
about this complicated issue.335 This initiative, however,
lost momentum and FDA went silent on the issues for the
next three years.
In 1999, FDA informed its regulated industry that it would
look at Internet issues on a case-by-case basis, while
reserving the right to reevaluate the need for regulations in
the future.336
Then a decade passed without much from FDA.
In 2009, FDA renewed its interest in addressing Internet
communications and acknowledged the increasingly
unique nature of the Internet and social media as a
marketing tool and venue. Similar to the 1996 approach,
the Agency held a public hearing about how the statutory
provisions, regulations, and policies concerning advertising
and promotional labeling for prescription products should
be applied to product-related information on the Internet
and social media. The hearing was very productive and
triggered FDA’s current initiative to draft multiple guidance
documents about this issue.
We know FDA has not lost interest in this topic and has
been working diligently to issue guidance. But five years
have now passed without much additional guidance.
Indeed, from 2009 to early 2014, the Agency has merely
reiterated a position it has held now for almost twenty years
– that FDA’s advertising and promotion rules apply
“regardless of the medium used.”337 This lack of guidance
creates uncertainty for companies and their promotional
review teams whose responsibility it is to ensure that their
company’s promotional materials comply with applicable
requirements.
To be fair, in early 2014, FDA did issue a draft guidance
instructing industry on how to comply with Form 2253 postmarketing
submission requirements for dynamic materials
and content in social media.338 As explained later in this
chapter, however, the draft guidance does not address
myriad other unsettled issues that prevent many FDAregulated
companies from fully embracing social media as
a promotional tool.
1994 2015
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
1994
200+ Web servers online
Yahoo launched
EarthLink
1997
1 million websites
Blogging begins
AOL Instant Messanger
SixDegrees.com
1998
Google launches
2000
70 million computers connected to Internet
2004
8 billion webpages
YouTube launches
2003
3 billion webpages
AOL has 34 million users
LinkedIn launched
MySpace launches
Friendster launches
2006
25 billion webpages
1+ billion Usenet messages
Twitter launches
Facebook expands membership (to anyone over 13)
2010
400 million Facebook users
1.97 billion Internet users
2009
58 billion web pages
200 million Facebook users
2012
1 billion Facebook users
2 billion use social media
2013
500 million Twitter users
225 million LinkedIn users
156 million blogs
4.87 Pinterest users
Social Media
Evolution
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Current Approach to Manage Risk
Without any formal guidance from FDA about how to apply
FDA’s advertising standards to social media, the drug and
device industry must painstakingly scrutinize individual
enforcement actions against companies that have created
and used websites and social media to promote their
products.
To date, these enforcement actions have clarified many
things about FDA’s policy on the use of websites and social
media:
FDA will review any social media communication
through existing FDA regulations. The chart of
enforcement actions listed at the end of this chapter a
testament to this fact.
The “one-click” rule does not exist; every promotional
communication through social media must contain
comprehensive product information, including safety
information. The FDA-regulated drug and device
industry once believed that FDA’s requirement to
provide comprehensive product information, including
safety information, in promotional material could be
satisfied if such information was directly accessible
from a link in the original promotional piece (i.e., no
more than one click away). This rule was commonly
referred to as the “one click” rule. The rule was
dispelled when FDA issued 14 enforcement letters in
2009 to companies for their failure to include sufficient
risk information in Google banner advertisements. 339
These letters revealed FDA’s thought on the “one
click” rule, and sent shock waves throughout the
industry, causing many companies to reassess their
Internet marketing strategies. FDA subsequently
stated that it “never had what some are referring to as
a ‘one-click rule.’”
Activities on social media pages, including Facebook
and Twitter, are subject to scrutiny by the FDA. In
early 2014, for instance, FDA warned a drug company
about statements the company made on its Facebook
page.340 The alleged violations themselves were
straightforward and similar to more traditional
advertising actions: failure to include risk information
and omission of material facts. What makes this letter
interesting is that the activity occurred on a social
network. FDA has been issuing letters like these
since 2011.
The need to take corrective action will depend on
whether and to what extent a company controls (or
could control) a social media environment. FDA
issued a Warning Letter to a company in 2011
because, among other things, consumers posted
several disease-related testimonials on the company’s
Facebook page.341
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Any communication through social media may be
interpreted as a promotional activity. In December
2012, FDA issued a Warning Letter to a dietary
supplement company because the company, among
other things, “liked” a post on its Facebook wall posted
by a customer. FDA stated that the company’s
promotional activities, including “liking” the Facebook
post, suggested that the product was a drug because
it is intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment,
or prevention of disease.
These and other enforcement letters are listed in the chart
at the end of this chapter. We will periodically update this
chapter throughout the year.
Regulatory Difficulties Presented by Social
Media Remain Unresolved
Level of Control
The use of social media is growing exponentially, and FDAregulated
industry cannot monitor every social-media
communication related to its products. Industry does not
want to be held liable for content that it does not generate
or encourage. Industry does not want to be held
accountable for social media that is posted or becomes
part of a website without their permission or knowledge.
But industry also understands that it may be liable for some
content depending on its ability to influence or control the
environment through which the content is communicated.
Although FDA’s recent draft guidance about Form 2253
submissions (discussed later in this chapter) allude to
control as a factor considered by FDA when determining
when and how to submit a Form 2253, industry needs
more guidance from FDA about how control and
responsibility relate to promotional activity in the social
media context.
Transparency
FDA and industry need to work together to ensure
consumers have access to accurate and truthful
information about FDA-regulated products by making it
easier to distinguish between third-party and company
controlled website content.
Space Limitations
Industry wants FDA to account for the evolving nature of
social media and space constraints. Stakeholders want
guidelines or regulations regarding dissemination of risk
information that are principle-based and applicable to
multiple formats, social media included.
Despite FDA’s position on the one-click rule, many have
called for FDA to adopt a modified version of the rule by
allowing a company to present a brief introduction of its
product (e.g., an abbreviated reference to the product’s
indication and its most significant risks) based on the space
constraints of the media itself, provided there is also easy
access to full product information through a hyperlink.
Third-Party Social Media
By participating in an online discussion through social
media (e.g., real-time chat room), companies are
concerned that they may be held responsible for any
statements made during the discussion, even by unrelated
third parties. Industry is calling for FDA to permit
companies to engage in online discussions without
becoming responsible for all content, provided that its
communications are truthful, non-misleading, and in
accordance with any FDA standards for providing risk
information. Many want FDA to provide them the freedom
to determine whether and when to participate in or to
correct information on third-party sites.
FDA has provided some guidance about how to respond to
off-label questions on public social-media sites, but further
clarification is needed about how a company may interact
on third-party platforms.
Off-Label Discussions
Given today’s regulatory environment, where
manufacturers are routinely held responsible for anything
involving their products, there is trepidation that any offlabel
discussion or reference on an interactive social media
site, even if it is a professional site for scientific
exchange,342 will impute knowledge and consent of an
unapproved use to the manufacturer.343 If knowledge and
consent are imputed in this way, then the manufacturer
could be held liable for promoting an unapproved use.
On December 27, 2011, FDA took some measures to
address these concerns when it issued a draft guidance
entitled "Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label
Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical
Devices."344 The draft guidance clarifies FDA's policies on
unsolicited requests for information, and includes some
discussion about how a company should respond to
unsolicited requests made through the Internet and social
media.
Specifically, FDA makes the following recommendations to
a company that chooses to respond to public unsolicited
requests for off-label information about its product(s),
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including those encountered through emerging electronic
media.
If a firm chooses to respond to the public request, the
firm should respond only when the request pertains
specifically to its own named product (and is not solely
about a competitor’s product).
Representatives who respond to the request should
clearly disclose their involvement with the company.
The response should not be promotional in nature or
tone.
The response should convey that the question
pertains to an unapproved or uncleared use of the
product and state that individuals can contact the
medical/scientific representative or medical affairs
department with the specific unsolicited request to
obtain more information.
The response should provide specific contact
information for the medical or scientific personnel or
department (e.g., e-mail address, telephone number,
and facsimile) so that individuals can follow up
independently with the firm to obtain specific
information about the off-label use of the product
through a non-public, one-on-one communication.
In sum, a response to an off-label request should be limited
to providing the firm’s contact information for appropriate
dissemination and should not include any discussion of the
off-label information.
If a firm responds in the manner described above, the draft
guidance states that FDA “does not intend to use such
responses as evidence of the firm’s intent that its product
be used for an unapproved or uncleared use.”
Enforcement decisions under the FDCA, however, are not
solely FDA’s province. The Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
represents FDA in formal enforcement actions and does
not always agree with FDA. The DOJ has a history of
scrutinizing conduct that it views as being inconsistent with
FDA guidance.
Form 2253 Submissions
FDA requires all prescription drug labeling and advertising
to be submitted at the time of initial dissemination through
an FDA Form 2253.345 Because some social media
communications (e.g., real-time chat room discussions)
are, in many regards, analogous to live discussions taking
place between company sales representatives and health
care professionals, many in the industry believe the Form
2253 reporting requirement for social media should be
limited to some extent.
FDA addressed some of these concerns in a draft
guidance instructing industry on how to comply with postmarketing
submission requirements associated with
promotion in the social media realm.346 The draft guidance,
issued in early 2014, outlines the types of social media
activity that should be submitted for FDA review and the
format of those submissions.
The critical element in determining whether FDA
submission is required for product promotion on interactive
social media is the degree of control or influence the drug
company can exert over the website. If the company
controls the promotion, regardless of whether it controls the
entire site, the company needs to submit it to FDA for
review. This control or influence standard extends to
conduct of a drug company’s employees and agents.
As to timing, the draft guidance says that submissions
should be provided to FDA at the time of the initial
dissemination and that the companies should provide
monthly updates including a list of all sites where the
company engages in interactive promotion. For password
protected sites, the submissions need to include
screenshots or other media to recreate for FDA what
member-users see. Underscoring the limitations of existing
mechanisms and processes for reviewing social media,
these submissions should contain annotations to highlight
for FDA which parts of the sites are interactive and thus
subject to change.
Next Steps at FDA
FDA has promised repeatedly that it intends to issue
multiple guidance documents on issues specific to the
challenges presented by social media promotion.347 In an
interview published in April 2013 on the now defunct
Pharmalot blog348, the Director of the FDA Office of
Prescription Drug Promotion (“OPDP”), Thomas Abrams,
stated that the development and issuance of guidance for
social media was “among the highest of FDA’s
priorities.”349
In response to the question of why it has taken the FDA so
long to issue guidance documents, Abrams pointed to the
concern that social media technology is constantly
changing making it a moving target.
"It takes time because we follow good guidance
practices and we want guidances that are well vetted
and really address relevant issues, and stay relevant
for a time period. It would be easier to come out with a
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guidance in a shorter time that may not be relevant as
technology changes. One thing we know is that we
can't predict it, but we know technology is going to
keep changing quicker and quicker. So we want this
guidance to be applicable, regardless of which
technology platform comes in the future or changes
that existing platforms may make in the future."
Abrams was less clear when asked specifically for an
actual date when the industry can look forward to formal
guidance from the FDA.
"We are striving to make it as soon as possible. I'll be
honest with you. As soon as we're able to issue these
– we're not waiting for a deadline or we're not waiting
for an event to occur. We are working very, very
thoroughly and very hard – people are putting in extra
hours ... And as soon as we can issue these, we will
issue them. We are as anxious to issue them as
industry is anxious to receive them. So we're not
waiting for a deadline or a timeframe. As soon as they
are ready and we are happy they are good products
that are well vetted and will remain relevant for a good
time period, we will issue guidance."
Regardless, FDA has taken its first few steps in what has
been (and will continue to be) a very long process within
the agency to establish a framework for regulating social
media, provide guidance to the industry, and find a way to
adapt to emerging technologies.
Given that agencies such as the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) and Securities Exchange Commission
(SEC) issued social media guidance in 2012 and 2013, and
FDA issued the FDA Form 2253 submission guidance in
early 2014, it seems likely that FDA will issue at least one
additional social media guidance document in 2014, but
some skepticism is warranted.
Indeed, the prescription drug and device industry remains
today in the same position it’s been in for the past two
decades: anxiously waiting for formal guidance from FDA.
Bottom Line—What You Need To Do
To Mitigate Risk
Until FDA issues formal guidelines or promulgates new regulations governing the Internet or social media, assume that FDA will
review any social media communication through existing FDA regulations.
Assume that all activity on social media networks, including Facebook and others, will be scrutinized by the FDA.
Develop policies governing employee use of social media.
Closely monitor and enforce these policies.
Closely track FDA warning and untitled letters to identify and avoid the mistakes your peers make when they communicate
through social media.
Participate in FDA meetings open to the public and provide FDA with information when requested.
Pay attention. FDA’s Internet and social media policy may emerge quickly over the next two years. There will likely be an
opportunity to respond to draft guidance documents, FDA/industry hearings, and draft regulations.
Consider following FDA draft guidance documents even though these guidance documents may be revised before they become
final (e.g., FDA’s draft guidance entitled "Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription
Drugs and Medical Devices").
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Other Considerations About Social Media – Not Related to Promotional Activity
Adverse Event Reporting
Adverse event reporting regulations could be interpreted in a way that would require a company to monitor social media
sites, and investigate adverse event information learned from such sites.350
FDA could encourage the use of data-mining technologies to help identify trends and patterns in patient communications
about adverse events that would trigger further analysis by FDA or the industry. FDA itself has been soliciting contractors to
provide real-time analyses of online consumer messages related to FDA-regulated products.
Mobile Medical Devices
FDA’s regulation of mobile medical devices is evolving. FDA’s regulation of mobile medical devices might impact your
company’s approach to social media.
FDA SOCIAL-MEDIA ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Company Date Key Issue Citation
Institut Biochimique SA
(IBSA)
February 24, 2014 The Facebook webpage was deemed false or misleading
because it made representations about the efficacy of
Tirosint, a black box drug, but failed to communicate the
full product indication or any risk information.
http://www.fda.
gov/downloads/
Drugs/Guidanc
eComplianceR
egulatoryInform
ation/Enforcem
entActivitiesbyF
DA/WarningLet
tersandNoticeof
ViolationLetters
toPharmaceutic
alCompanies/U
CM388800.pdf
Various Companies June 15, 2013 FDA issued a series of Warning Letters to companies
making claims related to the prevention and treatment of
diabetes for unapproved drugs and devices.
FDA advised each company to “review all the information
on your websites, including testimonials, social media
websites (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), product labels, and
other labeling and promotional materials for your products
to ensure the claims you make are not in violation of the
FD&C Act. It is your responsibility to assure compliance
with all requirements of federal law and FDA regulations.”
Example:
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2013/uc
m361849.htm
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Oasis Consumer
Healthcare
February 11, 2013 FDA issued a Warning Letter to Oasis, stating that Oasis’
claims on its website, as well as claims on its Twitter page
and Facebook page, fell outside the scope of the product’s
OTC monograph.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2013/uc
m339773.htm
AMARC Enterprises December 11, 2012 FDA issued a Warning Letter to AMARC Enterprises, a
dietary supplement company, because the company,
among other things, “liked” a post on it Facebook wall
posted by a customer. FDA stated that AMARC’s
promotional activities, including “liking” the Facebook post,
suggested that its dietary supplement Poly-MVA was a
drug because it is intended for use in the cure, mitigation,
treatment, or prevention of disease.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2012/uc
m340266.htm
Quincy Bioscience
Manufacturing
October 16, 2012 Quincy received a Warning Letter from the FDA in which
the FDA stated that Quincy was promoting its products as
drugs without an NDA. Therefore Quincy was promoting
an unapproved drug in violation of the Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act. FDA pointed to claims made by Quincy on
both Quincy’s website and on Facebook.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2012/uc
m324557.htm
Trinity Sports Group August 28, 2012 FDA issued a Warning Letter to Trinity stating that Trinity
was promoting its products as drugs without drug approval
in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In
addition to making claims on its website, FDA pointed to
claims made on Trinity’s Facebook page, including
statements made by Trinity in the “About” section of the
Facebook page, and statements made on the Timeline
section of the Facebook page. Additionally, FDA also
observed therapeutic claims made by Trinity on its Twitter
page.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2012/uc
m318392.htm
Vitality Distributing, Inc. April 24, 2012 Vitality received a Warning Letter from FDA for promoting
its caffeine product as a drug without FDA approval in
violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In addition
to statements made on its website, FDA also cited Vitality
for posting on its Facebook and Twitter pages links to a
third party article which made claims about the therapeutic
effects of caffeine.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2012/uc
m301669.htm
Fatigued to Fantastic April 18, 2012 FDA issued a Warning Letter to Fatigued to Fantastic
stating that the company was making therapeutic claims
about its products, which were not approved by the FDA.
Fatigued to Fantastic was therefore promoting an
unapproved drug in violation of the Food, Drug and
Cosmetic Act. FDA also cited the company for including
links on its Facebook page to its website, where the
improper claims were made.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2012/uc
m301795.htm
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Nature’s Rite September 19, 2011 Nature’s Rite received a Warning Letter from FDA
because it was promoting its products in such ways as to
cause the products to be drugs. Because FDA did not
approve the products, Nature’s Rite was promoting an
unapproved drug in violation of the Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act. In addition to claims made on its website,
FDA also noted a post made by Nature’s Rite on its
Facebook page in which the company made a therapeutic
claim about its product.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/ucm273
464.htm
Cellular Rx May 25, 2011 Cellular Rx received a Warning Letter from FDA for making
therapeutic claims about its products. The claims
established that the product was a drug, but the products
did not have FDA approval. Therefore, Cellular Rx was
promoting an unapproved drug in violation of the Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act. FDA noted several testimonials
posted on Cellular Rx’s Facebook page that made disease
claims.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/2011/uc
m256922.htm
AloeElite March 30, 2011 FDA issued a Warning Letter to AloeElite stating that the
company was making therapeutic claims about its
products, which were not approved by the FDA. AloeElite
was therefore promoting an unapproved drug in violation
of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In addition to claims
on its website, FDA also pointed to a therapeutic claim in
the “About” section of AloeElite’s Facebook page.
http://www.fda
.gov/ICECI/En
forcementActi
ons/WarningL
etters/ucm253
987.htm
Various Companies April 2, 2009 FDA issued enforcement letters on April 2, 2009 to 14
companies for their failure to include sufficient risk
information in Google banner advertisements.
http://www.fda
.gov/Drugs/G
uidanceComp
lianceRegulat
oryInformatio
n/Enforcemen
tActivitiesbyF
DA/WarningL
ettersandNoti
ceofViolationL
etterstoPharm
aceuticalCom
panies/UCM0
55773#
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ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
— CHAPTER 8 —
Government Contracts & Investigations
Chapter Authors
Andrew L Hurst, Partner – ahurst@reedsmith.com
Erin Felix, Associate – efelix@reedsmith.com
Daniel Z. Herbst, Associate – dherbst@reedsmith.com
Joelle E.K. Laszlo, Associate – jlaszlo@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media, government contractors, and those businesses regulated by the
government or subject to government investigations.
With new and developing social media platforms, government agency Facebook pages, YouTube channels, blogs and Tweeters
have begun to emerge and proliferate. The General Services Administration (“GSA”), Small Business Administration (“SBA”) and
Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (“CDC”) have all been early pioneers of social media and micro-sites. Today, a great number of federal and state
agencies utilize at least one form of social media in furtherance of their agency mission. This interaction among government and
the public using social media is what is commonly referred to as “gov 2.0.” Not only are agencies themselves using social media
to interact, but government employees, government contractors and their employees, and companies regulated by the
government and their employees are all exchanging information using social media as well.
These new platforms provide increased ability to access and interact, but also create significant legal risks to those that have
contractual or regulatory interactions with the government.
Social Media in Action in Government
Contracts & Investigations
Government Contracts
State and federal government contractors have a
particularized interest in social media experience because
they often obtain access to sensitive government
information and systems, and as a result will be required to
comply with government regulation of social media. Risks
to information and system security, to privacy, and other
risks associated with the use of social media prompted the
federal Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) Council to issue
Proposed Guidelines on the Use of Social Media by
Federal Departments and Agencies in September 2009,
and to supplement these guidelines over time.351 The
CIO’s proposed guidelines note pervasive risks associated
with social media, suggest that each agency must make
individual cost benefit calculations prior to creating an
agency social media interaction, and recommend a series
of both non-technical/policy and technical security controls
to protect government information and security.
As each government agency adopts policies and guidelines
for the use of social media in order to manage behavior of
government employees and interaction with the public,
government contractors must understand and maintain
compliance with each agency’s internal policies or face
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potential pitfalls associated with non-compliance. In
particular, contractors who have access to government
computers and information systems or sensitive and
classified information will be required to establish robust
compliance programs in place for security. Contractors
whose employees have access to government computers
or computer systems are at the greatest risk, and must
take a proactive approach in ensuring employees are
properly trained to protect sensitive information.
Contractors who fail to address these issues may be
prevented from obtaining government contracts, may find
themselves in breach of their contractual obligations or
government security policies, or may be subject to civil or
criminal liability for disclosure. Moreover, contractors
without internal social media compliance programs subject
themselves to the same privacy, security, and other risks
associated with social media that concern the government.
In addition, companies providing social media platforms to
the government must also be aware of specialized
procurement and contracting regulations, and increased
transparency in providing services to the government. The
government has taken a close look at how procurement
rules relate to companies offering social media tools to
government agencies and their employees.352 Further,
government contractors who provide social media services
to the government are subject to increased transparency,
such as freedom of information act requests regarding their
provision of services to the government. In August 2009,
the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”)
compelled disclosure of government contracts with
Facebook, Google (YouTube), Blip.tv, Blist, Yahoo! (Flickr)
and MySpace.353 Some of the agreements allowed
companies to track users of government websites for
advertising purposes. Accordingly, social media providers
who contract with the government must be aware of the
disclosure risks of contracts from legal and public relations
perspectives.
Finally, as a result of gov 2.0, government information and
communications are happening faster and being shared
with a wider audience. Gov 2.0 utilizes social media
technologies to make networking and engagement with the
public simple and powerful, make research faster, identify
influencers in useful micro-niches, provide mechanisms for
combating negative publicity, and measure public
sentiment to help inform public policy. Government
contracts similarly may utilize social media as a strategic
tool to increase access and communication with the
government, and influence policy and perception to better
position itself to receive government contracts and grants.
Government contractors can develop strategies consistent
with applicable laws and policies to take advantage of gov
2.0, and use social media as a tool to their competitive
advantage in interacting with the government.
Government Investigations
Companies and individuals that are subject to civil or
criminal investigations are frequently confronted with
information derived from social media. . Social media
users create a staggering amount of data that government
investigators routinely harvest in investigating civil or
criminal culpability of individuals and their employers and
utilize the resulting evidence in criminal or civil enforcement
.proceedings and prosecutions This vast social media
data pool includes several useful data points for
investigators, including, among other things, the users’
contacts and affiliates, likes, dislikes, and tastes, habits
and preferences, and real time location data. Law
enforcement agencies are highly attuned this wealth of
investigative data, and investigators routinely mine social
media for leads and evidence in investigations. See Role
of Social Media in Law Enforcement Significant and
Growing (7/18/2012) available at
http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/newsevents/pressrelease.
aspx?id=1342623085481181 (noting that in July
2012, more than 80% of government investigations include
some form of social media and that the number is growing).
Government agencies recognize that significant useful
information may be publicly available on social media
through a click of the mouse. See U.S. Dep’t of Home
Sec., Privacy Impact Assessment for the Office of
Operations Coordination and Planning: Publicly Available
Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness
Initiative 3 (April 1, 2013)
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy/
PIAs/privacy_pia_ops_NOC%20MMC%20Update_April201
3.pdf. A somewhat recent example of government
investigative use of social media involved antivirus
company founder, John McAfee. In December 2012,
McAfee, was under investigation for alleged death of a
neighbor in Central America. Rather than answer the
authorities investigation, McAfee went into hiding. When
an iPhone photo of McAfee containing GPS location
information was posted on a publicly available blog, law
enforcement harnessed the lead, and McAfee found
himself in a Guatemalan prison. See How smartphone led
to John McAfee's capture (Dec. 6, 2012)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-smartphone-led-tojohn-
mcafees-capture/
Courts have held that limited Constitutional and statutory
protections proscribe collection of data publicly
disseminated by a social media user under the
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“reasonable expectation of privacy standard” set forth by
the U.S. Supreme Court in Katz v. U.S. One court recently
held that Twitter must produce user information in
response to a criminal subpoena. See People v. Harris,
Case No. 2011NY080152, 2012 WL 2533640 (N.Y. Crim.
Ct. June 30, 2012). In Harris, the court denied Twitter's
motion to quash a subpoena to obtain a user's information,
email address, and posts for a certain time period.
Although Twitter argued that the user owns his tweets, the
court held that users do not have standing to object to the
criminal subpoena because the user has no proprietary
interest in the information, nor does the user have a
reasonable expectation of privacy in information shared
with third parties. "There can be no reasonable
expectation of privacy in a tweet sent around the world."
Id. at *3. The court concluded that "[s]o long as the third
party is in possession of the materials, the court may issue
an order for the materials from the third party when the
materials are relevant and evidentiary." Id.
Government enforcement agencies often mine social
media data for investigations through investigative
subpoenas or search warrants to social media companies
or internet service providers.. Although the practice has
been challenged, principally under the Communications Act
("SCA") of 1986,354 courts have been loath to limit the tools
available to the government in conducting investigations
when it comes to social media data that is intentionally
disseminated by users.355 The SCA requires government
investigators to obtain a court order upon proof of “specific
and articulable facts showing ... reasonable grounds to
believe that ... the records or other information sought, are
relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.”
See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d).356 Other basic information such
as user names may be obtained with an “administrative
subpoena authorized by a Federal or State statute or a
Federal or State grand jury or trial subpoena.” 18 U.S.C. §
2703(b)(1)(B)(i).
In all, the government has a robust set of investigative
tools to access the vast amounts of social media data.
Much of the data pools are made publicly available or
publicly disseminated by users themselves, while other
information may require the government to take additional
procedural steps. Companies must understand the
breadth of data available of social media and set
appropriate social media policies and procedures
pertaining to records management and document retention.
(See Volume 1, Chapter 8 – Litigation, Evidence and
Privilege). Moreover, companies also should establish
policies and procedures as to the content and conditions of
social media use related to company business for their
employees and agents to ensure that information flow is
appropriately managed, and to prevent unwarranted
disclosures before, during, and after government
investigations. (See Chapter 6 – Employment). Finally,
executives and all individuals using social media should
remember the cardinal rule, think before you post.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Contractors, companies in regulated industries, and those
subject to government investigations cannot ignore the
significant risks, forthcoming regulations, and new
interactive opportunities associated with the proliferation of
social media. These entities should develop a social media
operating and compliance program and comprehensive
strategy to mitigate risks, protect information and
information systems, and streamline interface with
government social media programs.
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— CHAPTER 9 —
Insurance Recovery
Chapter Authors
United States:
J. Andrew Moss, Partner – amoss@reedsmith.com
Carolyn H. Rosenberg, Partner – crosenberg@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom:
Peter Hardy, Partner – phardy@reedsmith.com357
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media and insurance in two respects: first, when buying or renewing
insurance, what types of policies or enhancements should be considered; and second, if a claim or potential claim arises, what
you or your company should do to maximize potential insurance recovery.
Social Media in Action in Insurance
Considerations When Purchasing Insurance
Social media-related claims or potential claims may arise in
almost any context, from branding and advertising issues
to defamation and privacy claims, and, in the U.S. context,
consumer class actions and securities claims.358
For a number of years the insurance market in both the
United States and the United Kingdom had been
developing policies and coverage extensions to address
the increased risk caused by the emerging use of
technology in business. Initially, the policies tended to be
customized and modular wordings rather than off-the-shelf
products, and tended to reflect an insured’s own perception
of its exposure to this category of risk. So-called
“cyberliability” policies have now evolved to the point where
most insurers both in the U.S. and U.K. now offer off-theshelf
forms and endorsements focused on data protection
and security and privacy liability, which may be tailored for
specific industries and types of insureds. In this respect,
the U.S. and U.K. insurance markets are currently at
somewhat different stages of development although a
number of commentators anticipate that the U.K. will move
closer to the U.S. model within a comparatively short time.
The mandatory notification requirements for data breaches
that exist under the laws of most U.S. states and laws and
regulations that are being considered at the federal level
and anticipated to be adopted in one or other form by U.K.
regulators have crystallized an insurance market response.
(See Chapter 5 – Data Privacy & Security.) The market is
continuing to evolve but is now relatively well-established,
and the identification of appropriate coverage is often a
board of directors-led initiative, most notably in the retail,
health care and financial services sectors. The scope of
protection offered in the market currently tends to focus on
payment for the costs of compliance with mandatory
notification requirements, the costs of providing initial relief
to potential victims (including credit monitoring and
insurance products), forensic investigation costs to
determine the source of a breach or event, defense costs
(including defending or responding to any regulatory
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intervention), the costs of claims resulting from a breach
(including damages and settlement costs), and payments
to consumer redress funds. Although increasingly common
additions to many insurers’ suite of liability policies,
Cyberliability insurance policy forms can vary from carrier
to carrier, and an insured can play an active part in
identifying the risk exposure of its own business and
market sector and negotiating policy wording and coverage
tailored to its needs. As a general observation, businesses
that are particularly exposed to website content
contamination and risks of defamation and copyright
infringement are carefully scrutinized by underwriters.
Notwithstanding the moves made in recent years in the
U.K. and outside of the U.S. in general, the insurance
market remains less established for data protection and
security and privacy insurance, not least because of the
current reduced scope of mandatory reporting. But, as
mentioned above, the U.K. and European landscape is
changing and moving closer to, or perhaps exceeding the
scope of, the U.S. model. Also, many businesses have a
global reach that will require a risk assessment across a
number of jurisdictions, including the U.S. Although it is not
always true that the U.K. and European insurance market
follows the lead of that in the U. S., there are obvious
precedents, particularly in the area of directors’ and
officers’ (“D&O”) liability insurance, which demonstrate how
this risk category might be expected to develop in the U.K.
and Europe in the near future. The U.K. continues to
witness greater regulatory activity, and the retail and
financial institutions sectors in particular are developing the
claims history necessary to fully understand the value and
pricing of cyberliability coverage. In addition, the
telecommunications industry and internet service providers
will have to adapt to being measured by new standards of
reporting.
The U.S. market has established itself over the past
number of years in particular, and international insurance
brokers, who have a presence on both sides of the Atlantic,
are seeing the lessons learned being applied for the benefit
of an emerging U.K. and European market. Data protection
and security and privacy coverage is available from most
established insurers, and a company would be well advised
to discuss with its brokers and insurance coverage counsel
the particular exposures it may have to “cyber” and
technology risks generally, and data protection and privacy
rules specifically, in order to ensure that any coverage
purchased is properly customized to its business. This is
not a sector of the insurance market where the products
are sufficiently commoditized for an insured to consider an
“off the shelf” purchase.
When considering purchasing or renewing insurance
coverage, the steps outlined below may be helpful.
Identify Current Policies That May Provide Coverage
Companies in both the United States and the United
Kingdom traditionally purchase a number of different types
of insurance policies to protect themselves from exposure
to claims made against the company and its management.
These policies would typically include D&O liability,
professional liability (“E&O”), comprehensive or commercial
general liability (“CGL”) (for U.S. insureds), property
damage and business interruption coverage, fidelity bond
or commercial crime policies (which are required by
regulation in some industries) and fiduciary liability policies.
They may also have employment practices liability (“EPL”)
and, as noted above, they may also purchase stand-alone
cyberliability insurance. Because claims may raise a variety
of issues and take different guises—from common law
fraud and misrepresentation claims to invasion of privacy
and cyber extortion—reviewing the inventory of policies
with a “social media” lens can assist in seeing and seeking
potential coverage that may come into play. One thing is
certain: cybercrimes and losses arising from data
protection issues and privacy laws continue to grow both in
frequency and scale.359
For example, a CGL policy issued in the U.S. typically
provides coverage for bodily injury and property damage,
as well as for advertising and personal injury. But the
language should be examined to determine if there are
terms, conditions or exclusions that limit or expand
coverage. Some definitions of “property damage” may
exclude intangible or electronic data, while a coverage
endorsement may specifically provide some coverage.
“Personal injury” typically includes publication or utterances
that violate an individual’s right to privacy, or that are
defamatory or disparaging. Whether and how these
coverages may apply depends on the language of the
policy, the facts and applicable law. An insured company
with business exposure in both the U.S. and the U.K.
should further review the policy language to ensure that
definitions and exclusions do not potentially suggest
different meanings in each jurisdiction, while at the same
time respecting any legal and regulatory differences that
may exist. Insurance policy wording should be negotiated
with an eye toward analyzing potential “buckets” of
coverage should a claim be made. Similarly, security or
privacy breaches may be accompanied by a drop in the
trading value of a company’s stock, potentially giving rise to
securities claims, which may be covered under a D&O
policy or fiduciary liability policy, or a defamation claim may
give rise to an employment-related claim, which may be
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covered under an EPL policy. Accordingly, other policies
should be examined to see if there are any potentially
applicable exclusions or other restrictions that can be
addressed when negotiating the coverage. Being proactive
in negotiating coverage before a claim arises affords
much greater leverage if and when a claim hits.
Consider New Products and Recognize They are Also
Negotiable
As discussed above, cyber liability and internet-related
liability policies were introduced to the market in recent
years, particularly in the United States. The first versions
were difficult to assess given that claims were still
emerging, few companies were purchasing them, and the
policies were not yet tested. The early specialty policies
also contained a number of exclusions that threatened to
engulf the coverage provided. The policies have broadened
in scope and improved, however, as more insurers have
entered the market, as claims have matured, and as
underwriters have become more comfortable with
underwriting the risks. Policyholders willing to invest in
reviewing and comparing choices and policy wording may
be able to tailor the coverage to their needs and potential
exposures. For example, some technology, media, data
privacy and professional liability policies provide coverage
for first-party loss (damage suffered directly by the
company), including internal hacker attacks or business
interruption, or expenses to investigate breaches, secure
legal compliance with a patchwork of laws and regulations,
and to maintain or resurrect data. Coverage for third-party
loss (claims asserted against the company by third parties)
is also available.
Coverage for third-party loss may include reimbursement of
defense costs and indemnification for damages, judgments
and settlements. The claims may include allegations of
violations of privacy rights, unlawful or negligent
disclosures of personal information, breaches of duties to
secure confidential personal information under state and
federal laws and regulations, breaches of duty, disclosures
or fraudulent or criminal conduct by employees or others,
infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair
competition, defamation, violation of consumer protection
statutes, and deceptive trade practices statutes.
The coverage may also include regulatory actions,
lawsuits, and demands, including payments to consumer
redress funds administered by regulatory agencies. Fines
and penalties may also (but not uniformly) be expressly
covered, subject to being insurable under the law of the
relevant jurisdiction. Further, coverage may apply to
“breachless” claims, where a potential problem or
disclosure can be fixed before it becomes a claim.
Key Coverage Enhancements to Seek
A Broad Definition of “Claim.” Coverage should apply to
demands, investigations and requests to toll a statute of
limitations, as well as to complaints, and civil, criminal, and
administrative and regulatory proceedings. Keep in mind
that a broader definition of “claim” also means a
corresponding broader obligation to report what may
constitute a Claim.
A Broad Definition of “Loss.” “Loss” should encompass a
broad array of relief, including statutory fines and penalties
where insurable, payments into consumer redress funds,
as well as defense (including regulatory defense) and
investigative costs.
Narrowed Exclusions. Wherever possible, exclusions
should apply only to that portion of a claim involving the
excluded subject matter. Exclusions should also be
narrowly tailored and contain “exceptions” where coverage
will be provided. Exclusions for bad conduct committed by
insureds or employees should be triggered only by a final
adjudication of the excluded conduct and should be limited
in scope to senior management (so as to not defeat
coverage for the company or other employees in the event
of a “rogue” employee). Further, defense costs should be
covered, and the exclusions should be severable, so that
one “bad apple” doesn’t spoil coverage for others.
Defense and Settlement Flexibility. Consider whether the
insurer provides a defense or the insured seeks control
over the defense. Negotiate “consent to settle” provisions.
Seek Coverage Grants via Endorsement. Specialty or
tailored endorsements may add coverage and should be
requested.
Maximizing Potential Coverage When a Claim
Arises
Maximize the Potential for Insurance Recovery
Gather All Potentially Relevant Insurance Policies or
Indemnity Agreements. As discussed above, key policies
may include commercial crime or fidelity bond policies for
internal theft; cyberliability coverage for claims as a result
of potential breaches of security and access to private
data; CGL (in the U.S.) and property policies for potential
business interruption claims; D&O and fiduciary liability
coverage for potential breaches of fiduciary duty against
directors and officers or securities claims based on alleged
stockdrop or financial disclosure issues. Any
indemnification agreements with vendors or other third
parties who may owe contractual obligations to the
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company should also be reviewed, as well as any
insurance policies where the company may be an
additional insured.
Provide Timely Notice of Breaches, Claims or Potential
Claims to All Primary and Excess Insurers. Insurance
policies include provisions for reporting potential breaches,
claims, occurrences or loss, and should be adhered to
carefully. Failure to comply may result in a coverage
dispute or denial of coverage, depending on the policy
requirements and applicable case law. Although provisions
differ by policy, it is not unusual for certain jurisdictions
(including the U.K. and many U.S. states) to take a strict
view of compliance requirements. For example, a fidelity
bond policy will specify when the initial notice is to be
provided, and a sworn proof of loss must be filed within a
designated time period of reporting the initial loss.
Cyberliability and D&O liability policies generally allow (and
in some cases may require) reporting of potential claims. If
the claim develops, it is “parked” in the policy in which the
initial notice was provided. Even though the claim may still
be only a “potential” claim as opposed to an actual claim,
the policy may still require strict reporting. Claims and
potential claims should be contemporaneously reported to
both primary and excess carriers across all programs to
avoid later challenges of “late notice.”
Obtain Consent to Defense Arrangements. Some
insurance policies have a “duty to defend,” meaning that
the insurer must provide a legal defense for insureds under
the policy. Other types of policies provide for
“reimbursement,” where the insured assumes its own
defense obligations, subject to the insurer’s advancement
or reimbursement of defense expenses. The insured
typically is required to obtain the insurer’s consent to
defense arrangements, which may not be unreasonably
withheld. Communication with insurers at the earliest stage
of a claim is important to address defense arrangements.
For example, if policies with both “duty to defend” and
“reimbursement” obligations apply, the insured can assess
how best to manage the defense arrangements. Similarly,
if the insurer proposes specific counsel but the insured
objects, or if the insurer raises the potential for a coverage
defense, the insurer may be obligated to pay the cost of
“independent” counsel for the insured, or the insured may
have to retain and pay for separate counsel to monitor the
defense, depending on the coverage defenses raised by
the insurer and applicable law.
Adhere to Cooperation Obligations and Respond to
Requests for Information and Coverage Defenses.
Although the language of insurance policies differs, an
insured generally has an obligation to cooperate with all
reasonable requests of insurers. Insurers also typically
have a right to associate—that is, to consult with defense
counsel or, in some cases, participate—in the defense and
settlement of claims involving or potentially involving their
coverage.
These responsibilities of the insured may differ depending
on the type of policy and whether the insurer is defending
the claim. Insureds should recognize, however, that the
policy language, relevant case law, and individual, specific
circumstances will dictate what is required or reasonable in
a given context. For example, insureds typically do not
necessarily have a privileged relationship with an insurer,
especially in a non-duty to defend situation (insureds also
do not have a privileged relationship with their insurance
brokers). Consequently, an insured would need to be very
careful in sharing information with insurers. Confidentiality,
common interest or joint defense agreements may provide
some protection of sensitive disclosures, but
knowledgeable counsel should be consulted to provide
guidance. Insurers may also seek to interview witnesses,
employ investigators, and seek out defense counsel’s
analysis or fee statements. Again, these requests must be
carefully examined with an eye toward insurance coverage
and privilege considerations.
Insureds should also promptly respond to letters or other
communications raising coverage defenses or denying
coverage. Potential exclusions or other terms and
conditions may not apply or may limit coverage only for
part of a claim. Even if it is too early in the process to
discern the full extent of coverage, an insured should make
a record disagreeing with the carrier’s restrictive coverage
positions, and reserve its right to supplement its response.
Moreover, a strong letter replying to coverage-challenges
may result in a reversal of a coverage denial. Obtaining the
positions of the insurer(s), especially early in the process,
may also help expedite a coverage determination through
litigation, mediation or arbitration if informal negotiation is
unsuccessful.
Obtain Consent to Settlement or Payment of Judgment.
Know your rights and obligations. Insureds should check
for any “hammer” provisions, which may limit the insured’s
recovery if the insured refuses to settle where the insurer
proposes to resolve the underlying claim. Conversely,
where the insured desires to settle but the insurer does not
readily agree to pay the claim, the insured should review
the “consent” provisions of the policy. Typically, consent to
a settlement cannot be unreasonably withheld, but policies
may also specify that the insurer has a right to participate
in the negotiation of a settlement, or that an “offer” to settle
requires insurer consent. Managing the insurer-insured
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relationship throughout the claim process in a thoughtful
and diligent way will typically put the insurer and insured in
a better position to reach agreement, than if the insurer is
not promptly brought “into the loop.”
Resolve Coverage Disputes. If informal negotiation does
not resolve a dispute, the policy may dictate the next steps
to follow. Policies may contain provisions requiring that an
insurance dispute be mediated, arbitrated or litigated in a
particular jurisdiction, or that a certain state or country’s law
be applied to the coverage dispute. These provisions
should be identified early in a dispute so that strategy can
be considered. Moreover, excess policies may include
different provisions for resolving disputes than the primary
policy(ies), making resolution of a major claim potentially
challenging. It is not unusual for an insured seeking to
recover a large loss from a “tower” of insurance coverage
to litigate or engage in alternative dispute resolution
(“ADR”) proceedings separately in the U.S. and the UK (or
other jurisdictions), and commence both litigation and ADR
proceedings. Knowing the applicable rules early on will
make navigating the settlement course easier.
Consider Lessons Learned for Renewal. Terms, conditions,
exclusions or other difficulties in resolving claims may be
considered in negotiating coverage with the same or other
insurers for the next year. In addition, insurance
applications may request information about current pending
and/or potential claims. Such applications or requests for
information should be reviewed with both insurance
brokers and coverage counsel, because insurance
applications and the documents attached to them may be
disclosed in litigation discovery. Worse, they may become
the basis for potential actions by insurers to rescind or void
the policy.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
As social media claims continue to develop, so, too, will
insurance policies. During this fluid process, companies
can best arm themselves with good risk management,
comprehensive coverage, and sensitivity to managing and
maximizing their relationships with insurers.
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— CHAPTER 10 —
Litigation, Evidence & Privilege
Chapter Authors360
United States:
Alexander “Sandy” Y. Thomas, Partner – athomas@reedsmith.com
Bonnie M. Mangold, Associate – bmangold@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom:
Emma Lenthall, Partner – elenthall@reedsmith.com
Louise Berg, Associate – lberg@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media and litigation practices.
Millions of employers, employees, and jurors use social media such as LinkedIn, company websites, Facebook, Twitter,
MySpace, and YouTube for business and personal reasons. Users of social media are often very candid and tend to post
messages and photos with little thought, in an informal, spur-of-the-moment manner, from smart phones, tablets, and personal
computers. Social media postings often include details that the user would never disclose directly in a formal correspondence
and certainly not to the boss of their company or to an opposing attorney if litigation were involved. Moreover, many people using
social media do not realize that such postings often become a permanent record, even if the items are removed.361
Lawyers have begun researching social networking sites to gain information about all aspects of a case, including the parties on
the other side, how a particular business is conducted, the witnesses, and the jurors. Social media sites contain valuable
information such as messages, status updates, photos, and times of every posting, all of which can be used to undermine an
opponent’s case in litigation, and which can even negatively affect a company’s business and public image.
This chapter describes various real-life examples of how social media has been used to undermine an opponent’s case in
litigation and to negatively affect the image and business of various individuals or entities. Specifically, this chapter discusses
how social media has been used to impeach witnesses, uncover documents that would ordinarily be protected by the workproduct
or attorney-client privilege, expose juror misconduct, and serve legal documents. As an employer, it is important to
understand and educate all employees and in-house counsel on the risks associated with social media, how it can undermine the
company’s legal positions, and its ultimate effect on business operations and public relations. (See Chapter 6 – Employment)
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r e e d s m i t h . c o m Litigation, Evidence & Privilege 78
Social Media in Action in Litigation
The Use of Social Media To Impeach Witnesses
Social media sites may contain contradictory statements,
character evidence, or other evidence that can be used to
impeach witnesses during litigation. Below are a few
illustrations:
In the US:
In 2008, a minor accused her father of sexually
assaulting her. On the minor’s MySpace page, she
made several posts alluding to the fact that she was
not a virgin. However, when she filed the report
against her father, she told the police that she was a
virgin before her father began to sexually assault her.
The court found that the MySpace statements could
be used as impeachment evidence because they
contained statements that were inconsistent with her
prior statements, which directly went to the issue
pending in the litigation.362
In 2009, the defendant in a criminal case was
convicted of second-degree murder and possession of
a firearm during the commission of a felony after
shooting a friend in the head. The defendant admitted
to shooting his friend, but claimed it was an accident.
The principal issue at trial was the defendant’s state of
mind at the time of the shooting. Pursuant to Michigan
Rule of Evidence 404(b)(1) involving prior act
evidence, the trial court allowed the prosecution to
introduce a picture of the defendant from his
MySpace.com website that depicted him holding the
gun that was used to shoot his friend, and displaying a
gang sign with his hands. After the defendant was
convicted, he appealed, arguing that the MySpace
photograph was inadmissible. The Michigan Court of
Appeals affirmed the trial court’s evidentiary ruling,
stating that three witnesses used the photo to identify
the defendant as the person who previously
threatened them with the gun used in the case, and it
was relevant for showing the defendant’s familiarity
with the weapon used in the offense.363
In 2009, a Starbucks employee was fired for
inappropriate conduct and threatening violence to
fellow employees. The employee then sued Starbucks
for, inter alia, sexual harassment, religious
discrimination, and retaliation. The employee’s
MySpace page was submitted as evidence by
Starbucks, where plaintiff stated: “Starbucks is in deep
s**t with GOD!!! …I will now have 2 to turn 2 my
revenge side (GOD’S REVENGE SIDE) 2 teach da
world a lesson of stepping on GOD. I thank GOD 4 pot
2 calm down my frustrations n worries or else I will go
beserk n shoot everyone….” Based on the evidence
submitted by Starbucks, the court granted summary
judgment in its favor.364
In 2010, the plaintiff in a personal injury case claimed
that injuries she sustained while performing duties in a
Steelcase chair that collapsed rendered her unable to
work, housebound, and unable to fully enjoy her life.
Defense counsel pointed to plaintiff’s Facebook and
MySpace postings and photos, which showed that she
still had the ability to enjoy her life. The court granted
the defense’s motion to compel production of this
evidence and held that the private information sought
from the social networking websites was material and
necessary for the defendant's defense, that the
plaintiff did not have a reasonable expectation of
privacy in the material published on the social
networking websites, and that the defendant's need
for access to the information outweighed the plaintiff's
privacy concerns.365
In 2010, the plaintiffs brought a sexual harassment
claim and the defendant sought to produce
photographs from the plaintiffs' Facebook pages to
prove that the plaintiffs did not suffer from severe
emotional distress.366
In the UK:
In 2010, in a trial involving allegations of sexual
assault and attempted rape, the defence sought to
rely on posts on the victim’s Facebook page to show
that she could not have had as clear a recollection of
the incident as she claimed to have. The posts
included “ATM remembers nothing” and “Filling in my
memory would be very much appreciated there is very
little of it ATM.”367
In 2011, an insurance company relied heavily on
evidence from Facebook to show links between a
group of people whom they alleged were involved in
staging a series of accidents in order to claim
damages for personal injury. The company submitted
the ‘friends’ lists of various parties involved which
showed a ‘web’ of connections. This, together with
other evidence of dishonesty, helped to convince the
judge that the accidents between people in the same
local area with so many links and common
relationships cannot have been a coincidence.368
In 2011, a personal injury claimant alleged that a
motor accident had left him wheelchair bound and too
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traumatised to drive a car. The defendants submitted
as evidence a picture of the Claimant on holiday in
Italy which was taken from his Facebook page after
the accident. He was standing next to his own car
which he must have driven all the way there. 369
As the above examples illustrate, users of social media
often fail to consider the consequences of their posted
statements and photos prior to such postings. In the
corporate world, analogous postings could be made by
employees regarding a wide range of work-related issues,
including comments concerning layoffs that implicate the
Age Discrimination and Employment Act, disclosures of
intellectual property and trade secrets in various careeroriented
chat rooms or blogs, and gossip about a sexual
harassment or white collar crime internal investigation. It is
imperative that a company’s managers, supervisors, and
employees are educated on the implications and
discoverability of such postings so that their use of social
media does not undermine legal positions in a future or
pending lawsuit against the company. (See Chapter 6 –
Employment). On the plus side, social media can be a
useful source of evidence against a company’s opponents
in litigation, although care should be taken to ensure that
no evidence is obtained by deception, and that ethical
codes are complied with.
The Waiver of the Work-Product Doctrine and
Attorney-Client Privilege Through Social Media
The use of company websites and other social media also
provide real opportunity for waiver of privilege and the
work-product doctrine protection through public disclosure
of confidential information. Below are a few examples:
In 2010, the court granted the defendant’s motion
to compel discovery and ordered the plaintiff to
turn over his Facebook and MySpace usernames
and passwords to defendant’s counsel despite
plaintiff’s claim that the abovementioned
information was privileged. The court reasoned
that “When a user communicates through
Facebook or MySpace, however, he or she
understands and tacitly submits to the possibility
that a third-party recipient, i.e., one or more site
operators, will also be receiving his or her
messages and may further disclose them if the
operator deems disclosure to be appropriate.
That fact is wholly incommensurate with a claim
of confidentiality. Accordingly, McMillen cannot
successfully maintain that the element of
confidentiality protects his Facebook and
MySpace accounts from discovery.” 370
In 2010, the court held that the plaintiff waived
her attorney-client privilege by virtue of her blog
posts, gmail chats, and emails via which she had
communicated with her attorney.371
As the above examples demonstrate, users of social media
must be careful when disclosing personal or business
information online in order to ultimately protect themselves
from waiving the work-product doctrine or attorney-client
privilege (or the equivalents in other jurisdictions) in future
or pending litigation. It is often sound business strategy for
a company to post statements on its website to keep the
public informed on various issues, and to ensure public
confidence in the company’s product and services, bolster
public relations, and increase profitability. However, if a
company discloses too much, there are instances where it
will risk waiving work-product and attorney-client
communication protections. Managers, supervisors or
employees who disclose work-related issues in chat rooms
and blogs run the risk of waiving both privileges as well,
forcing a company to produce documents they ordinarily
would have every right to withhold in litigation. Thus, it is
essential that all managers, supervisors, and employees
understand the implications of discussing work-related
issues online, and realize that certain postings will come
back to haunt the employees and the company for which
they work.
Social Media Use by Jurors
Social media can have a particularly pernicious effect on
jury trials. In several recent instances, jurors have made
inappropriate disclosures concerning corporate and
individual litigants during the pendency of a trial.
Businesses should police social media postings while a
trial is ongoing to protect themselves from the
consequences of such postings. Below are a few examples
where such postings have been made:
In the US:
In September 2010, a juror was removed from a
jury for posting the following comment on her
Facebook page, during an ongoing trial: “gonna
be fun to tell the defendant they’re GUILTY.”372
In December 2011, a juror in a criminal case
Tweeted comments such as, “Choices to be
made. Hearts to be broken. We each define the
great line.” The jury returned a guilty verdict, and
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the trial court imposed a death sentence on the
defendant. On appeal, the Arkansas Supreme
Court reversed the trial court, holding that the
defendant deserved a new trial because of the
juror’s unacceptable Tweets during the trial court
proceedings.373
In February 2012, a juror requested to be
“friends” with the Defendant on Facebook. When
the judge became aware that the juror had sent a
friend request to the Defendant, the juror was
promptly removed from the jury. After his removal
from the jury, the ex-juror proceeded to post
comments on his Facebook page, such as “'Ha,
ha, ha, I got out of jury duty.”374
In August 2013, a juror in a murder trial was
removed from the jury for posting comments
about the case on Facebook. Her comments
reflected her belief the defendant was “presumed
guilty,” and she posted pictures of the courtroom
hallway.375
In October 2013, the California Supreme Court
vacated the defendant’s conviction because the
jury foreman blogged about the case online on
his personal blog. 376
In the UK:
In June 2011, juror Joanne Fraill was sent to
prison for communicating on Facebook with a
defendant who had just been acquitted. At the
time of their online discussions about the case,
the jury deliberations had not been completed
and verdicts on other defendants were still to be
returned. A new trial was ordered on the counts
where verdicts awaited.377
In July 2013, a fraud and money laundering trial
had to be abandoned when a juror revealed to
other jurors information that he had learned
about the case on the internet. The wasted
prosecution costs were in the region of
£200,000.378
In July 2013, a juror was held to be in contempt
of court when he posted the following status
update on Facebook during a trial for sex
offences against children: “Woooow I wasn’t
expecting to be in a jury Deciding a paedophile’s
fate, I’ve always wanted to Fuck up a paedophile
& now I’m within the law!”.379
As the above examples indicate, the use of social media by
jurors during a trial may prejudice the outcome of a case if
a juror leaks information about his or her perception of the
case prior to the final verdict being rendered by all jurors,
or reveals information about the case or the defendants
that the juror has discovered online. The use of social
media by a juror may be grounds for a mistrial or an appeal
because the social media postings of the juror may indicate
that the juror was biased and was making a decision prior
to reviewing and considering all evidence. Retrying a case
and/or taking an appeal are both time-consuming and
costly for all parties involved. To prevent the above injuries,
it is essential that explicit instructions are given to the jury
prior to the commencement of trial prohibiting the use of
social media. Furthermore, it is wise for companies and
their legal teams to research the social media sites during
the trial to ensure that no juror is leaking the jurors’ thought
processes about the case to the public and/or being tainted
by other individual’s responses to any postings on the
social media sites.
The Impact of Social Media on Methods of Service
The English courts are beginning to allow lawyers to serve
documents via social media where more traditional
methods are considered to be inappropriate or insufficient.
In October 2009, the English High Court permitted service
of an injunction via Twitter. In this case, which has become
known as the ‘Blaney’s Blarney’ case380, an anonymous
Twitter user created a profile impersonating a right-wing
political commentator and solicitor, Donal Blaney. The
profile posted photographs and linked to Mr Blaney’s blog.
Mr Blaney applied to the courts for injunctive relief against
the unknown user.
The English Civil Procedure Rules allow service by several
traditional methods, but also allow a claimant to request
alternative service by less conventional means. The
claimant must show that there is a good reason for doing
so. In this case, it was permitted on the basis that the
defendant was anonymous and could not be contacted.
The English High Court also permitted service of a claim
via Facebook in February 2012. In AKO Capital LLP and
AKO Master Fund Limited –v- TFS Derivatives Limited381,
the defendant applied to have one of its employees, Mr de
Biase, added as a defendant. It was not clear whether Mr
de Biase was still living at his last known address and so
TFS applied to serve the claim via his Facebook account
as well. Before allowing this method of service, the court
requested assurances from TFS that (i) the Facebook
account in question did in fact belong to Mr de Biase, and
(ii) that he checked it regularly. TFS submitted evidence
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from other employees who were friends with Mr de Biase
on Facebook which showed that Mr de Biase had accepted
a number of friend requests recently. The court accepted
this evidence as providing both of the assurances it had
requested and gave permission for service via Facebook.
The documents were sent as attachments to a message to
Mr de Biase’s Facebook account.
As social media provides increasing scope for defamation
and copyright infringement, more may opt for service via
these websites to overcome the obstacle of identifying the
defendant. The flaw, however, in allowing such alternative
methods of service may be in enforcement. In the Blaney’s
Blarney case, the user complied and removed the profile. If
this had not happened, Mr Blaney would have had to go to
Twitter to obtain the user’s details, and as they are based
in California, there could have been problems enforcing
any order.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
What is said on social media sites can and will be used
against you and the company for which you work in a court
of law, in the court of public opinion, and ultimately in the
business world. Accordingly, it is essential that all
managers, supervisors, employees, and in-house counsel
be educated on the pitfalls involved with social media so as
to prevent such postings from undermining your company’s
legal position, business relations, and public image.
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r e e d s m i t h . c o m Product Liability 82
— CHAPTER 11 —
Product Liability
Chapter Authors382
Antony B. Klapper, Partner – aklapper@reedsmith.com
Jesse J. Ash, Counsel – jash@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter examines the relationship between social media and product liability.
Companies that develop products utilize social media in a variety of ways, including internal and external company websites and
blogs, pages on third-party sites such as Facebook, and other third-party sites that provide comments concerning the use and
safety of a company’s products. These social media sites and platforms can lead to a wealth of positives for companies. More
readily available information can mean greater knowledge about the products and therefore greater sales. However, this same
accessibility to information may also create problems. For product developers and manufacturers there is always a risk of legal
action regarding the safety of their products. The use of social media may compound this risk by leading to (1) new legal claims
and increased exposure to damages, and (2) weakened defenses overall in the matter.
The Need for a Social Media Marketing
Program
Today, plaintiffs in product liability litigation often attempt to
add allegations to their complaints based on information
found online in an effort to bolster weak claims, defeat
initial motion practice, and provide a backbone for
boundless discovery. These allegations many times
include accusations of improper promotion or misleading
public. In today’s marketplace, on-line advertisements and
marketing campaigns are commonplace, in addition to
editorials, studies, surveys, polls, and focus groups all
found on the internet and related to a company’s product.
One only needs to put in a google search for their product’s
name to see the breadth of information written about the
product—pro and against—and Plaintiffs’ lawyers can
easily do the same search. It is therefore of utmost
importance in this day and age for a company to have an
effective social media monitoring program designed to
identify potential product liability issues. In enacting a
program, companies must keep the following core issues in
mind:
Ensure that any social media statement complies with
applicable regulatory requirements
Specific rules may govern what information a company can
relay to the public or its customers. For example,
pharmaceutical companies must abide by rules
promulgated by the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”)
when providing statements to patients or doctors through
warning labels, package inserts, written correspondence,
or visits to a doctor’s office by a company’s sales
department—and this applies equally to promotional
statements made on any online forum.383 Any
communication by a company outside these regulatory
parameters may be used against the company as evidence
that the company acted in violation of government
regulations, leading to a potential causes-of-action under
strict liability and negligence. For example, a company
may have a blog or chat room where patients and/or
doctors correspond with the company, and this direct
communication may include off-the-cuff comments that
contain language outside the parameters of information
that the company is allowed to relay regarding its products
(i.e., off label use).384 Current FDA Guidance suggests
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that such correspondence is now required to be submitted
to the Agency as part of the postmarketing surveillance
regulatory scheme to the extent that it exhibits a
communication related to promotion of the product.385
Companies that fail to adhere to this guidance may start to
see “social media postmarketing surveillance regulatory
violations” as an additional allegation to a plaintiffs’
boilerplate strict liability and/or negligence claim.
Ensure that your online promotional statements are
consistent with internal statements about the product
A plaintiff’s lawyer is always looking for documents that
show a company “puffing” or over-extolling the efficacy and
safety of its products. Of great assistance to a plaintiff’s
lawyer are documents that show a company making
efficacy and safety claims about its products that are not
entirely consistent with the company’s “confidential”
internal documents or published material. When these
inconsistencies arise—particularly when a company’s
marketing department is not working closely enough with
legal and risk management—the plaintiff lawyer is not only
well-positioned to advance a relevant claim, but is also able
to embarrass the company by asserting that it puts the
company profits over safety and misleads patients and
doctors, or simply its customers.
Ensure that third-parties controlled by the company
make statements online about your product that are
consistent with your own promotion of the product
Paid speakers or Key Opinion Leaders (“KOLs”), and thirdparty
marketers are common in product-driven industries.
To the extent a company has control or exerts influence on
these third parties, the company must ensure whatever
messages are communicated by these parties online are
consistent with internal statements and company
promotional materials. KOLs are often highly sought after
witnesses in product liability litigation. A plaintiff’s lawyer
can easily create an effective demonstrative showing the
KOL’s puffed statement about a product next to the amount
he was paid by the company to opine about the product.
These statements may be found, for example, in online
power point presentations given at an industry conference
or an online abstract of a study or an editorial—all
publically available and ripe for use at a depositions or
evidence at trial.
Beware of Ghostwriting
If the company has editorial rights over the content of the
site or exerts some level of control over an online author,
plaintiff lawyers may be able to convince a court that a
company “ghost writes” information. “Ghost writing” articles
or promotion materials takes place when a company pays
an author to write an article that helps the company sell
more product—i.e., the article states that a product does
not cause an adverse event or that a product helps to solve
a medical issue. Even if the research is sound, articles
“paid for” by a company tend to look underhand and less
sound than objective research in the eyes of the public.
Where a company sponsors a site and has the ability to
change content, the plaintiff will advance a “ghost writing”
argument if litigation ensues, in an attempt to persuade the
court that the company did not have the public’s best
interests in mind. Similarly, using editorial rights to silence
views critical of the company’s products—or favoring a
competitor—would provide further arguments for a plaintiff
lawyer. In addition, “ghost writing” can lead to unwanted,
negative media attention for any company that is accused
of using ghostwritten material for its benefit.386
Potential Causes of Action
Although these problems can occur even without social
media, the sheer magnitude of social media outlets and the
relative informality of their content greatly increases the risk
that statements will be made that may be actionable in law.
Similarly, social media exchanges leave a virtual paper trail
that can be reviewed for an improper communication in a
way that oral communications between a sales
representative and a doctor cannot. As such, examples of
causes of action where Plaintiffs may try to use social
media statements by the company to their advantage in
filing a product liability suit in the United States include:
Negligent misstatement.
Negligent promotion
Negligent labeling
Negligent marketing
Strict liability
Consumer fraud
Breach of warranties
Proposition 65 (CA) violations
Bottom Line—What You Need To Do
By its very nature, social media often begets informal
dialogue that is broadcast more widely than the traditional
marketing media. The more that is said publicly, the greater
the risk that what is said does not square with regulatory
requirements and with what is said privately in internal,
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confidential company documents. For this reason, a
company that chooses to use social media as a marketing
or information tool must involve legal and risk-management
departments in reviewing marketing’s use of chat rooms,
blogs, and external third-party websites (and the content in
those media) and enacting a social media marketing
program. Failure to do so can result in heightened
exposure to legal claims, larger damages, and weakened
defenses.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
Social media implications and applications to advertising
and marketing cannot be ignored; where the consumers
are, and where consumers go, marketing budget ultimately
follows. All companies, regardless of whether or not they
elect to actively participate in the social media arena,
should have policies in place to determine how to respond
to negative comments made about the company and/or its
brands. Companies that seek to play a more active role
should have policies in place that govern marketing agency
and/or employee interaction with social media, as well as
the screening of User-Generated Content. It is critical,
however, that companies do not simply adopt someone
else’s form. Each social media policy should be carefully
considered and should address the goals and strategic
initiatives of the company, and should take into account
industry and business specific considerations.
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r e e d s m i t h . c o m Securities (UK) 85
— CHAPTER 12 —
Securities (UK)
Chapter Authors
Michael J. Young, Partner – myoung@reedsmith.com
James Boulton, Associate – jboulton@reedsmith.com
Alexandra Nelson, Associate – maknelson@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This section examines the law relating to securities and investments, and how that impacts on the use of social media sites on
the Internet. With more than 20 million households (83 percent) in the United Kingdom having access to the Internet and more
than 37.4 million (76 percent) of the adult population in the UK having accessed the Internet (53 percent via a mobile device),
legislation has had to keep pace with the emergence of new technologies and new forms of communication.
Company law has enshrined the use of the electronic communications via the Internet for a decade, and legislation regulating the
promotion of financial products was introduced on a media-neutral basis in order to capture new technologies.
In this Chapter we look at the dissemination of information to the public through electronic means. We also consider the financialpromotion
regime in the United Kingdom and its impact on the use of social media. Finally, we examine the market-abuse regime
in the United Kingdom and its relationship with the use of social media.
Dissemination of Information and Use of
Electronic Communications
The use of electronic means to disseminate information to
investors and the public has been enshrined in English law
ever since 2000. Section 8 of the Electronic
Communications Act 2000 allowed ministers to amend
existing legislation to allow the use of electronic
communications and storage.
The Companies Act 2006 (the “Companies Act”) allows
companies to produce annual reports and annual accounts
electronically and to accept proxy nomination by electronic
communications, provided that the recipient had agreed to
be provided with the documents either electronically or on
a website.
The Companies Act allows shareholders to communicate
with a company by electronic means where the company
has provided an electronic address in a notice to call a
meeting or in an instrument of proxy. Schedule 5 of the
Companies Act also allows companies to send documents
to shareholders in electronic form, thus removing the need
to send paper copies (unless the shareholder requests a
hard copy). A company can also provide information to a
shareholder by the use of a website if that person has
agreed to the use of such website.
The Companies Act generally provides for the sending of
documents in electronic form and by electronic means.
Section 1168 of the Companies Act states that electronic
means includes e-mail or fax, and other means that are in
an electronic form e.g. documents sent on disk. A
document is sent by electronic means if it is sent and
received by electronic equipment or through wire, radio or
optical means. The Companies Act provides in Part 3 of
Schedule 5 that information may be sent or supplied by a
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company if that person has agreed to the provision of
information and such agreement has not been revoked.
The Registrar of Companies (Companies House) for
England and Wales, allows for the incorporation of
companies to be undertaken electronically and for certain
documentation to be filed electronically.
The Companies Act, the Disclosure and
Transparency Rules, and the Listing Rules
The provisions relating to the use of electronic means for
communications between a company and its shareholders
need to be considered in conjunction with the provisions of
the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (“DTRs”). The
DTRs govern the disclosure of information for financial
instruments that have been admitted to trading on a
regulated market, or to which an admission to trading on a
regulated market has been made.
In the event that a company chooses to use electronic
communication, it must comply with certain procedures set
out in the DTRs. For example, the decision to provide
information electronically must be taken in general
meeting.
AIM Companies and the Use of Websites
The Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) is the secondary
market in the United Kingdom. It has its own set of rules
separate from the Listing Rules that apply to Main Market
companies.
Post-admission, each AIM-listed company is required
under AIM Rule 26 to maintain an up-to-date website to
include the following information: (a) description of the
company’s business (and, if an investing company, its
investment strategy); (b) information on directors (including
biographical details); (c) a description of the responsibilities
of the members of the board of directors and details of any
sub-committees; (d) country of incorporation and main
country of operation; (e) details of any other exchanges or
trading platforms on which the company has applied to
have or agreed to have its securities admitted or traded;
(f) the number of shares traded on AIM, the percentage
that are not in public hands, and the identity and holdings
of significant shareholders with an update every six
months; (g) copies of its current constitutional documents;
(h) if not incorporated in the United Kingdom, a statement
that the rights of shareholders may be different from those
of a UK incorporated company; (i) details of any restrictions
on share transfers; (j) the most recent annual report and
any half yearly reports since the last annual reports; (k) any
notifications made in the past 12 months; (m) any
prospectus, admission, circular or similar shareholder
publication published in the past 12 months; (n) details of
the Nominated Adviser and other key advisers.
Main Market Companies and Use of Websites
Where a company has a website it must: (a) make
available on its site all inside information announced via a
Regulated Information Service (“RIS”) by the close of the
business day following the day of the RIS announcement;
and (b) for a period of one year following publication, retain
on its website all inside information that it is required to
disclose via an RIS.
The Combined Code on Corporate Governance (the
“Combined Code”) issued by the Financial Reporting
Commission also recommends that the results of general
meetings, including the number of valid proxy votes and
the number of votes for, against, and abstaining in respect
of each resolution, is contained on a company’s website.
Additionally, where a Combined Code provision requires a
company to "make information available," this information
may be published on the company’s website.
Finally, both the Prospectus Rules and the DTRs allow
certain documents to be published on a company’s website
as an alternative to or as well as physical publication.
Advertising and Promotion of Investments
The Financial Conduct Authority(the “FCA”) is the
regulatory body of England and Wales in respect of the
trading of securities. In order to advise, arrange or manage
investments of securities, the person undertaking such
regulated activity needs to be authorised by the FCA
pursuant to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (
“FSMA”). The FCA took over the responsibility for financial
regulation from the Financial Services Authority (the “FSA”)
in April 2013.
Social media is an attractive option for companies,
investment advisers and brokers, and indeed third parties,
to provide information on investments and investment
strategies. However, care should be taken that compliance
is made with the relevant financial promotion legislation.
Under section 21 of FSMA, there is a general restriction
that a person must not in the course of business,
communicate an invitation or an inducement to engage in
an investment activity such as the purchase of securities.
However, this does not apply to financial promotions that
have been made by an authorised person or approved by
an authorised person. A communication can be written or
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oral, and would therefore cover information on a social
media website or sent by electronic communications.
Breach of section 21 of FSMA is a criminal offence under
section 25 of FSMA and can lead to two years'
imprisonment and/or a fine. Agreements entered into as a
result of an unlawful financial promotion are potentially
unenforceable under section 30 of FSMA, and the person
engaging in investment activity may be entitled to recover
any money paid or property transferred under the
agreement, and to be compensated for any loss as a result
of having parted with the money or property. Furthermore,
a communication of a misleading or inaccurate financial
promotion could result in a claim for misrepresentation,
criminal liability for misleading statements under insider
dealing legislation, section 397 of FSMA, and/or civil
liability under the market-abuse regime.
The FCA’s financial-promotion regime is intended to be
media-neutral and to accommodate new methods of
communication, such as via the Internet and other
electronic media, as well as traditional methods of
communication, such as newspapers, radio and television.
Individual advertisements on a website may constitute a
financial promotion. However, the entire website may be a
financial promotion if the sole function of the website is to
advertise the services of a company for the purposes of
inviting or inducing viewers to enter into investment activity.
The FCA is of the view that the person who causes the
website to be created, i.e., the person who is the owner of
the website rather than the web designer or the Internet
service provider hosting the website, is the “communicator”
for the purposes of FSMA. The FCA does not itself approve
financial promotions. Instead, the financial promotion must
be made either in reliance on an applicable exemption in
the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial
Promotion) Order 2005 (the “FPO”), or it must be approved
by an FCA authorised person. The FCA relies on the fact
that senior management should take responsibility for the
financial promotion pursuant to the Senior Management
Arrangements, Systems and Controls (“SYSC”) in the FCA
Handbook.
A major difference between social media and traditional
media is that the Internet has a far wider geographical
scope than traditional methods of communication as it can
be accessed, and information can be received, globally.
This does raise the issue that it would be difficult to restrict
access to persons in specific jurisdictions, and therefore a
website could be subject to regulations of several
jurisdictions.
The territorial scope of the financial-promotion regime
under FSMA includes any communication directed from the
UK to another person, or a communication originating
outside the United Kingdom where the communication is
capable of having an effect in the United KingdomFSMA.
There are a number of exemptions in the FPO in relation to
geographical scope, the type of communication, the
recipient, (e.g., institutional investors, high net-worth
individuals and overseas investors), the communicator
(e.g., journalists, overseas communicators and
governmental authorities), communications relating to
securities and listing matters (e.g., promotions required or
permitted by market rules, promotions of securities already
admitted to certain markets) and company communications
(e.g., group companies and annual accounts and directors
reports).
The financial promotion regime applies to both written and
oral communications, where a communication is “made to”
or “directed at” another person. A communication is “made
to” another person if it is addressed verbally or in legible
form to a particular person or persons, whereas a
communication is “directed at” one or more persons if it is
addressed to persons generally.
A distinction is made in many exemptions between real
time and non-real time communications, and solicited and
non-solicited real time communications. A “real time”
communication is a communication made in the course of a
personal visit, telephone call or other interactive dialogue.
A “non-real time” communication is a communication that is
not a real time communication. Financial promotions
communicated via a website are deemed to be non-real
time communications directed at one or more persons
generally. As a rule, a greater number of exemptions apply
to non-real time communications or solicited real time
communications, as it is thought that recipients should be
granted greater protection in circumstances where they are
being asked to react immediately, or in "cold-calling"
situations.
Financial promotions that are not subject to an exemption
must be “clear, fair and not misleading” under the FCA’s
financial promotion rules. The rules for the financial
promotion of securities can be found in chapter 4 of the
FCA’s Conduct of Business Sourcebook (“COBS’) for
savings and investments.
In 2007, the FCA undertook a review of 130 websites, of
which only 75 percent were deemed to meet the FCA’s
standards.
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Of the 25 percent of the websites that failed to reach the
“clear, fair and not misleading standards” of the FCA, the
firms had failed to present key information in a clear and
logical manner (including risk warnings not being clearly
presented, details of fees and exclusions being hidden in
FAQ sections). In some instances general website
maintenance was also lacking, resulting in out-of-date or
incorrect information being provided to consumers.
The FCA is keen to ensure compliance with the standards
it has set, and it has stated that it will take direct action
against companies that are not in compliance. This could
include requiring companies to amend the financial
promotion or, in extreme cases, for the company to be
fined or publicly named. In 2013 the FCA issued a total of
£472.3m of fines against over 40 firms representing a 52
percent increase on the £311.6m fines issued in 2012. In
November 2013 the FCA also launched a review of 90% of
all price-comparison websites, the results of which (and
any resulting actions) are expected in 2014.
It is not only the content of the website itself that may be
caught by the financial promotion regime, but also
hyperlinks, banner advertisements and sponsored links.
Hyperlinks may or may not be a financial promotion in
itself. Whether a hyperlink is a financial promotion will
depend on the nature of the hypertext link and the context
in which it is placed. However, taken in isolation, a
hypertext link that is purely the name or logo of the
destination will not be a financial promotion in its own right.
More sophisticated links, such as banners or changeable
text, may be financial promotions. Material on a host
website that contains the hypertext link may in itself also be
a financial promotion if it contains text that seeks to
encourage or incite persons to activate the link with a view
to engaging in investment activity.
Banner advertisements on a website are the Internet
equivalent of an advertisement in a newspaper and are
almost bound to be inducements. So whether they are
inducements to engage in investment activity will depend
upon their contents, as with any other form of advertising.
Sponsored links are text-based advertisements returned
from keyword searches on a search engine or associated
website. Depending on their content, a sponsored link and
search engine results may also be a financial promotion, if
they induce consumers to take out a regulated product or
use a firm's services. Companies must, therefore, ensure
all their communications, including sponsored links, are
fair, clear and not misleading.
Clive Gordon (formerly Head of the Conduct Risk
Department at the FSA) gave a speech in September 2012
where he discussed online financial promotions and
emphasised the need for banner advertisements to be
stand-alone compliant; roll-over risk warnings and risk
warnings requiring a person to ‘click’ the banner would not
be sufficient.
1. Digital media stays in circulation longer than traditional
media;
2. The media channel may not be suitable for all,
certainly complex, products;
3. Risk information must be prominent and clearly
displayed;
4. Must meet stand-alone compliance; and
5. Information must be full and sufficient.
Social Media and the Market-Abuse Regime
Social media allows the dissemination of information to the
public at large, and more and more investors are exploiting
the use of social media, such as bulletin boards and blogs.
There are dedicated forums on the Internet, such as shareforum.
co.uk, Interactive Investors (iii.co.uk) and
trade2win.co.uk, for investors to meet and discuss the
trading of securities. These forums, together with the likes
of Facebook and Twitter, mean that there is a real risk that
price-sensitive or confidential information could be made
public. The result of unauthorised disclosure of this
information could be caught by the market-abuse regime
under FSMA and insider dealing rules under Part V of the
Criminal Justice Act 1993 (“CJA”).
Market Abuse
Market abuse is a civil offence under sections 118 and
118A of FSMA. The FCA has published an on-line
handbook, which in turn contains the Code of Market
Conduct (“MAR”), which provides examples of matters that
constitute market abuse.
FSMA provides for seven different types of behaviour that
constitute market abuse: (a) insider dealing; (b) disclosure
of information; (c) misuse of information; (d) manipulating
transactions; (e) manipulating devices; (f) dissemination;
and (g) marketing distortion. Not all of the seven
behaviours have a social media aspect, but those that do
are considered below.
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Insider Dealing
Insider dealing under s.118(2) of FSMA and MAR 1.3 is
where an insider deals, or attempts to deal, in a qualifying
investment or related investment on the basis of inside
information relating to that qualifying investment.
This runs parallel to the criminal offences for insider
dealing under Part V of the CJA. A person deals as an
insider when: (a) he deals on a regulated market or through
or as a professional intermediary in securities whose price
would be significantly affected if the inside information were
made public; (b) he encourages another person to deal on
a regulated market or through or as a professional
intermediary in such securities; or (c) he discloses the
inside information, except in the proper performance of his
employment, office or profession.
Information is held “as an insider” if the individual knows
that it was acquired from an inside source and that it is
inside information. Information is obtained from an inside
source if the individual has obtained it: (a) because he is a
director, shareholder or employee of an issuer (not
necessarily the company or institution to which the
information relates); (b) by virtue of his employment, office
or profession; or (c) directly or indirectly, from a person
noted in (a) and (b).
Information is “inside information” if: (a) it relates to
particular securities or to a particular issuer or issuers and
not to securities or issuers generally; and (b) it is specific or
precise; and (c) it has not been made public; or (d) if it
were made public it would be likely to have a significant
effect on the price of any securities.
Insider dealing is punishable with imprisonment of up to
seven years, or a fine, or both, under section 61 of the
CJA.
While since March 2009, there have only been 23
convictions, since taking over from the FSA in April 2013,
the FCA has continued to investigate insider dealing and
pushed for prosecutions, resulting in a further seven
individuals being prosecuted.
In R v Neel and Matthew Uberoi (2009). Matthew Uberoi
and his father, Neel Uberoi, were found guilty of 12 counts
of insider dealing under section 52 of the CJA at Southwark
Crown Court. Matthew Uberoi had been an intern at a
corporate broking firm in 2006, working on a number of
price sensitive deals. Uberoi passed inside information
about deals in three companies to his father, who then
purchased shares in those companies and made a profit of
about £110,000 based on this inside information. Matthew
and Neel Uberoi were subsequently sentenced to 12- and
24-months prison sentences, respectively, in December
2009. This information could, of course, have been
obtained through a social media conduit.
Disclosure of Inside Information
Disclosure of inside information under s.118(3) of FSMA is
where an insider discloses inside information to another
person other than in the course of his employment,
profession or duties.
In November 2009, Alexei Krilov-Harrison, a stockbroker,
was fined the sum of £24,000 for disclosing insider
information to a number of clients in order to persuade
them to buy shares in Provexis Plc. Krilov-Harrison had
received inside information that Provexis, an AIM-traded
company, had signed a major contract with an international
food company. An announcement was scheduled to be
released to the market in two days, and the company's
share price was expected to increase as a result. Prior to
the announcement, Krilov-Harrison disclosed the
information by telephone to three clients who then
proceeded to buy shares. Although the disclosure of the
inside information was made by telephone, it could have
been made through a bulletin board or a blog.
Manipulating Devices
Manipulating devices under s.118(6) of FSMA and MAR
1.7 is when transactions or orders to trade, employ
fictitious or any other form of deception or contrivance.
An example of social media would be using a site such as
Twitter or Facebook to voice an opinion about securities (or
the issuer) while having previously taken positions on those
securities subsequently from the impact of the opinions
voiced on the price of that security, without having
simultaneously disclosed that conflict of interest to the
public in a proper and effective way.
Dissemination
Dissemination under s.118(7) of FSMA and MAR 1.8 is
concerned with the dissemination of information by any
means that gives, or is likely to give, a false or misleading
impression as to the value of securities by a person who
knew or could reasonably be expected to know that the
information was false or misleading.
An example of this would be if a person posts information
on an Internet bulletin board or chat room that contains
false or misleading statements about the takeover of a
company, and the person knows that the information is
false or misleading.
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Misleading Statements and Market
Manipulation
Making misleading statements and market manipulation
are criminal offences under section 397 of FSMA.
Misleading Statements
It is a criminal offence under s.397(1) of FSMA for a person
to: (a) make a statement, promise or forecast that he
knows to be misleading, false or deceptive in a material
particular, or dishonestly conceal any material facts; or
(b) recklessly make (dishonestly or otherwise) a statement,
promise or forecast that is misleading, false or deceptive in
a material particular for the purpose of inducing, or being
reckless as to whether it may induce, another person to
enter, or offer to enter into, or refrain from entering or
offering to enter into, a relevant agreement, or to exercise,
or refrain from exercising any rights conferred by a relevant
investment.
This would include, for example: a statement, promise or
forecast that induces or is likely to induce a shareholder to
sell or refrain from selling shares could constitute an
offence if the person making the statement knew or was
reckless as to whether it was misleading, false, or
deceptive, or if it dishonestly concealed any material facts.
It is easy to see how there could be a situation where an
individual could post on a bulletin board or on Facebook or
Twitter, and it would constitute a misleading statement.
The former FSA commenced proceedings against four
former directors of iSoft Group Plc – Patrick Cryne,
Stephen Graham, Timothy Whiston and John Whelan – for
conspiracy to make misleading statements to investors
pursuant to s.397(1) of FSMA, and the directors appeared
before the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in
January 2010. iSoft Group Plc had been under
investigation since 2006 for accounting irregularities. The
company was forced to restate its profits for the financial
years 2004 and 2005 because of a radical change in its
accounting practices, as a consequence of the discovery
that profits had been counted as soon as contracts had
been awarded, as opposed to after the work had been
completed and payment received (iSoft had been engaged
as a software supplier for the new £12.7 billion computer
systems for the National Health Service). . The
restatement of profits meant that operating profit for 2005
was reduced from £72 million to zero, and revenues were
revised from £262 million to £190 million. The revised
figures led to a mass sell-off of shares by investors, leading
to a 90 percent fall in the value of the company before its
eventual sale to IBA Health Group, an Australian
information technology company.
Market Manipulation
The criminal offence of market manipulation under s.397(3)
of FSMA is committed if: (a) any person does any act or
engages in any course of conduct that creates a false or
misleading impression as to the market in, or the price or
value of, any investments; and (b) that person does the act
or engages in that course of action (i) for the purpose of
creating that false or misleading impression and (ii) for the
purpose of thereby inducing that other person to deal or not
to deal in those investments. As with a misleading
statement, it is easy to see how a posting on a social
networking site could lead to a charge of market
manipulation if that statement would lead to a false or
misleading impression as to the market.
In June 2008, following a case at the Financial Services
and Markets Tribunal, the FSA found that Winterflood and
two of its traders had played a pivotal role in an illegal
share ramping scheme relating to Fundamental-E
Investments Plc (“FEI”), an AIM-listed company. It was
noted that the market maker had misused rollovers and
delayed rollovers, thereby creating a distortion in the
market for FEI shares, and misleading the market for
approximately six months in 2004.
The FEI share trades executed by Winterflood had several
features that should have alerted the market maker to the
clear and substantial risks of market manipulation.
However, instead of ensuring that the trades were genuine,
Winterflood continued the highly profitable trading.
Winterflood made about £900,000 from trading in FEI
shares. The FSA decided to impose fines of £4 million on
Winterflood, and £200,000 and £50,000 on the two traders
as a consequence of their respective actions.
More recently the FCA has fined a US trader approximately
£600,000 for manipulative trading known as ‘layering’
which uses an algorithmic programme to manipulate
perceived buyer/seller interest in the market.
Archiving and Social Media
A number of regulations govern data breaches and
archiving, which may well have an impact on social media.
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
MiFID is a directive of the European Union designed for
investment firms operating in the European Economic
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Area. MiFID contains a number of provisions designed to
protect the integrity of financial transactions, including the
transparency of transactions and types of information that
must be captured when clients place trades. COBS
specifically requires instant messaging conversations to be
retained when trades are referenced. At the moment,
Twitter is not used to transmit and execute trading orders.
However, should it be so used in the future, such posts
would also have to be retained.
FSA Handbook
The FCA Handbook contains a number of requirements
that may have an impact on the use of social media.
Pursuant to section 3.2.20 of the Senior Management
Arrangements, Systems and Controls (SYSC) in the FCA
Handbook, a firm must take reasonable care to make and
retain accurate records of matters and dealing, including
accounting records.
Under SYSC 9.1.1, a firm must arrange for orderly records
to be kept of its business and internal organisation,
including all services and transactions undertaken by it,
which must be sufficient to enable the FCA or any other
relevant competent authority under MiFID to monitor the
firm's compliance with the requirements under the
regulatory system, and in particular to ascertain that the
firm has complied with all obligations to clients.
Under SYSC 9.1.2, a firm must retain all records kept by it
in relation to its MiFID business for a period of at least five
years.
In relation to the retention of records for non-MiFID
business, a firm should have appropriate systems and
controls in place with respect to the adequacy of, access
to, and the security of its records, so that the firm may fulfil
its regulatory and statutory obligations. As for retention
periods, the general principle is that records should be
retained for as long as is relevant for the purposes for
which they are made, and that sensitive information is not
leaked via social media.
The obligation to retain records also applies to information
passing via electronic means. Legislation has previously
passed on information passing via telephone but careful
consideration also needs to be given to social networking
tools, and posts to social networking sites which should be
retained in the same way as instant messages would be.
Conclusion
When considering the appropriateness of the use of social
media, care must be taken to ensure compliance with the
relevant legislation.
Companies should ensure that when undertaking any form
of financial promotion, the financial promotion complies
with the “clear, fair and not misleading” standards of the
FCA and is approved by a person authorised by the FCA,
or that the financial promotion is subject to an exemption
under the FPO.
Companies should ensure that they have adequate
security procedures in place to prevent unauthorised
access to confidential information, and that employees are
aware of their obligations regarding the non-disclosure of
price-sensitive information, and the appropriate use of
electronic communications.
Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
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— CHAPTER 13 —
Securities (U.S.)
Chapter Authors387
Amy J. Greer, Partner – agreer@reedsmith.com
Daniel Z. Herbst, Senior Associate – dherbst@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media and the securities sector. A 2013 University of Massachusetts Study
of the Fortune 500388 found that 77% of Fortune 500 companies have an active Twitter account, leading all other social media
platforms. This is an increase over 70% in 2012. The study found that in 2013, 171 companies (34%) had corporate blogs,
showing the largest increase in use of this platform since the study began in 2008, and 348 companies (70%) are now on
Facebook, a modest 4% increase since last year. But the largest companies are not alone in the securities sector. Issuers,
brokers, investment advisors, investors, and the industry’s primary regulator, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(“SEC”), increasingly have embraced social media as a recognized a means of conducting business and engaging the
marketplace. Wall Street financial institutions have Facebook pages, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies share information via
Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, and the SEC, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) all maintain multiple Twitter feeds. Furthermore, new emerging markets have formed around the
very medium of social media dubbed “crowdfunding.”
With ever pervasive involvement of market participants, using social media requires careful consideration, supervision, and
training to comply with the legal constructs from decades-old securities laws that demand timely, fair, and accurate dissemination
of information. While the rewards of social media have the potential to be lucrative, those participating in the securities sector
must be aware of the risks associated with instant, unfettered, and difficult to supervise conversations in the ever evolving
regulatory landscape, which continues to receive significant regulatory scrutiny.
We begin by examining the use of social media by public companies to disseminate information to the market. Next, we consider
how companies selling or marketing securities can use social media for advertising or promotion. Next, we look at social media
in the context of raising private capital and the implementation of the JOBS Act. We then examine potential liability that may
arise when issuers, their employees, or business partners share information via social media. Finally, we examine how
companies can be victimized when social media is exploited to manipulate the market in a company’s stock, or to disclose
misappropriated (or stolen) material non-public information (e.g., false rumor cases, market manipulation).
Social Media in Action in the Securities
Sector
Regulation FD and Making Information Public
Recognizing that the availability of the Internet has
broadened substantially and that, for example, more than
80 percent of mutual fund owners have Internet access,
regulators have taken steps to permit (and even
encourage) disclosures and other communication
electronically.
While the majority of companies still distribute their
earnings announcements and other investor disclosures
through traditional paid public relations wire services, some
large companies, such as Expedia, Inc. and Google Inc.,
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are taking advantage of the SEC guidance on using
company websites for disclosure under Regulation FD, and
moving toward exclusively providing this information
through their websites and in some cases, through social
media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
Regulation FD governs the public disclosure of material
information and requires that such information be
disseminated by methods of disclosure “reasonably
designed to provide broad, non-exclusionary distribution of
the information to the public.” The purpose of Regulation
FD is to avoid selective disclosure by promoting full and fair
dissemination of information. The SEC now recognizes
social media channels of distribution for required and other
public information disclosures (either to meet regulatory
obligations or in connection with individual securities
transactions).
In an August 7, 2008 interpretive release followed by a
disclosure interpretation issued on August 14, 2009, the
SEC addressed the use of company websites for
disclosures. This Guidance explains the general contours
of Regulation FD applicable to sharing information through
social media outlets, as well as the potential for issuer
liability for information the company or its employees post
on blogs, networks, or discussion forums. In these
releases, the SEC made it clear that companies can use
their websites for disclosure if their websites are a
“recognized channel” for reaching investors when (1) the
medium is a “recognized channel of distribution; (2) posting
to the site disseminates information in a manner making it
available to the securities marketplace in general; and (3)
there is a reasonable waiting period for investors and the
market to react to posted information. U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, Release No. 34-58288,
Commission Guidance on the Use of Company Web Sites
18, 25 (2008).
On April 2, 2013, the SEC updated its guidance in the form
of a Report of Investigation indicating that Twitter,
Facebook, and other social media channels could be used
by public companies to disseminate material information
without running afoul of Regulation FD. U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission, Release No. 69279, Report of
Investigation (2013). Recognizing that social media is an
extension of website, blogs, and RSS feeds discussed in
the 2008 guidance, the Report of Investigation referred
companies to the 2008 interpretive release and suggested
that Reg FD’s “recognized channel of distribution”
standards apply in the context of social media.
Critically, the guidance focused on the need of issuers to
provide investors with notice of the particular social media
“channel” that the company intends to use to disseminate
non-public information. The SEC noted that without notice,
the investing public would have to keep pace with a
“changing and expanding universe of potential disclosure
channels.” The Report of Investigation noted that in order
to provide such notice to investors of the social media
channel, a company should include references to the
channel in registration statements, periodic reports, or
press releases, and on the corporate website(s).
While the April 2013 Report clarified that social media can
be a “recognized channel,” it also noted that whether notice
and use of the channel complies with Regulation FD and
other securities laws must be evaluated on its own facts.
The SEC’s Report of Investigation explained that
dissemination of information on a corporate officer’s Twitter
feed, absent advance notice to investors that the feed may
be used to disseminate material non-public information
may not qualify as an accepted method of communication
and could run afoul of Regulation FD.
In another example, in January 2013, Zipcar filed a short 8-
K with the SEC noting disclosures made by its CEO on his
Twitter feed following the announcement that Avis would
be buying the company for $500 million. The filing was
likely done because there was no prior identification of the
Twitter feed as a channel of dissemination and because
the transaction was subject to shareholder approval.
Based on this guidance, it is incumbent upon issuers
whose officers or agents participate in social media to
establish internal social media policies for its employees
and officers so that the company speaks with one voice.
Moreover, companies must provide outward facing
materials on websites, press releases, registration filings,
or periodic statements to inform investors where they can
look to receive non-public information about the company
in accordance with SEC guidance. Use of social media to
disseminate information without required public notice
could result in an enforcement investigation or action. As
Regulation FD was designed to ensure fair dissemination
of information and avoid selective disclosure, market
participants that trade on selectively-disclosed information
ahead of more broadly disclosed information potentially
face more severe penalties.
Advertising and Promotion in the Securities
Sector
Social media also offers an opportunity to provide
information in connection with a transaction or to promote a
particular investment or investment strategy. As such, it
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could be a very effective and attractive tool for investment
advisers, investment companies and broker-dealers. If,
however, the promotion or disclosure is held to be
inadequate or otherwise violative of regulatory
requirements, it could result in an investigation or action by
regulatory authorities. Although there are risks, numerous
registered investment advisers (“RIAs”) use social media
platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn,
YouTube, Twitter, and blogs for business purposes,
because social media is an inexpensive and effective way
for them to communicate with clients and prospective
clients.
The SEC and FINRA released an Investor Alert on June
12, 2013 concerning “pump and dump” stock emails.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inbox Alert—Don’t
Trade on Pump-And-Dump Stock Emails (6/12/2013). The
alert warned investors of similar advertisements made on
“social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as on
bulletin boards and chat room pages.” Another recent
Investor Alert warned of advance-fee scams using fake
regulator Facebook websites and false broker identities.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Well-Traveled
Fraud—Advance-Fee Scams Target Non-U.S. Investors
Using Fake Regulator Websites and False Broker Identities
(3/22/2012).
Investment advisers, investment companies, brokerdealers,
and other regulated persons and entities must
take great care to ensure that they obtain the proper
approval before using social media tools to avoid being
lumped in with illegal scammers.
Broker-Dealers and Their Registered Representatives
Registered representatives (“RR”) subject to Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) regulations need to
obtain the approval of their broker-dealer compliance
department before posting any business communication on
the Internet. Static postings are considered
advertisements, and FINRA has published guidelines for
use of social media by registered representatives, in a
regulatory notice issued January 25, 2010, clarified and
expanded upon by a second notice issued August 22,
2011. The goal of these notices was to ensure that as the
use of social media increases over time, investors are
protected from false or misleading representations and that
financial firms are able to effectively supervise their
associated persons’ participation in these forms of
communication. The key issues addressed in FINRA’s
regulatory notices include the following:
Recordkeeping responsibilities: Every firm that
communicates through social media sites must retain
records of any communications in order to comply with the
Securities Exchange Act and FINRA rules that require
broker-dealers to retain electronic communications related
to their business.
Suitability responsibilities: If a firm recommends a
security through a social media site, it is required to ensure
that the recommendation is suitable for every investor to
whom it is made under FINRA Rule 2111 (formerly NASD
Rule 2310). FINRA recommends that firms use those
features of social media sites that limit the ability to access
information to a select group of individuals in order to meet
this requirement. Further, communications that recommend
specific investment products may trigger, for example, the
FINRA sustainability rule and other requirements under
federal securities laws, which may create substantive
liability for a firm or a registered representative.
Static versus interactive content: Whether content
posted by a firm or registered representative is “static” or
“interactive” will determine which supervisory rules apply.
Unscripted, real-time communications are considered
interactive, although they may become static if reposted
after they occur. A single social media website, page, or
user account may contain both static and interactive
content. For example, static postings may be made to a
Facebook page, while the same Facebook account is used
for interactive instant messaging. Each of these types of
communication will be subject to different rules.
Approval or supervision of content posted on a social
media site: If the content to be posted on a social media
site is considered to be static, it must be approved by a
registered principal at the firm prior to posting. A material
change to such a posting requires prior approval as well. If
content to be posted is interactive and unscripted, preapproval
is not required, but the firm must still monitor such
posting to ensure that it does not violate applicable content
requirements. Additionally, the firm is required to preapprove
the design of any relevant website created by an
associated person, even if only interactive content will be
posted there.
Supervision of social media sites: FINRA members must
adopt procedures and policies that are reasonably
designed to ensure that communications through social
media do not violate FINRA or Securities Exchange Act
rules or laws. The supervisory system that will be optimal
will be different for each firm, but some consistent themes
are clear. The system should include a combination of prior
review by a principal and retrospective review, with the
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precise mix depending on the nature of the communication.
One investment firm has announced a program to allow its
financial advisors to disseminate pre-approved updates
through private messages using social media and to send
invitations and introductions. The reaction of regulators to
this approach deserves close attention. Above all, a firm
must ensure through its policies and procedures that its
associated persons who participate in social media for
business purposes are appropriately supervised, have the
necessary training and background for such activities, and
do not present undue risks to investors.
In December 2013. the SEC gave final approval to
significant changes to FINRA’s supervisory rules and, in
March 2014, FINRA announced that new supervisory rules
will become effective December 2014. . See Notice
http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regulation/Notices/2014/P465
941 In addition to reaffirming and consolidating prior rules,
the new supervisory rules require “risk-based review” of
additional types of incoming, outgoing, or internal
communications and whether the member should require a
review and update of existing policies and procedures.
Such a risk based review may require members to
reassess how the member uses social media and take
additional steps to implement supervisory policies on use
by its registered reps and other employees.
Third-party posts: When a third party posts content on a
social media site established by a firm or its employees,
FINRA generally does not treat such posts as the firm’s
communication with the public, and thus the responsibilities
described above do not apply to those posts. However,
third-party content will be attributable to the firm if the firm
has either involved itself in the preparation of the content or
endorsed it explicitly or implicitly.
In any event, third-party posts relating to the firm’s
business remain subject to recordkeeping requirements as
communications received by the firm. Like third-party
posts, third-party content linked from a firm’s website will
be attributable to the firm if the firm has been involved in its
preparation or is deemed to have endorsed it.
Additionally, a firm may not link to a third-party site if the
firm knows or has reason to know that it contains false or
misleading content. Having “reason to know” encompasses
red flags that ought to prompt further investigation. More
stringent requirements apply to a firm incorporating a thirdparty
vendor’s data feed directly into its website. The firm is
under an affirmative duty to inform itself of the criteria used
by the vendor to gather the data and must evaluate the
proficiency of the vendor to supply accurate data. The firm
also must periodically review the data for indications of
unreliability.
Use of personal sites and devices by an associated
person: A firm’s compliance responsibilities apply to all
communications of its associated persons that concern the
firm’s business, regardless of whether those
communications are made via the firm’s website, social
media account, or device or the associated person’s
personal website, social media account, or device. If a firm
allows its associated persons to make business-related
communications via their own personal means, it must
supervise those means and follow record-retention
requirements. Conversely, if the firm will not supervise and
preserve records of a communication channel belonging to
an associated person, it must prohibit the use of that
communication channel for business-related
communications. A firm must train its associated persons
on the difference between business and non-business
communications and on their duties with respect to the
former.
FINRA Issues “Sweep Letter” Seeking Social Media
Data from Member Firms: In June 2013, FINRA sent a
targeted examination letter or “sweep letter” to its member
firms inquiring into use of social media and the supervisory
measures in place to oversee its use. FINRA sent the
letter under authority of FINRA Rule 2210(c)(6), which
allows FINRA to periodically “spot check” member firms’
written and electronic communications. FINRA’s sweep
letter requested an explanation of the member’s use of
social media, identification of all media used by each
member and who at each member firm controls the media,
information related to the member’s supervisory policies
and procedures related to social media, member’s
compliance and training efforts related to social media, and
a list with sales data for of the each member’s top 20
producing representatives using social media.
Data from this sweep is likely to reveal that some members
and their representatives failed to comply with applicable
rules and potentially could lead to disciplinary actions. The
sweep may also impact future FINRA rule-making or
guidance in this area. More importantly, brokerage firms
should conduct internal reviews of their social media
policies and procedures to ensure not only that the
procedures reflect current law but that the firm is
implementing and training its registered representatives,
supervisors, and compliance officers to adequately enforce
those policies and procedures.
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Registered Investment Advisers
Statements of Registered Investment Advisors (“RIAs”) and
their representatives amounting to advertisements, which
include most postings about the firm made to publicly
accessible forums, are subject to similar requirements
under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and SEC rules.
Those sources also contain record-retention requirements
that apply more broadly, not only to advertisements.
Illustrating its interest in the area of social media, the SEC
issued a broad document request to RIAs in February 2011
concerning employees’ use of the technologies. The SEC’s
Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination
(“OCIE”) published a summary of its findings in a January
2012 Risk Alert, which contains some useful guidance.
RIAs are generally responsible for self-supervision by chief
compliance officers. In light of that, RIAs have perhaps
somewhat greater flexibility than those subject to FINRA
regulations when using social media. Nevertheless, care
should be taken to avoid publishing securities
recommendations or any testimonials, both of which are
explicitly prohibited by the SEC and state regulatory
authorities. Additionally, even though communications with
current clients are not usually viewed as advertisements,
they might fall into that category if circumstances suggest
that the purpose of the communication is to sell additional
advisory services or to attract new clients.
Testimonials: Certain types of social media, expressly or
implicitly, violate the prohibition on testimonials contained
in Rule 206(4)-1(a)(1) under the Investment Advisers Act.
A testimonial is a statement relating to a client’s experience
with, or endorsement of, an RIA or its representative.
The SEC’s January 2012 Risk Alert suggests that tools in
the nature of the “like” button on Facebook may constitute
testimonials, that RIAs should consider measures to
disable their use, and that more robust monitoring might be
required if disabling the tools is not possible, so that
offending content can be removed swiftly. If a mere “like”
on Facebook may constitute a testimonial, then a
professional recommendation on LinkedIn is of even
greater concern.
It should be understood that a “like” or a recommendation
posted with reference to an RIA or its representative may
constitute a testimonial regardless of whether it was
solicited or volunteered. And it may constitute a testimonial
regardless of whether its author is a client or only a friend
or family member of the RIA’s representative.
False or misleading statements: Recommendations are
also likely to be viewed as false or misleading if motivated
by an undisclosed interest by the recommender.
Recommendations also have the inherently misleading
characteristic of excluding criticism. Thus,
recommendations posted on social media might violate
Rule 206(4)-1(a)(5), which bars any advertisement that is
false or misleading in any way.
Twitter and Facebook present additional dangers of false
or misleading statements. RIA representatives may send
messages in haste, thereby increasing the risk of
inaccuracy. A tweet is limited to 140 characters, which
leads to the use of abbreviations, raising the risk of
inadvertently misleading language. Necessary
qualifications and disclosures may be left out.
Profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media
platforms should be scrutinized to ensure that they are not
false or misleading and should be consistent with the RIA’s
advisory contract, as well as with its website and other
advertisements. All references to performance may be
subject to the SEC’s guidance in the Clover Capital noaction
letter, which requires that performance results be
presented on a net-of-fees basis and that advisers make
numerous disclosures when providing performance results.
In addition, RIAs must take care not to violate Rule 206(4)-
1(a)(2) under the Investment Advisers Act, which restricts
advertisements referring to specific recommendations
made by an RIA that were, or would have been, profitable
to any person.
Supervision of social media sites: RIAs should ensure
that their compliance manuals incorporate policies and
procedures regarding the use of social media by their
employees. RIAs have four general options: (1) allow
employees to post information about the advisory firm but
require pre-approval by the firm’s compliance department
(a supervisory nightmare); (2) allow posting, but only of
pre-approved content created by the firm and provided to
employees for that purpose; (3) allow posting only to
forums that are not publicly accessible; or (4) categorically
prohibit the posting of any information about the firm, other
than the mere fact of the poster’s employment, whether in
a public or private forum.
The SEC’s January 2012 Risk Alert emphasizes that the
policies a firm adopts should be risk-based, meaning
tailored to the particular risk factors that a firm faces and
selected after evaluating the effectiveness of existing
policies. The Alert states that retrospective review of
posted content, as opposed to prior approval, may not be
adequate under all circumstances. Also, although the
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appropriate level of monitoring may be achievable only with
the help of outside vendors, the firm remains responsible
for the adequacy of those measures.
The Alert also warns of a duty to monitor any changes in
the operation of a social media site that might compromise
client privacy. The SEC seems to be envisioning a scenario
in which an RIA’s or a representative’s privacy settings
initially conceal information regarding its contacts, but then
a design change exposes the information unless new
settings are elected. If the protection of client information
cannot be ensured, the Alert goes on to say, then the use
of the site may not be appropriate.
Training is a critical component of any RIA’s compliance
regime. RIAs should make all employees aware that
posting any information about their advisory firm on a
social media site is considered advertising and, as such, is
subject to SEC rules and firm policies and procedures. An
advisory firm should also require all employees to affirm
that they are in compliance with the firm’s rules regarding
advertising and electronic communications. The firm’s chief
compliance officer should also periodically inspect popular
social media sites for violations of either Rule 206(4)-1 or
the firm’s own policies and procedures.
Security: The Risk Alert warns of the potential for social
media to serve as an entrée to hackers. It advises
maintaining appropriate walls to separate sensitive
information from social media sites.
Recordkeeping responsibilities: The Investment
Adviser’s Act imposes similar recordkeeping requirements
to those applicable broker-dealers. The SEC’s January
2012 Risk Alert emphasizes that the content of a
communication, rather than the medium, determines
whether it is subject to recordkeeping requirements. If a
particular social media channel is not compatible with
recordkeeping requirements, then it should not be used for
communications that are subject to those requirements.
Training, monitoring, and other policies should be designed
to achieve that end.
One recent enforcement action brought by the SEC389
underscores the point. An alleged fraudster operating an
RIA was accused of, among other violations,
communicating with prospective clients via a web-based
email account, LinkedIn, and Trade Key, each of which
automatically deleted messages after six months, while he
did nothing to preserve the communications.
Even the SEC is now using Twitter, underscoring its
attention to social media. One of the SEC’s very first tweets
discussed a recent enforcement action against a RIA. It
stands to reason that if the SEC is on Twitter, then it is
capable of finding compliance violations in social media.
Mutual Funds
Following the OCIE Risk Alert, on March 15, 2013, the
SEC’s Division of Investment Management Division (“IM”)
sought to clarify filing requirements for mutual funds with
respect certain social media interactive content. U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, IM Guidance, Filing
Requirements for Certain Electronic Communications, No.
2013-1 (March 2013).
Under Section 24 of the Investment Company Act and Rule
497 of the Securities Exchange Act, mutual funds must
pre-file with FINRA all communications or advertisements
that the fund intends to disseminate to the public. The
applicability of these pre-filing rules with respect to social
media or what IM describes as “interactive content” posted
in real time interactive forums remained unclear. The
industry tended to err on the side of being over inclusive,
extensively filing all forms of potential interactive content
with FINRA.
Prompted by the “flood” of interactive content filings, the
2013 IM guidance instructs mutual funds to use some
discretion based on a set of prudential guideposts. The
guidance suggests that the determination of whether to file
certain interactive content as advertising is dependent
upon “the content, context, and presentation of the
particular communication” and “consideration of the facts
and circumstances, such as whether the interactive
communication is merely a response to a request or inquiry
. . . or is forwarding previously filed content.”
The IM guidance provides several sample illustrations on
when filing is required and when filing is not required.
Broadly speaking, the guidance provides that interactive
content should be filed in the following instances:
Reference to a fund’s performance or elements of a
fund’s performance (“Our quarter-end returns have
exceeded our expectations!” or “The fund’s
performance rebounded in Q3!”)
Reference to the merits of investment in the fund
(“Looking for dividends?” or “As you plan for
retirement, consider our new fund”).
Pursuant to the IM Guidance, pre-filing is not required in
the following instances:
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Incidental mention of an investment company or fund
family not related to the investment merits of the fund
(“Fund X Family invites you to their annual benefit for
XYZ charity.”).
Incidental use of the word “performance” in connection
without discussion of the elements of a fund’s return in
the communication, including where the issuer refers
a person to previously filed performance results. (“We
update the performance of our funds every month and
publish the results on <filed website link>”)
A factual introductory statement forwarding or
including a hyperlink to a fund prospectus or other
information that was previously filed pursuant to
Section 24(b) or Rule 497 (“The new ABC ETF
Strategy Report is now available through <filed
website link>”)
A reference to general financial and investment
information, such as basic investment concepts or
economic, political, or market conditions without
addressing the merits of the fund (“The election is
over. What’s next for our economy? See our report
analyzing the election <filed website link>.”)
A response to an inquiry by a social media user that
provides discrete factual, information that is not
related to a discussion of the investment merits of the
fund, which may direct the social media user to the
fund prospectus or access to information filed with
FINRA or to contact the issuer through a different
medium. (INQUIRY: “Why are your funds such a
large investor in ABC Manufacturer’s stock?” Fund’s
posted response: “We respect your thoughts. As you
know, ABC Manufacturer is found in many broadmarket
indices that our index funds are obligated to
track so some of our index funds hold those shares as
a result.” OR INQUIRY: “What are the fees and
expenses for ABC Fund?” Fund’s posted response:
“Information on the fund’s fees and expenses is
available at <filed website link>. Feel free to contact
us at 1-800-***-**** for more information about this
fund”)
While IM’s guidance provides useful guideposts for mutual
funds that may curtail unnecessary interactive content
filings, grey areas remain. Critically, funds would be wise
to follow OCIE’s guidance and implement compliance
programs that include social media policies to ensure
principles of advertising rules, as clarified by IM, are
integrated into firm policies. Moreover, due to the factsensitive
nature of the inquiries, funds would be wise to
implement robust training programs to implement and
execute social media policies, remain in compliance, and
avoid enforcement actions.
Insider Trading
Social media’s “stock in trade” is information, and some of
the information that might be conveyed via social media is
material non-public information. The transmission of such
information, if it breaches a duty to the company or person
from which it was obtained, may itself be a violation of the
securities laws, and trading on such information typically
means liability for insider trading. All such conduct is
regulated primarily through the antifraud provisions of the
securities laws, most often Section 10(b) of the Securities
Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
Underscoring its recent announcements that insider trading
remains a high priority, the SEC has entered into an
agreement with the New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory
arm (NYSE Regulation, Inc.) and FINRA to improve
detection of insider trading across the equities markets by
centralizing surveillance, investigation, and enforcement in
these two entities. In addition, the SEC’s new
organizational structure, announced in 2009 and put into
place in 2010, includes specialized subject-matter units
within the Division of Enforcement, including a Market
Abuse Unit focused on investigations into large-scale
market abuses and complex manipulation schemes by
institutional traders, market professionals, and others. The
Market Abuse Unit relies heavily on computers, crosschecking
trading data with personal information about
individual traders, such as where they went to school or
used to work, to find like trading patterns among possible
associates. Suffice it to say, social media will be a critical
source of information for this specialized team.
These innovations, together with recent pressure on U.S.
regulators in the wake of high-profile enforcement failures,
are likely to result in increased enforcement in the area of
insider trading. This is particularly true because insider
trading cases are comparatively easy for regulators to
identify and investigate. Meanwhile, recent years have
seen an increase in insider trading investigations and
prosecutions worldwide, as well as an unprecedented level
of international cooperation among securities regulators to
pursue violators. In particular, the Financial Services
Authority in the UK has put the identification and
punishment of insider trading at the top of its enforcement
agenda.
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Social media is of particular importance to insider trading
issues because of the volume of information traffic, the
cross-border nature of that traffic, and the opportunity for
regulators to locate the source of the information. Social
media postings—like everything on the Internet—never
really disappear.
Private Capital Raising
Social media presents both opportunities and regulatory
risks to parties raising capital through private offerings of
securities. Although general solicitations or advertising in
connection with unregistered offerings traditionally has
been proscribed, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act
of 2012 (“JOBS Act”) provided limited exceptions to the
general solicitation rule to allow the markets flexibility in
raising capital and spark the economy. One key provision
of the JOBS Act permits the use of “crowdfunding” or
“crowdsourcing” in raising capital, subject to certain
conditions. This section explores the applicability of social
media to general solicitation rules and impact of the JOBS
Act.
Unregistered Offerings
Section 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 makes it unlawful
to offer a security unless a registration statement has been
filed with the SEC or an exemption from registration
applies. Exemptions include Regulation D, which permits
issuers to sell securities in a private placement to an
unlimited amount of “accredited investors” provided the
issuer complies with the requirements of Regulation D.
Accredited investors include individuals who meet certain
minimum income or net worth levels, or certain institutions
such as trusts, corporations or charitable organizations that
meet certain minimum asset levels. Regulation D Rule
502(c) prohibits “any advertisement, article, notice or other
communication published in any newspaper, magazine, or
similar media or broadcast over television or radio, and any
seminar or meeting whose attendees have been invited by
any general solicitation or general advertising.” Social
media likely would be considered “similar media” but the
Commission has not addressed the issue.
Although this registration requirement is common
knowledge among seasoned participants in the securities
markets, it is not so well known among the general public.
Social media enables novel and spontaneous forms of
collective action that may amount to an offering of
securities without those involved realizing that the
securities laws are implicated at all.
The JOBS Act
(A) Lifting of the Ban on General Solicitation
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act was
enacted with bipartisan support and signed into law in April
2012. The law encourages funding of small businesses by
easing various securities regulations, and directs the SEC
to promulgate rules to implement the regulations including
rules regarding eased general solicitation requirements and
crowdfunding/funding portals.
On July 10, 2013, the SEC voted to adopt final rules under
Title II of the JOBS Act amending Regulation D and lifting
the ban on advertisements and general solicitations in
certain circumstances. U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, Release No. 33-9415, Eliminating the
Prohibition Against General Solicitation and General
Advertising in Rule 506 and Rule 144A Offerings (2013).
The final rule expands exceptions in private securities
offerings from a broader category of private placement,
including many offerings of interests in venture capital,
private equity, real estate, hedge and other types of private
investment funds so long as the solicitation is to an
“accredited investor” as defined in Regulation D.
Under the final rule, issuers are required to “take
reasonable steps” to verify that the investors are accredited
investors and all purchasers of the securities must fall
within one of the categories of persons who are accredited
investors under an existing rule (Rule 501 of Regulation D)
or the issuer reasonably believes that the investors fall
within one of the categories at the time of the sale of the
securities.
The SEC also voted to prohibit private placements by
certain "bad actors" and propose for public comment a
variety of rules that would limit opportunities for abuse of
the new rule and enhance the ability of SEC staff to
monitor activities pursuant to, and compliance with, the
new rule.
To the extent issuers use social media in general
solicitation or advertisements of private placements under
the new rule, issuers must “take reasonable steps” to
ensure recipients of social media solicitations and
advertisements are only “accredited investors.” Such
responsibility falls on issuers under the final rule and social
media policies and procedures must be in place to ensure
both the content and audience meet the regulatory
requirements.
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(B) Crowdfunding
“Crowdfunding,” also known as “crowdsourcing,” is
inherently a social media phenomenon and its regulation
and proliferation may be a viable method to raise private
capital in certain market sectors. Crowdfunding arose from
networks of people pooling of small contributions to finance
new enterprises. In response to the emerging
development and with the intent to spur economic growth,
Title III of the JOBS Act sets a framework for the SEC to
develop and implement exemptions to registration
requirements for private fundraising through crowdfunding.
The JOBS Act provides a framework to allow unregistered
capital-raising through crowdfunding by the use of a
registered brokers or, alternatively, through a crowdfunding
intermediary known as a “funding portal.” Funding portals
must register as broker-dealers, but are held to lesser
regulatory requirements. Funding portals would be
prohibited from providing investment advice, soliciting
sales, compensating employees based on sales of the
offered securities, handling investor funds or securities,
and engaging in other proscribed activities.
Title III limits crowdfunding to certain specific conditions
including limits on aggregate capital raised and capital
raised per investor, timing limits on portals and on
transferability of crowdfunded securities, background
checks for officers, directors, and significant shareholders
in the enterprise, and filing, registration, and periodic
reporting requirements.
In addition, the crowdfunding provisions proscribe
advertising beyond directing investors to a registered
broker or funding portal.
On October 23, 2013, the SEC proposed crowdfunding
rules and solicited public comment. The proposed rules
track the JOBS Act provisions and would permit, among
other things, individuals to invest subject to certain
thresholds based on the wealth and sophistication of the
investor, limit the amount of money a company can raise,
require companies to disclose certain information about
their offers, and create a regulatory framework for the
intermediaries that would facilitate the crowdfunding
transactions.
Certain companies would not be eligible to use the
crowdfunding exemption such as non-U.S. companies,
companies that already are SEC reporting companies,
certain investment companies, companies that are
disqualified under the proposed disqualification rules,
companies that have failed to comply with the annual
reporting requirements in the proposed rules, and
companies that have no specific business plan or have
indicated their business plan is to engage in a merger or
acquisition with an unidentified company or companies.
The proposed rules would require companies conducting a
crowdfunding offering to file certain information with the
SEC, provide it to investors and the relevant intermediary
facilitating the crowdfunding offering, and make it available
to potential investors. Under the proposed rules, the
offerings would be conducted exclusively online through a
platform operated by a registered broker or a funding
portal, which is a new type of SEC registrant.
Public comments have been generally critical of the
proposed rules as inflexible and too constrained. The
Commission continues to review comments and work
towards either a finalized rule or an amended proposal,
which many expect to be in spring/summer 2014.
Before the JOBS Act, in June 2011, the SEC entered a
cease-and-desist order390 against two individuals who
attempted to “crowdsource” a purchase of the Pabst
Brewing Company. The private owners of the Pabst
Brewing Company sought to sell the company. The two
defendants, whose backgrounds were in advertising,
created a website, complemented by a Facebook page and
Twitter account, called BuyaBeerCompany.com. The pair
solicited pledges toward a stated goal of raising $300
million. If that goal was met, the pledges were to be
collected. At that point, each investor was to receive a
“crowdsourced certificate of ownership” and, eventually, an
allotment of beer as well.
The website succeeded in garnering more than $200
million in pledges over the course of four months. Only
then did the defendants consult with an attorney. It does
not appear that they considered the possible application of
the securities laws before that time.
The matter was resolved with a cease-and-desist order
after the website was taken down. Had the defendants
actually collected money from investors, however, the legal
consequences might have been much more severe for
them. Had the JOBS Act been in place, it is dubious
whether the purported advertising scheme would have
complied with federal securities laws. However, the Pabst
Brewing enforcement action illustrates the social aspect of
crowdfunding and the need for the SEC to implement
regulations to reflect this emerging market trend. Private
issuers interested in crowdfunding should proceed with
caution in using social media to promote new sites and
consult securities counsel on crowdfunding portals.
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Other Potential Liability—Market
Manipulation, False Rumors
Wrongly used, information posted in social media can
expose companies to regulatory investigations and legal
claims and expose companies’ securities to manipulation
by those who would use the power of social media to
unlawfully influence share price. Companies should
monitor social media outlets to ensure that information is
being properly and lawfully dispersed.
In much the same way that companies protect their
trademarks and trade dress, they should protect their
company names and their information, or risk finding
themselves on the receiving end of an investigative
subpoena, even in circumstances where the company itself
had no involvement whatsoever. The SEC has announced
its intention to pursue “false rumor” cases–just one variety
of market manipulation–and social media is the perfect
place for false rumors to grow and eventually impact stock
prices. Although companies will not be able to prevent all
such manipulation, reporting the activity to regulators (and
to website hosts) in the first instance is just one approach
that should be discussed with counsel.
Current Legal and Regulatory Framework in the
Securities Sector
Several recent actions brought by the SEC and FINRA
offer cautionary tales. Although only one actually involved
the use of social media, each offers lessons of particular
applicability to the compliance risks associated with social
media.
Violation of FINRA Rules
In a release in November 2013,391 a registered
representative and FINRA entered into a settlement
following an investigation of alleged improprieties related to
the broker’s single Facebook post. The Facebook post
responded to a Barron's article cautioning against buying a
certain pharmaceutical stock at its then high price, based
on some of the hurdles the Barron’s author believed the
company faced to bring a weight loss drug to market. The
broker made the post on his Facebook wall with a
comment describing the article as “idiotic” in addition to
defending the drug and stating “there's no safer weight loss
drug.” His Facebook profile identified the broker as a
financial planner at his member firm. At the time of the
post, the broker owned 10,000 shares of the stock, worth
about $60,000, and about 33 of his clients also owned the
stock, but he did not disclose these stakes in the posting,
according to the FINRA settlement.
The settlement provided for a $5,000 civil fine and 10-day
suspension. The FINRA announcement states that “the
broker posted a communication regarding a
pharmaceutical company on a publicly available website
that was exaggerated, not fair and balanced, and omitted
the material fact that he and several customers owned
shares of the company’s stock.” While FINRA's sanctions
were de minimus, the case illustrates the challenges for
brokers and members firms in navigating social media,
even whereas here, the member firm had a written policy
on the use of social media. Thorough training on social
media policies is essential to avoid these pitfalls.
In another a recent disciplinary action,392 FINRA found that
a registered representative created two websites, without
the approval of her employer firm, that misrepresented her
career accomplishments and the firm. Also without
approval, the registered representative made a number of
unduly positive posts to her personal Twitter feed
concerning a security of which she and members of her
family possessed substantial holdings. Although there is no
indication that regulators have taken any disciplinary action
against the employer firm, the incident exemplifies the sort
of employee misuse of personal social media accounts and
websites for which financial firms may be held responsible
if their compliance policies and procedures are found
lacking. As the August 2011 FINRA guidance makes clear,
broker-dealers must affirmatively prohibit their associated
persons from using personal websites and social media
accounts to make business-related communications, or
else they must supervise those accounts and websites.
Adequate training regarding the difference between
business and non-business communications, and the rules
that apply to the former, is also necessary to avoid
imputation of responsibility to a financial firm for the actions
of an unscrupulous associated person.
International Pyramid Scheme Using Social Media
In SEC v. Fleet Mutual Wealth,393 the SEC brought an
emergency enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for
the Central District of California to stop a fraudulent
pyramid scheme by companies posing as a legitimate
international investment firm on social media. The U.S.
district court froze accounts holding money purportedly
invested by U.S. investors with Fleet Mutual Wealth Limited
and MWF Financial – collectively known as “Mutual
Wealth.”
The SEC complaint alleges that Mutual Wealth has been
“exploiting investors through a website and social media
accounts on Facebook and Twitter, falsely promising
extraordinary returns of 2 to 3 percent per week for
investors who open accounts with the firm.” The SEC
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claims that Mutual Wealth does not purchase or sell
securities on behalf of investors, and instead merely diverts
investor money to offshore bank accounts held by shell
companies. Approximately 150 U.S. investors opened
accounts with Mutual Wealth and collectively invested a
total of at least $300,000.
According to a March 2014 SEC press release, Mutual
Wealth utilized social media channels such as Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, and Skype to make its investment pitch.
In particular, Mutual Wealth maintained a Facebook
account page and Twitter account which regularly posted
status updates, making numerous online pitches and posts.
Fraudulent comments populated Facebook wall posts filled
with solicitations by the accredited advisors. Mutual Wealth
also tweeted offering and announcements and invested in
advertisements on other social media platforms.
According to the SEC, Mutual Wealth’s website falsely
denotes it headquarters in Hong Kong and its purported
“data-centre” in New York – neither of which exist. Mutual
Wealth also lists make-believe “executives” on its website,
and falsely claimed in e-mails to investors that it is
“registered” or “duly registered” with the SEC.
This unique case demonstrates the persuasive power of
social media in reaching potential investors and the great
potential to perpetuate fraud. Moreover, it shows that the
regulators are highly focused on social media and have
made policing its use by those in the securities sector a
high enforcement priority.
Violation of Regulation FD
In SEC v. Black,394 the defendant, the designated investor
relations contact of American Commercial Lines, Inc.
(“ACL”), acting without authority and without informing
anyone at ACL, selectively disclosed material, nonpublic
information regarding ACL’s second quarter 2007 earnings
forecast to a limited number of analysts without
simultaneously making that information available to the
public, in violation of Regulation FD. Specifically, after ACL
issued a press release projecting that second quarter
earnings would be in line with first quarter earnings, the
defendant sent emails from his home to eight analysts who
covered the company, advising that second quarter
earnings would likely fall short of expectations by half. The
resulting analysts’ reports triggered a significant drop in the
company’s stock price, 9.7 percent on unusually heavy
volume. Although this selective disclosure occurred via
email, it could have been accomplished on the defendant’s
Facebook page.
The SEC determined not to bring any action against ACL,
because it acted appropriately, cooperating with the
investigation and taking remedial steps to prevent a
recurrence. In its release announcing the case, the SEC
noted that, even prior to defendant’s violative disclosure,
“ACL cultivated an environment of compliance by providing
training regarding the requirements of Regulation FD and
by adopting policies that implemented controls to prevent
violations.” In addition, the SEC highlighted that the
defendant had acted alone and that ACL, on learning of the
selective disclosure, immediately disclosed the information
on a Form 8-K. Had the unauthorized disclosure occurred
via social media, the existence of policies specific to the
use of social media would likely have carried additional
weight with the SEC.
More recently, the SEC filed a civil injunctive action against
Presstek, Inc., and its former President and CEO, Edward
J. Marino, for violations of Regulation FD and Section 13(a)
of the Securities Exchange Act.395 The SEC charged that
Marino took a call from Michael Barone, the managing
partner of Sidus, an investment adviser whose funds held
substantial positions in Presstek. The call between the two
is documented in Barone’s notes and text messages that
he sent to colleagues at Sidus during and after the call.
According to the SEC’s complaint and Barone’s notes,
Marino revealed during the call that “[s]ummer [was] not as
vibrant as [they] expected in North America and Europe,”
and that while “Europe [had] gotten better since [the
summer]…overall a mixed picture [for Presstek’s
performance that quarter].” During the course of these
disclosures from Marino, Barone sent a text to a Sidus
colleague, saying, “sounds like a disaster.” That colleague
inquired as to whether he should buy Presstek puts, and
Barone confirmed. After the call, Sidus began selling, and
Barone sent a text to the Sidus trader “sell all prst,” which
he did. Coincident with those sales, Presstek’s stock
dropped 19 percent. Presstek accelerated disclosure of its
poor quarterly earnings numbers, issuing the report the
next day, with the result that the stock dropped another 20
percent.
Presstek settled with the SEC without admitting or denying
liability, agreeing to pay a $400,000 civil penalty. The
Commission acknowledged substantial remedial measures
taken by the company, including the replacement of its
management team. Marino continues to fight the charges.
The case is interesting on a number of levels, particularly
since there are probably many who would wonder whether
the statements attributed to Marino rise to the level of
material non-public information, which is likely why the
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matter is charged solely as a Regulation FD violation, with
no insider trading charges. But there is no question that the
comments cited are just the sort of generalities that might
show up in a tweet or a Facebook newsfeed.
False Rumor
In SEC v. Berliner,396 the defendant, a trader himself, was
charged with disseminating a false rumor concerning The
Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Alliance Data Systems
Corp. (“ADS”) via instant messages to other traders at
brokerage firms and hedge funds. In short order, the news
media picked up the story, resulting in heavy trading. Over
a 30-minute period, the price of ADS stock plummeted 17
percent, causing the New York Stock Exchange to
temporarily halt trading in the stock. Later that day, ADS
issued a press release announcing that the rumor was
false, and, by the close of the trading day, the stock price
had recovered. On the day of the rumor, more than 33
million shares of ADS were traded, representing a 20-fold
increase over the previous day’s trading volume. Although
the defendant sent the false rumor by instant message, he
could have disseminated it through social media. One
could easily imagine how a false rumor could spread even
faster via Twitter, wreaking havoc on an issuer’s stock
price.
Insider Trading
Although the misappropriated disclosures in SEC v.
Gangavarapu397 were made during telephone calls
between siblings, the facts disclosed are of exactly the sort
you would find on someone’s Facebook page: “my
husband is working all hours,” “my husband is traveling a
lot for business,” “things are crazy at work for my husband,”
“thank goodness, after tomorrow, things will calm down for
my husband at work!”
According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendant
misappropriated material non-public information from his
sister, whose husband was an executive officer at
Covansys Corporation, and purchased $1.4 million in stock
based on the misappropriated, material non-public
information. Covansys was in discussions with Computer
Sciences Corporation (“CSC”) and another company about
their interest in acquiring Convansys. During that time
period, the defendant often spoke with his sister by
telephone, and they discussed matters such as her
husband’s work activities and whereabouts. The
defendant’s sister revealed when her husband was in
closed-door meetings, that he was working long hours, and
that he had traveled overseas for work. After learning from
her husband that the Covansys board of directors would
vote the next day on which acquisition offer to accept, she
told the defendant, “by tomorrow, it’s a relief, it will be
over.” Based on these details of his brother-in-law’s
working life, the defendant purchased more than 54,000
shares of Covansys stock over eight days. After the public
announcement that CSC would acquire Covansys, the
price of Covansys’ stock rose 24 percent, resulting in
trading profits for the defendant totaling more than
$360,000.
Bottom Line—What You Need To Do
Before you decide to adopt social media as a form of communication and disclosure, you must ensure that the proper controls
are in place. Whether it be material disclosures, advertising, or everyday business disclosures, your communications must meet
regulatory requirements. For material disclosures, you must comply with Regulation FD. For advertising of transactions or
services, you must obtain proper approval before using social media and must be sure you are not in violation of any
regulations, such as the Investment Advisers Act. You should verify that all mandatory disclaimers regarding forward-looking
statements and financial measures are included with any electronic disclosure.
The spontaneity of social media presents a number of risks. A good dose of preventative medicine would mean regularly
monitoring your Internet and social media presence to ensure that the discussion is appropriate, that the dispersal of information
is compliant with the securities laws, and more simply, that these vehicles are being properly and lawfully used. In addition, it is
wise to conduct routine searches for the use of your company’s name and corporate logo or other image, so as to ensure that
false rumors or other manipulations are not occurring.
Insider trading policies, together with good training programs that animate the dry rules and place employees into the types of
real-life situations where information can be inadvertently shared, and strict controls on material non-public information, are
really the only ways that companies can protect themselves. Employees must understand the importance of Regulation FD’s
prohibitions on selective disclosure and know to keep the company’s most important confidential information internal to the
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company. They need to know what information they can and cannot communicate electronically in order to stay within the limits
of compliance. Such programs, together with meaningful and well-circulated corporate policies, will help to prevent violations in
the first instance. If a violation should occur, the fact that your company has undertaken these steps may tip the balance in your
favor when the SEC is deciding whether or not to bring an enforcement action.
Finally, social media is new territory and the rules are constantly evolving. You will have to make a decision whether it is
necessary to use social media at this moment for your company to stay ahead of the curve. If so, then carefully plan, execute,
and periodically revisit a strategy that ensures that your use of social media is compliant with securities laws and that you are
protected against its abuse.
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— CHAPTER 14 —
Trademarks
Chapter Authors398
United States:
Darren B. Cohen, Partner – dcohen@reedsmith.com
Jillian L. Burstein, Associate – jburstein@reedsmith.com
Meredith D. Pikser, Associate – mpikser@reedsmith.com
Germany:
Dr. Alexander R. Klett, Partner – aklett@reedsmith.com
United Kingdom:
Sachin Premnath, Associate – spremnath@reedsmith.com
Introduction
This chapter looks at the relationship between social media and trademark protection.
Social media has provided individuals and businesses alike with the ability to communicate with an infinite number of people
instantly. This great advantage, however, comes with great risks, not the least of which is the appropriation of one’s intellectual
property. The vigilance and policing of an owner’s intellectual property has become of the utmost importance as communication
provided via social networks is both viral and perpetual. A global infringement that once took weeks, months or years to occur,
will now take shape as fast as someone can hit “enter” on his or her keyboard or smartphone. And, once the infringement is out
there in cyberspace, there is no way of knowing if the offending material is ever truly deleted. As more and more individuals and
businesses incorporate social media into the promotion of their products and services to increase brand awareness, they are
also finding that unauthorized use of their trademarks, service marks, and trade names are emerging through these same
channels.
First, we will examine trademark infringement occurring on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and
Pinterest and how their respective policies deal with infringers. Next, we will examine the issue of impersonation on Facebook,
Twitter, and Pinterest. Finally, we will discuss virtual worlds and the infringement occurring therein. As this chapter will outline,
protecting and leveraging intellectual property through social media is an ever-increasing demand that is fraught with legal
pitfalls.
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Social Media in Action in Trademarks
Trademark, Service Mark and Trade Name
Infringement
Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
Pinterest, to name a few, allow their members to adopt
user names, personalized sub-domain names, and post
pictures and hashtag links to content, all of which have the
potential to create confusion as to source. There is little
resolve to prevent an individual or entity from adopting a
username or sub-domain name that incorporates another’s
trademark or personal name. Nor has the law caught up
with issues involving re-posting or re-tweeting and resulting
viral distribution of content that bears a trademark owned
by another or impersonates a celebrity.
Twitter, a social networking service that allows users to
send and read posts of up to 140 characters in length
(“tweets”) has experienced meteoric growth since its
launch in July 2006, with 400 million monthly visitors to
twitter.com, and more than 200 million monthly active users
around the world.399 Think about the marketing
opportunities; now, think about how many people could be
deceived by trademark infringers and impersonators. Upon
joining Twitter, members create a username which is the
“identity” through which their tweets are sent and received.
A recurring issue of third-party “Twitterjacking” occurs
when a member registers a username that is the trademark
of another or a name belonging to a celebrity. When this
occurs, the trademark holder may take action against the
fake social media account if the account uses a trademark
for a commercial purpose and consumer confusion is likely
to occur as a result. For example, in September 2009,
ONEOK, Inc., a natural gas company, sued Twitter for
trademark infringement, alleging that the company
wrongfully allowed a third party to adopt the handle
twitter.com/oneok to post misleading information that
appeared to be official statements from the company from
which the unnamed third party tweeted information about
the natural gas distributor.400 The complaint alleged that
the messages were misleading in that they were made to
appear like official statements from ONEOK when, in fact,
the company had no involvement in sending them. Over
the course of a month, ONEOK unsuccessfully asked that
Twitter terminate or transfer the unauthorized account.
After the complaint was filed, however, the parties resolved
the dispute and the account has since been transferred to
the company.
While the use of corporate trademarks in fake Twitter
accounts may give rise to a legal claim, not all companies
are choosing to exercise their legal remedies. For
example, after the massive 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill, the
fake twitter account @BPGlobalPR emerged to satirize the
company’s public relations attempts.401 With Tweeting
comments like “The ocean looks just a bit slimmer today.
Dressing it in black really did the trick! #bpcares,” the
account brought wide attention to the practice of
“Twitterjacking” and just how devastating it can be to a
company’s global reputation. Rather than take the matter
to court, however, the real BP made a statement through a
spokesman that “People are entitled to their views on what
we’re doing and we have to live with those.”402
A more complex situation arose for music retailer HMV,
whose UK Twitter account was hijacked by employees who
live tweeted the fact that they were being fired en
masse.403 Similarly, in January 2014, the Twitter account
of Microsoft News was hacked by the Syrian Electronic
Army leading to a tweet alleging that the company sells
customer data to governments.404
While the HMV case serves to alert companies to have
more robust internal policies on consumer-facing social
network activity, third-party “Twitterjacking” such as that
suffered by Microsoft is less easily controlled. Twitter does
have a trademark policy in place that provides the
following:
Using a company or business name, logo, or other
trademark-protected materials in a manner that may
mislead or confuse others with regard to its brand or
business affiliation may be considered a trademark
policy violation. When there is a clear intent to
mislead others through the unauthorized use of a
trademark, Twitter will suspend the account and notify
the account holder. When we determine that an
account appears to be confusing users, but is not
purposefully passing itself off as the trademarked
good or service, we give the account holder an
opportunity to clear up any potential confusion. We
may also release a username for the trademark
holder's active use.405
While Twitter provides such a policy and avails the public
with a trademark violation report form, it ultimately remains
the trademark owner’s obligation to be hands-on about
protecting its rights. Strategy in doing do so may include
developing a standard as to what you may deem to be
objectionable use of your trademark, using the privacy
protection put in place by the social network to the best of
your advantage, and, if feasible, proactively adopting any
username variants of the mark you are seeking to protect.
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Facebook has over 1.15 billion monthly active users,
allowing its members to connect with others, upload
photos, and share Internet links and videos.406 A recent
eBiz MBA study ranked Facebook as the most-used social
network by global monthly active users.407
Like Twitter, it too, has found itself defending claims of
trademark infringement and has dedicated a large section
of its terms of service to explain its intellectual property
infringement policy as well as provide an intellectual
property infringement report form. In addition to reserving
the right to remove or reclaim a username upon complaint
by a trademark owner,408 Facebook’s trademark policy
provides, in part, that:
Facebook respects the intellectual property rights of others
and is committed to helping third parties protect their rights.
Rights holders will find information below regarding how to
report copyright and other intellectual property
infringements by users posting content on our website, and
answers to some frequently asked questions regarding our
policies.409With respect to enforcement of its policies, it
appears that Facebook considers registered trademarks,
as well as pending trademark applications and common
law trademark ownership as sufficient to bring a claim of
trademark infringement to the administrators of Facebook.
However, the question of jurisdiction remains unclear. If a
Community Trade Mark (CTM) is registered in Europe, to
what extent will a claim citing infringement by a U.S. user
hold water? How will Facebook handle claims by multiple
parties claiming rights in the same mark? Only time will
tell.
What we do know is that there have been relatively few
lawsuits regarding the use of user names on both Twitter
and Facebook. This may be due either to the fact that
trademark infringement is not as pervasive a problem on
social networking as it would appear, or, more likely, the
policies established by Twitter and Facebook are effective
in eliminating continued trademark infringement.410
Both Facebook and Twitter allow users to create
personalized URLs, which allow a user’s name to become
part of the Web address. For example, a user may obtain
the URL twitter.com/username or facebook.com/username.
In the United States, trademark disputes over domain
names are specifically governed by the 1999
Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the
Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, a
system used by the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers, which is the organization that
assigns domain names. However, neither the Act nor the
Policy applies to social media sites which allow users to
create personalized URLs.411 As the law has yet to catch
up with technology, trademark owners, rather than the
network hosting the personalized URL, remain in the
position to police the unauthorized use of their trademarks.
Due to the vast nature of the internet and reach of social
media, however, it remains extremely difficult for owners to
maintain control over the use of their trademarks.
Additionally, Facebook’s policy for creating usernames
does not explicitly warn or caution against the use of
unauthorized trademarks.412 Instead, it only links users to
its administrative contact page. 413 In this context, it
remains uncertain whether Facebook, under U.S. law and
its current trademark infringement policy, will only stop
uses of exact marks used within the Facebook platform, or
whether it will also stop the use of unauthorized
personalized URLs. If so, will use of the mark as only a
username be sufficient to enact the policy, or must there be
infringing content on the Facebook page? In the UK, the
advent of personalized URLs may allow trademark owners
to rely on English case law, which has held that use of a
domain name can infringe a registered trade mark. In
Germany, the courts are at least as generous, and have
not only viewed the use of a domain as infringing
trademark rights, but also as infringing rights to personal
and company names.414
Perhaps Facebook and Twitter should adopt a model
similar to that of the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-
Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) used to help resolve
cybersquatting and other domain name disputes. The
UDRP offers trademark owners the ability to acquire or
cancel a domain name registration if they can prove that:
(1) the domain name at issue is confusingly similar to the
owner’s trademark; (2) the current owner of the domain
name has no right or legitimate interest in the domain
name; and (3) the current owner has registered and is
using the domain name in bad faith. The decision as to
whether the current domain name holder gets to maintain
his/her registration or whether the domain name is to be
transferred or cancelled, is rendered by a neutral panel.
Certainly providing a uniform set of rules could only serve
to help trademark owners in protecting their marks. Not
only may such policy help to avoid costly litigation, but
decisions can also be rendered fairly quickly.
While privacy protection policies provided by social media
sites may help to alleviate some concerns, trademark
owners can pursue other legal avenues should these
policies fall short. As evidenced by the ONEOK case
discussed above, filing an action for trademark
infringement or unfair competition are options to protect a
valuable trademark.
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Founded in 2010, Instagram is a free photo sharing
application that allows users to take photos, apply a filter,
and share it on the service or a variety of other social
networking services, including Facebook, Twitter,
Foursquare, Tumblr, and Flickr. In April 2012, Instagram
was acquired by is then-rival, Facebook, and by June of
2013, it had more than 130 million users, posted over 16
billion photos, and received over 1 billion likes per day.
As a Facebook acquisition, Instagram’s intellectual
property policy is substantially similar to its parent
company, as discussed above.415 Also like Facebook and
Twitter, Instagram utilizes hashtags to tag topics of interest
or discussion forums, as well as connect users with similar
interests. For example, an Instagram user, while eating at
McDonalds, could theoretically take a photo of his Big Mac
and fries and post it onto his Instagram account with the
hashtags: #McDonalds #ImLovinIt #BigMac,
#DietStartsTomorrow, which would then feed in a trending
area of any Instagram user’s homepage. Privacy settings
on Instagram can arrange for the image as well as the
related hashtags appearing in the Instagram post to
automatically feed to other social networking sites, such as
Facebook and Twitter.
It’s clear that for a corporation that works hard to police its
brands, forums utilizing hashtags can be both a blessing
(to promote their product) and a curse (to police from
infringement). In an effort to gain control, some companies
are submitting applications to the U.S. Patent and
Trademark office for federal registration of hashtags which
describe their products. For example, in 2012, Stokely-Van
Camp, Inc. applied for the mark “#WINFROMWITHIN” to
be used by PepsiCo. in connection with its Gatorade
brand.416
The creation of the hashtag as a social media tool has
created a whole host of trademark-related questions from
what types of hashtags may become registered trademarks
to whether an individual or corporation can be liable for
trademark infringement? For example, consider a scenario
in which our Instagram user, above, visited McDonalds and
posted a picture to his account with the above-mentioned
hashtags. Now consider that the user has tens of
thousands of individual followers from Instagram,
Facebook, and Twitter combined. While this behavior
would likely be considered nominative fair use, consider a
further scenario where our user owns his own burger
restaurant and uses the hashtags to generate traffic to his
website or his actual restaurant. As seen here, the use of
McDonalds’ names and products may quickly cross the line
between fair use and infringement.
So what is a mega-corporation like McDonalds to do?
Should it trademark “#MCDONALDS” and other related or
even potential terms that may be hashtagged just for good
measure? While this is clearly one option, time will tell as
more and more companies seek to police their intellectual
property by obtaining trademarks that describe or promote
their goods and services by the use of hashtags.
Pinterest, a social media site that also launched in 2010,
allows users to “pin” and share images onto digital
pinboards that are linked to third-party websites, and has
become one of the fastest growing social media websites
of all time.417 In February of 2012 alone, Pinterest drove
more traffic to websites than Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn
and YouTube combined.418 While the site initially attracted
mostly women to use Pinterest as a tool to plan weddings,
save recipes, and post ideas for home decorating,
corporate brands have taken notice and are finding ways to
enter the Pinterest scene by posting infographics,
educational content as well as product images.419 Some
major brands using Pinterest include General Electric’s
“Badass Machines” board, Adobe System’s “Creative
Workspaces” and Intel’s “Geek Chic.”
Pinterest, like Facebook and Twitter, has an intellectual
property policy and provides a reporting method for
trademark infringement claims:
Pinterest respects the trademark rights of others.
Accounts with usernames, Pin Board names, or any
other content that misleads others or violates
another's trademark may be updated, transferred or
permanently suspended.420
While Pinterest claims that it respects the IP rights of
others, it does not, however, have a means by which an
account can be verified as the “official” account for a
particular brand. For example, a search for the clothing
store “the Gap” does not reveal the official Gap Pinterest
account, but rather a seemingly infinite list of pins,
pinboards, and pinners created by individuals unrelated to
the company. In order to locate the official Gap Pinterest
board, a user would need to first conduct a search on
Google, which would provide a link directly to the official
Gap Pinterest Account. As are result of instances like this,
“brandsquatting” on Pinterest affects 90 percent of top
brands.421
In addition to “brandsquatting,” celebrities and politicians
are targets of fake Pinterest accounts. For example, during
the 2012 United States Presidential campaign, a fake
Pinterest account was made as a parody of former
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presidential candidate Mitt Romney.422 Pinterest complied
with the Romney campaign’s demand to rename the profile
(which used Romney’s full name), however, it did not give
the original Mitt Romney name solely to the former GOP
candidate. Instead, the name “Mitt Romney” links to at
least nine different accounts named after the former
candidate.423 It remains to be seen just how seriously
Pinterest will enforce its intellectual property policy in light
of obvious “brandsquatting” by non-trademark owners.
What Constitutes Infringement?
In the United States, the Lanham Act provides that one is
liable for trademark infringement if he or she “use[s] in
commerce any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable
imitation of a registered mark in connection with the sale,
offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of any goods or
services on or in connection with which such use is likely to
cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive…”424
Similar “use in commerce” requirements exist for claims of
unfair competition425 and dilution.426 However, the
success of any such claims depends on the definition of
“use in commerce.” Does a defendant have to use the
social media site to sell goods or services in order to avail
the trademark owner a claim for relief under the Lanham
Act? A December 2013 opinion from the Western District
of Virginia involving the social media site ‘LinkedIn’ goes
some way in clarifying the point. In this case, the Judge
noted that “use in commerce” has been interpreted by the
courts very broadly, and opined that “because the internet
is an ‘instrumentality of interstate commerce,’ courts have
repeatedly held that the unauthorized use of a trademark
on the internet satisfies the ‘in commerce’ requirement.”427
Although the merits of the case are yet to be adjudicated at
the time of writing, this court’s opinion demonstrates that
the creation of fictitious LinkedIn profiles (and perhaps
profiles on Twitter or Facebook) may be actionable under
the Lanham Act.
Under English law, as generally under trademark laws in
the member states of the European Union that are
harmonized under the EU Trademark Directive,428
trademark infringement occurs where a registered
trademark is used without the owner’s consent, and:
The sign used by the infringer is identical to the
registered trademark and is used in relation to
identical goods or service;
The sign is identical to the registered trademark and is
used in relation to similar goods and services and
there is a likelihood of confusion by the public;
The sign is similar to the registered trademark and is
used in relation to identical or similar goods or
services, and there is a likelihood of confusion by the
public; or
The sign is identical or similar to the registered
trademark, the trademark has a reputation
domestically, and the use of the sign takes unfair
advantage of, or is detrimental to the distinctive
character of, the trademark.429
Under European Community trademark law, the CTM
Regulation430 provides the proprietor of a CTM with the
right to prevent third parties from using:
A sign that is identical to the CTM in relation to
identical goods or services,
A sign identical or similar to the CTM in relation to
identical or similar goods or services if there exists a
likelihood of confusion by the public, or
A sign is identical or similar to the CTM, the CTM has
a reputation in the Community, and the use of the sign
without due cause takes unfair advantage of, or is
detrimental to the distinctive character of, the CTM
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held431 that mere
adoption of a company name does not constitute
trademark infringement. The test used by the ECJ was
that the use of the sign must affect the mark’s essential
function of guaranteeing source. It is likely that the
adoption by a third party of a name in a social media
context will pass this test, though each case will depend on
its facts. If use of the company name in a social media
context is made in a way that clearly indicates that the use
does not originate from the company itself (e.g., a
username such as “BMWcritic), infringement will likely not
be found. In fact, Twitter suggests in its intellectual
property policy that users distinguish the account from that
of the real company or business entity with a qualifier such
as ‘not’, ‘fake’ or ‘fan account’.432
The English courts have also addressed the question of
jurisdiction.433 In the 1-800 Flowers case, it was held that
for trademark law purposes, website-use did not constitute
use everywhere in the world merely because the site is
globally accessible. Key factors to determining
infringement were held to be the intention of the website
operator and what local users understand upon accessing
the site. Applying this test to sites such as Facebook,
Twitter, or LinkedIn, could result in different decisions
depending on geographical coverage and demographic
reach. Decisions in other European countries, such as
Germany,434 have used the same approach and asked
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whether the website-use is directed at the respective
domestic customers or audience.
Unfair Competition/Passing Off
In English law, companies can use the tort of passing off to
protect their brands. A company looking to protect its
name, mark or get-up must establish goodwill,
misrepresentation and damage to successfully argue
passing off.
While an action for trademark infringement can only be
brought in relation to a registered trademark, the cause of
action in passing off is wider and protects all elements by
which a claimant’s business can be identified. That said,
passing off is narrower in scope and harder to prove than
the law of “unfair competition” in the United States. While
the tort of passing off has not yet been tested in a social
media context, there is no reason for it not to apply, albeit
that it might be difficult to prove damage in this context. If
this is the case, a claimant can instead rely on an argument
based around erosion of goodwill, which has previously
been successful in the English courts, if the claimant’s
brand exclusivity has been reduced, blurred or
diminished.435
While unfair competition law is not harmonized within the
European Union to the same degree as trademark law,
other countries offer similar (albeit not identical) remedies
to passing off. In Germany, for example, the imitation of
goods or services of a company leading to an avoidable
confusion among consumers as to commercial origin, or
unjustly exploiting or impairing the goodwill connected to
the imitated goods or services, constitutes unfair
competition.436 The one case decided by German Courts
in this context did not concern an individual use within a
social media context, but rather an alleged imitation of the
look and feel of Facebook by the German site StudiVZ.437
Impersonation
Social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook have
also encountered problems with impersonation, an issue
particularly prevalent with respect to celebrities. Twitter has
even adopted an impersonation policy that states:
Impersonation is a violation of the Twitter Rules. Twitter
accounts portraying another person in a confusing or
deceptive manner may be permanently suspended under
the Twitter Impersonation Policy.438
However, not all identical accounts will be removed. Twitter
maintains that an account will not be removed if the users
merely share a name but lack any other commonalities, or
the profile clearly states it is not affiliated with or connected
to any similarly-named individuals. As for accounts intended
to impersonate another, not all accounts with similar
usernames or that bear a similarity in appearance (e.g. the
same background or avatar image) are automatically in
violation of the impersonation policy. In order to be deemed
impersonation, according to Twitter, the account must also
portray another person in a misleading or deceptive
manner.439
Twitter will allow a parody impersonation to exist if the
following criteria are met:
Avatar: The avatar should not be the exact trademark
or logo of the account subject.
Account Name: The name should not be the exact
name of the account subject without some other
distinguishing word, such as "not," "fake," or "fan."
Bio: The bio should include a statement to distinguish
it from the account subject, such as "This is a parody,"
"This is a fan page," "Parody Account," "Fan Account,"
"Role-playing Account," or "This is not affiliated
with…".440
Nevertheless, countless celebrities have fallen victim to
imposters who have acquired usernames of well-known
personalities, including Tina Fey, Christopher Walken, and
Kanye West.441 The landmark case that brought this issue
to light involved St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La
Russa, who sued Twitter for trademark infringement for
allowing an impersonator to send unauthorized and
offensive messages under his name.442 Specifically, he
claimed that the unauthorized user made light of the deaths
of two Cardinals pitchers, and the public was duped into
believing that these statements were made by La Russa.
The case settled in June 2009. Cases like this beg the
question as to how well trademark owners can rely on
social media websites to shut down imposters, even in light
of such matters being brought to their direct attention.
Following the La Russa case, Twitter has created verified
accounts, which is a tool developed to help establish
authenticity of identities of key individuals and brands on
Twitter.443 An account that is deemed verified if a blue
badge appears on the user’s profile indicating that Twitter
has been in contact with the person or entity the account is
representing, and has verified that it is approved. Thus far,
Twitter has awarded the ‘verified’ seal to more than 54,000
accounts.444
While acknowledging that it will not be verifying all
accounts and will not accept requests for verification from
the general public, Twitter states that it concentrates on
verifying highly sought users in music, acting, fashion,
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government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports,
business, and other key interest areas.445 Ironically,
however, while the drafter of the tweets sent from an
account is not necessarily confirmed, many famous
celebrities delegate the use of their Twitter account to their
publicist or manager.
With respect to publically traded companies, transparency
over the true number of authentic accounts on both
Facebook and Twitter is likely to be ever more important as
more and more corporations use their social network
services to build their brand online.
Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds are another emerging area of unease.
Developed through the application of user-generated
content, members create avatars that exist in an online
world. Second Life, one such 3-D virtual world where
users can socialize, connect and create using voice and
text chat, also allows users to create virtual products for
sale online, using online currency to complete the
transaction that is purchased with real world currency.
Habbo is another example, only with a broader reach and
targeted to a teen and pre-teen audience.
Trademark Infringement
Too often the virtual products offered for sale on virtual
worlds bear the trademarks of third parties without
permission to do so. By way of example, in a case from
2009 in the United States, Taser International, Inc. filed a
trademark infringement claim against Second Life over the
sale of unauthorized virtual versions of its electronic stun
guns.446 The lawsuit was later dropped, but the liability of
Linden Lab, creator of Second Life, was debated in the
media.447 One question raised was why Linden Lab could
not have been protected under the safe harbor provisions
of the DMCA (See Chapter 1 – Advertising) or the CDA
(See Chapter 2 – Commercial Litigation). After all, Linden
Lab does not manufacture or sell stun guns, but merely
provides the platform through which these “products” are
offered for sale. The reason is because trademark
infringement claims, unlike copyright claims, for example,
are not covered by the DMCA or the CDA. Still, if one were
to follow the logic of these statutes, it would seem that the
creator of the product bearing the unauthorized trademark
should be held liable, not the party who merely provided
the platform. In Europe, the E-Commerce Directive makes
no such distinction. Thus, virtual world operators might
seek to rely on the argument that they are mere conduits,
expeditiously removing infringing content when put on
notice. Equally, brands that are struggling to find recourse
in the United States may find solace in Europe.
A further question is whether such use of another’s
trademark, in fact, amounts to trademark infringement.
After all, these unauthorized products are not actually
offered for sale in the real world, only online. However,
several trademark owners have actively promoted the use
of their products on Second Life, including International
Business Machines Corp. and Xerox Inc.448 In the case of
Herman Miller, the company allowed Linden Labs to
continue using the Aeron name, provided that the virtual
customers were charged a virtual premium price for their
virtual premium chairs.449 Therefore, there is reason to
believe that a stun gun bearing the Taser trademark, was,
in fact, endorsed by Taser International Inc. As such, it
would seem that it is in the trademark owner’s best interest
to police its mark to the best of its ability in order to avoid
any possible confusion with respect to source or
association. Further, you want to avoid a slippery slope,
wherein allowing wrongful use of one’s intellectual property
in the virtual world leads to even greater harm in the real
world.
In the European Union, the ECJ found that use of a
trademark protected for toys on a toy replica of a car will
constitute trademark infringement only if that use affects or
is liable to affect the functions of the trademark, or if,
without due cause, use of that sign takes unfair advantage
of, or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or the
repute of the trademark.450 In the Adam Opel case, which
followed a preliminary ruling from a German court, the
German courts ultimately found no such harm to the
trademark, and therefore no infringement.451
As intellectual property lawyers know, infringement arises
when there is a likelihood of consumer confusion among
the relevant purchasing public. On this basis, a plaintiff
suing for trademark infringement may claim damages
based on lost or diverted sales, which, on its face, may not
seem to clearly apply to the unauthorized use of
trademarks in the virtual world. However, real profits are,
in fact, generated on such sites. Moreover, as noted by the
Intangible Asset Finance Society:
It is undeniable that the virtual world population and
the “real” life population overlap, and behavior in one
medium can surely have an effect, adverse perhaps in
this case, on the other. This type of activity may
further prevent one from being able to fully exploit IP
rights and build IP equity, in particular brand equity, by
weakening, diluting and tarnishing trade mark rights or
serving as a barrier to potential licensing opportunities
and avenues.452
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Other examples of virtual world trademark infringement
include two cases involving the company Eros LLC. In one
instance, Eros sued Leatherwood for the making and
selling of unauthorized copies of its virtual adult-themed
animated bed, using Eros’ “SexGen” mark.453 Eros sought
an injunction and Leatherwood defaulted. In another case,
Eros, along with other Second Life merchants, sued a party
for duplication of its products and selling them at virtual
yard sales, using its marks to identify the products.454 Eros
had owned a pending application with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office for the mark “SexGen” (which has since
matured to registration)455, and a second plaintiff, DE
Designs, owned a federal registration for the mark “DE
Designs.”456 The plaintiffs were granted a judgment by
consent, wherein it was ordered that the defendant:
Pay plaintiffs $524 as restitution for profits derived
from the unauthorized copying and distribution of the
plaintiffs’ products
Represent to the court under penalty of perjury that
any remaining unauthorized copies were destroyed
Permanently cease copying, displaying, distributing or
selling any of the plaintiffs’ merchandise
Disclose the names of any alternative accounts or
future accounts to plaintiffs
Allow plaintiffs, through their attorneys, access to copy
and inspect the complete transactional records
maintained by PayPal, Inc. that were owned or
operated by the defendant
As is evidenced by the above, businesses that operate
entirely within a virtual world nevertheless receive
recognition of their marks, at least in the United States
(though maybe not in Europe, depending on the facts at
issue), implying that the mark is “used in commerce” within
the definition of the Lanham Act. In fact, Alyssa LaRoche
sought and was granted registration of a design mark of an
avatar by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in
connection with virtual content creation services.457 This
can certainly be seen as a step ahead for trademark rights
within virtual media. Why do companies bother with these
lawsuits? Because the virtual economy is growing at a
massive rate (witness Bitcoin, for example), with the global
market for virtual goods expected to pass $20 billion in
2015, and because increasingly younger generations are
learning their first consumer experiences online.458
In an EU law analysis, it is difficult to see how a sale of
virtual goods will constitute a sale of goods for legislative
purposes. As discussed, harmonized trademark law in the
European Union turns on whether the goods and services
related to the alleged infringer are identical or similar to the
trademark owner’s goods and services (unless, under
some domestic laws, use in commerce is made of a
famous brand). To what extent will the courts decide that
virtual Louis Vuitton wallpaper is similar to the real thing?
This issue has not been decided (yet) in the English courts.
In the UK, brand owners might opt to rely on passing off,
which, as discussed above, does not turn on similarity but
instead requires goodwill, misrepresentation and damage
to be established. In other EU countries, similar remedies
under unfair competition law may be available.
So, how do brand owners protect themselves? One option
concerns registration for different classifications, such as
for online interactive games (Class 41). EU member states
adopt different approaches in this regard. Under UK law,
an applicant must honestly intend to make goods and
services available in the classes for which it registers a
mark. This differs from the Office of Harmonization for the
Internal Market (“OHIM”) practice, which permits broad
registrations, and regulates undue scope through the
provisions on revocation for non-use. This seems like a
simple change to make in return for extending the
protection of your brand. Some EU member states adopt a
similar approach. In Germany, for example, applications
need to be made in good faith in the sense that bad faith
applications can be challenged. However, in practice the
application is regarded as neutral so long as there is no
actual indication of bad faith on the part of the applicant
(which would have to be demonstrated by the party
challenging the application). EU member states (along
with the CTM regime) also employ a revocation procedure
for non-use once five consecutive years of non-use after
registration have passed. Furthermore, the hurdles set by
the ECJ will still apply even if trademark protection exists
for relevant services in Class 41.
Second Life, like Twitter and Facebook, has a policy in
place to help avoid infringement and impersonation:459
Your account name cannot be the name of another
individual to the extent that it could cause deception or
confusion; a name that violates any trademark right,
copyright, or other proprietary right or mislead other
users regarding your identity or affiliation; or any name
that Linden Lab determines in its sole discretion to be
vulgar, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate.460
The policy adds that Linden Lab reserves the right to delete
or change any account name that violates the above. In
addition, an account cannot be transferred without the prior
written consent of Linden Lab.
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The policy further provides that:
In connection with Content you upload, publish, or
submit to any part of the Service, you affirm,
represent, and warrant that you own or have all
necessary Intellectual Property Rights, licenses,
consents, and permissions to use and authorize
Linden Lab and users of Second Life to use the
Content in the manner contemplated by the Service
and these Terms of Service.
And that the user will not:
Impersonate any person or entity without their
consent, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation, or
if you are an adult, impersonate a minor for the
purpose of interacting with a minor using the Service.
461
Linden Lab is generally known to remove any content from
its site that incorporates another’s trademark without the
trademark owner’s authorization, or features the
unauthorized use of celebrity material, as evidenced by the
case wherein the Trump organization put Linden Lab on
notice that a user was incorporating its “Miss Universe”
trademark in its “Miss SL Universe” pageant. Linden Lab
put the infringers on notice of the complaint by the Trump
organization and proceeded to remove all references to
Miss Universe and Miss SL Universe from Second Life.
While this is certainly encouraging, the trademark owner or
celebrity would be wise to proceed with caution in leaving
the determination of what amounts to infringing or
unauthorized use to Linden Lab.
Celebrity Name and Likeness
As noted above, virtual world users create avatars. Many
users will fashion an avatar bearing a celebrity’s name or
likeness. This action results in a separate category of
trademark infringement and, in the United States at least,
generates rights of publicity issues; but the results may
surprise you. The lead singer of the band Deee-Lite sued
Sega of America, Inc. for common law infringement of her
right to publicity, misappropriation of her likeness, and false
endorsement under the Lanham Act (among others), based
on the alleged use of her likeness as the basis for a
character in one of its video games. Despite the fact that
the character bore similar facial features, hairstyle and
clothing style, and recited the singer’s catchphrase, the
court held that there was “sufficient expressive content to
constitute a ‘transformative work,’” protected under the
First Amendment.462 In a separate avatar-related case,
Marvel sued NCSoft for copyright and trademark
infringement on the basis that the avatars created in its
“City of Heroes” game were “identical in name, appearance
and characteristics belonging to Marvel.”463 The case
settled.
As these cases evidence, trademark owners and providers
of virtual world platforms remain ever vigilant of the
growing concern regarding the unauthorized use of
trademarks and likenesses. It is in the best interests of
both parties to work together in protecting the trademark
owners’ rights in order to avoid costly and preventable
litigation.
Bottom Line—What You Need To Do
It is of the utmost importance to have a strategy in place in
order to best protect your ownership of intellectual
property. By aggressively policing your trademarks, service
marks, trade names and copyrights, intellectual property
owners will be in the best position to prevent claims that
they have waived their ability to enforce their ownership
rights, while at the same time discouraging others from any
unauthorised use of such marks and works of authorship.
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— CHAPTER 15 —
The U.S. Patent Minefield
Managing Risk Resulting from Assertions by Patent assertion Entities (PAEs)464
Chapter Author
Marc S. Kaufman, Partner – mkaufman@reedsmith.com
Introduction
Risk resulting from patent infringement allegations has always been high in the United States. The emergence of the Patent
assertion Entity (PAE) model has served to increase this risk. PAEs are sometimes referred to as “patent trolls” because of their
attempt to assess a fee on the activities of alleged infringers (referred to as “targets” herein). The typical business model of an
PAE is to assert patents and generate revenue from licensing fees or damage awards assessed by courts. PAEs, as the name
suggests, do not compete in the marketplace that they claim is covered by their patents. Therefore, traditional mechanisms of
leverage used against competitor patent assertion, such as counterclaims for patent infringement, a partnering deal, a cross
license for patents or other intellectual property, and the like, are not effective to assert leverage against PAEs. This, combined
with the aggressiveness of PAEs because of their revenue model, has led to a significant increase in risk because of patent
infringement in the United States. Companies operating in the areas of digital media, advertising, and financial services are
particularly vulnerable as a result of the large amount of relevant patents that were originally owned by start-ups that did not
succeed. Often, these patents end up in the hands of PAEs. Recent patent assertions have targeted common internet marketing
practices:
The use of QR codes to direct a user of a mobile device to web content
Putting a store locator on a web site
Superimposing a facial image on an animated body image
Placing static ads in a video stream
Embedding a URL in a text message to direct a mobile device to web content
To be clear, the typical PAE revenue model is perfectly legal. PAEs can be venture capitalists purchasing patents on the open
market for a return on investment, “privateers” who provide the resources to sue for patent infringement on behalf of the owner,
innovators who have developed significant technology only to see it misappropriated by large companies without remuneration,
or large IP aggregators, for example. However, the frustration and uncertainty caused by this business model has led to various
changes in the common law and statutes.465 Additionally, several states Attorneys General have addressed the issue by
launching investigations into the practice of specific PAEs believed to be practicing anticompetitive tactics.
Notwithstanding the efforts noted above, the PAE business model, though, will likely remain legal and perfectly viable in the
foreseeable future. Therefore, a good strategy for managing the risk presented by PAEs is necessary when doing business in the
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United States. This article will avoid the discussion of visceral and emotional reactions to the PAE model in favor of articulating
constructive approaches to managing risk and uncertainty.
It is important to understand the typical PAE value proposition. Most PAEs will offer a license that, while expensive, will likely be
less than the costs of taking the PAE to trial and less than the cost of evaluating the patent in some cases. The proposition
presented by the typical PAE is, “for X dollars, we (the PAE) will provide a guaranteed result (license to the patents) as opposed
to paying a multiple of X dollars to your lawyers and experts with no guarantee.” Sometimes this value proposition is not
unreasonable. However, there are ways to apply leverage and present risk to the PAE that will, at the very least, reduce “X”
significantly. Of course, there are situations where a license is the best approach and others where a license is not appropriate.
The PAE revenue model leverages the uncertainty and inefficiencies that are inherent in patent defenses. Patents are often
complex legal and technical documents, and the patent laws in the United States are far from simple. In order to truly understand
the scope of a patent, it is often necessary to review and interpret thousands of pages of technical documents, and the history of
the proceeding before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that resulted in the patent. On the other hand, PAEs often utilize
contingent fee attorneys and thus have little out-of-pocket expense. This imbalance is the foundation of the PAE revenue model.
However, the target of the PAE assertion can present risk to the PAE. A successful defense against an PAE assertion requires
demonstrating to the PAE that:
The PAE is at risk of having the patent assets declared invalid or otherwise unenforceable
The assertion will take a great deal of time and will be expensive to the PAE
The target has the resolve to go to trial if necessary
The industry players will cooperate to reduce costs for the targets
By demonstrating that it is sophisticated and has resolve, the target of the PAE assertion becomes a less desirable opponent
and thus eliminates some of the leverage of the PAE. The five key components to a successful resolution of an PAE assertion
are:
Risk assessment
Aggressive license negotiation tactics
Aggressive litigation (when necessary)
Creative legal fee models
Industry collaboration
Risk Assessment
It is critical to understand the risk presented by the PAE
assertion before beginning negotiation in earnest. PAE
assertions range along a spectrum from “nuisance,” in
which the PAE does not have a strong legal position and is
looking merely for a modest payment, to high risk, in which
the PAE has a strong legal position against a significant
product or service being offered by the target. It is helpful
to place the assertion on this spectrum. While the target
and the PAE will likely disagree on the relative legal
strength of the PAE assertion, each party, in most cases,
will understand the position of the assertion on this
spectrum, plus/minus a “point of view” (POV) value. While
some PAEs are completely unreasonable, most are quite
sophisticated these days and understand the strengths and
weaknesses of their legal position. Accordingly, if the target
has evaluated its own legal position, the parties are, for the
most part, on the same page (even if the parties do not
admit to this).
It may be difficult to admit, however, that some PAE
assertions have solid legal and factual bases and are best
treated as such. Therefore, it important to asses risk. The
best approach is a step-by-step approach. While there is
no single recipe for evaluating risk, the following will
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provide some guidelines. Of course, some of the activities
can be conducted in parallel and the order prescribed
below is not optimum in all cases.
First, a title search on the asserted patents should be
conducted. It is not unheard of for a party to try to assert
patents that it does not have a right to assert. Also, in some
instances the target has the benefit of a license to the
asserted patents granted to a supplier or the like. A title
search is not difficult to conduct. At this time, it is also
worthwhile to investigate any potential indemnity, through
supplier contracts or the like, and to comply with any notice
provisions thereof.
Next, it is important to gather as much information as
possible on the PAE, its targets, its business model, and
settlement terms. For example, has the PAE filed suit
before? If so, what was the outcome and did the outcome
affect the value of the asserted patents? What tactics has
the PAE used for licensing/settlement? Who is counsel for
the PAE and what is counsel’s reputation? The answers to
these questions will help ascertain what you are up against
and will help you begin to place the assertion along the
spectrum noted above. In many cases, the outcome of your
research on the PAE may indicate that there is an
opportunity for settlement at a very low dollar amount.
While settlement may seem “distasteful,” it may be the best
business choice if the matter can be disposed of for a
relatively small amount.
If the steps above do not lead to a resolution, it is important
to determine the likelihood that the alleged conduct actually
infringes the asserted patents. This is accomplished by
having counsel review the patent(s), the record of
prosecution of the patent before the Patent Office, and
technical details of the accused activity. Counsel can then
make a determination of the strength of the infringement
allegation. If the non-infringement position is extremely
strong, it can often be used to negotiate a favorable
settlement, or even to convince the PAE to drop the
assertion.
If the infringement position is subject to doubt because of
possible claim construction issues, a validity analysis of the
asserted patent(s) should be conducted. Such an analysis
includes a thorough search of the relevant prior art and an
analysis thereof by patent counsel to determine if the
patents are not novel and non-obvious, and thus are likely
to be invalidated by a court. A strong position of invalidity
will, of course, provide settlement leverage. Finally, a highlevel
damages analysis should be conducted to ascertain
the amount of revenue and profit as a result of the alleged
infringing activity.
License Negotiation
Once the requisite-level risk analysis has been
accomplished, the target can begin to negotiate a
license/settlement with the PAE. As noted above, license
negotiation can occur in tandem with risk analysis and
thus, depending on the situation, the “requisite level” of risk
analysis varies based on specific circumstances. At the
outset, the target should press the PAE for details, such as
how the asserted patent claims map to accused activities
and the amount of any initial settlement demand. Also,
based on the risk analysis, the target should soon present
information to the PAE demonstrating that the PAE has risk
as a result of potential invalidity and/or non-infringement.
Also, if the damages analysis shows that the PAE is not
likely to achieve a large reward, such evidence possibly
should be presented at this time.
Regardless of the circumstances, the target should
demonstrate the ability and resolve to make the assertion
difficult for the PAE. Counsel with a strong patent litigation
reputation should be retained and mitigating evidence from
the risk analysis should be presented. Notwithstanding the
above, the target should define “success” in the matter and
be open to a settlement that is within the range of this
definition.
Litigation
If license negotiations are not productive, embarking upon
some level of litigation may be necessary. Of course, the
target can let the natural course of litigation unfold by
waiting for the PAE to file suit in a venue of the PAE’s
choice. Alternatively, it may be desirable to be proactive
and put pressure on the PAE. One tactic is to file for a
review of the patent through one of the administrative
review proceedings in the U.S. Patent Office. Another way
to reduce leverage of the PAE is to file a Declaratory
Judgment action in a venue of the target’s choice prior to
any suit being filed by the PAE. Whether litigation is filed by
the PAE or the target, the target might want to push for
early claim construction and/or quick Summary Judgment.
Of course, any use of the tactics above depend on the
forum and specific facts of each case. Finally,
nontraditional counterclaims, such as false advertising,
unfair competition and other antitrust claims, should be
considered. While such claims are not always available,
they are becoming more acceptable by some courts.
Legal Fee Models
As noted above, the typical PAE model leverages the
traditional legal fee models, typically hourly rates or fixed
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fees per matter, in which there is a high incremental cost
for each litigation matter. However, to the extent that a
legal fee model can be negotiated that reduces the
incremental costs per litigation matter, the PAE has
reduced leverage and the target is empowered. One
example is a legal fee model in which a fixed monthly or
yearly fee is paid to a law firm in exchange for a specified
package of legal services throughout the year. The
package of legal services and the fee can vary, of course.
The concept is that the target has purchased a sort of
“insurance policy” at a predictable rate and removed the
incremental cost, and related budgeting issues, of
individual matters that arise throughout the year.
Industry Collaboration
Since PAEs often assert against multiple players in a single
industry, it is axiomatic that the various players in an
industry can benefit from collaboration. Since the players
are often competitors, this can require a careful balancing
of how much information can be shared. However, the
benefits far outweigh the balancing efforts. Collaboration
can be at one or more levels. For example, collaboration
may be limited to permissible sharing of information about
the PAE’s tactics and demands, sharing information about
prior art, and sharing legal analysis (when approved by
counsel).
Collaboration may be in the form of a joint defense
agreement among targets or may be elevated to a broader
collaboration of all industry players through a trade
association or other entity. More creative opportunities for
collaboration include the organized challenge of patents
that are perceived to be an industry threat, or even a
purchase of patents to “take them off the street.” Further
collaboration can include accepted shared indemnities
within an industry. Of course, antitrust counsel should be
consulted before embarking on any collaborative activity
among competitors.
Bottom Line—What You Need to Do
While the threat of PAEs cannot be eliminated—at least not
in the short term—many tactics can be used to reduce
uncertainty and thus reduce PAE leverage. Reduced PAE
leverage means reduced risk for the target. Potential
targets of an PAE should investigate all of the tactics
outlined above, and any others presented by the specific
facts, in order to reduce the uncertainty presented by the
various PAE patent assertion models.
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— Biographies of Authors and Editors —
Sara A. Begley, Partner – Philadelphia · +1 215 851 8214 · sbegley@reedsmith.com
In addition to counseling employers on the scope of employment issues, Sara is a trial attorney with
background in litigating cases involving race, age, disability, and gender discrimination, sexual harassment
and retaliation. She has also tried other employment-related and breach-of-contract cases in the federal and
state courts and before administrative and arbitration tribunals. Her most recent jury trials involved claims of
race, age and disability discrimination which resulted in defense verdicts for our clients. A significant portion
of her practice involves trade secret and restrictive covenant litigation which includes litigating preliminary
and permanent injunctions in state and federal court. She also drafts and negotiates executive agreements,
arbitration agreements, restrictive covenant and confidentiality agreements, severance packages, other
employment-related agreements and contracts, employee handbooks, Affirmative Action Plans, and
employer policies and procedures.
Paul Bond, Partner – Princeton · 1 609 520 6393 · pbond@reedsmith.com
Paul is a member of the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group, practicing in the areas of data privacy,
security, and management. Paul helps our clients comply with legal requirements for the protection of
personal data, whether those requirements arise from contract, state, national, or international law. In that
vein, Paul counsels clients on how to meet their obligations under, e.g., the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA,
the Fair Credit Reporting Act and its Identity Theft Red Flags regulations, and the dozens of other federal
and state privacy law and regulations. Paul has also been actively involved in the successful defense of
several dozen putative class actions concerning consumer privacy. Paul is a member of the International
Association of Privacy Professionals.
Darren B. Cohen, Partner – New York · +1 212 549 0346 · dcohen@reedsmith.com
Darren provides counsel to advertising agencies and brand owners on all matters of trademark and copyright
law, including clearance, prosecution, licenses, assignments, settlement agreements, and domain name
disputes, as well as Customs issues. In addition, Darren has overseen the establishment and maintenance
of programs designed to secure and protect thousands of domestic and international trademarks. Darren is
recommended for his experience on the brand strategy front and for advising advertising clients on
trademark matters by The Legal 500 directory since 2007. According to The Legal 500 – United States (2009
Edition), Darren is the driving force behind the trademark group, offering counselling to a multitude of
advertising agencies and brand owners on all matters of trademark law.
Eugene K. Connors, Partner – Pittsburgh +1 412 288 3375 econnors@reedsmith.com
Gene guides small and not-so-small local, national and international companies on how to best balance
employer-employee needs to eliminate employment concerns while maximizing management options.
Examples include acquiring, consolidating, relocating, automating, "right sizing," or closing businesses;
retaining or regaining union-free status; and negotiating hundreds of agreements with affordable, flexible
working conditions critical to global success. Beyond strategic planning and problem avoidance, Gene
represents employers before federal and state courts; federal, state and local administrative agencies;
arbitrators; and mediators.
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Colleen T. Davies, Partner – San Francisco · +1 415 659 4769 · cdavies@reedsmith.com
Colleen is a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group, practicing in the area of product liability
litigation. Colleen first joined Reed Smith in January 2003 when the firm combined with Crosby, Heafey,
Roach & May. Her legal career has focused her civil litigation practice in the area of complex product liability
defense. Her litigation and trial experience include national counsel responsibility for cases at the state and
federal trial court levels, including multi-district litigation and class actions. Colleen's client base primarily
consists of major pharmaceutical, medical device, software, hardware, electronic and consumer product
manufacturers. While her experience extends into various product manufacturing arenas, her specialty areas
remain in pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer product liability defense. She also counsels product
manufacturers on all phases of product development. Here, her work addresses manufacturing and
marketing issues such as product warnings, design development, document retention policies, claims
management, media relations and crisis management. She also has experience establishing in-house
systems for compliance with Consumer Product Safety Commission reporting obligations.
Stephen Edwards, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2910 · sedwards@reedsmith.com
Stephen is an expert in copyright and broadcasting law, handling both rights-related and other commercial
transactions and regulatory work for clients ranging from start-up ventures to some of the media industries’
household names. In the past year, for instance, he has worked on matters for the BBC, Channel Four, MTV,
RTÉ and the European Broadcasting Union. He also has experience in dealing with EU legislation in the
copyright and regulatory fields, most recently the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive. In addition to
television, radio and digital media work, Stephen’s experience also covers music rights, sports agreements
and all forms of print and online publishing.
Amy J. Greer, Partner – Philadelphia/New York · +1 215 851 8211 · agreer@reedsmith.com
Amy joined Reed Smith in 2008 and is a partner who divides time between the firm’s Philadelphia and New
York offices. She serves as co-leader of the Securities Litigation and Enforcement practice, a component of
the Global Regulatory and Enforcement group. Before joining Reed Smith, Amy served as Regional Trial
Counsel in the Philadelphia Regional Office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In
that role, Amy served as the chief litigation counsel in the Philadelphia office and managed a staff of lawyers
responsible for a wide variety of enforcement matters. Amy, an experienced trial lawyer, joined the Agency in
July 2003, from private practice, where as a Partner in a large regional law firm, she specialized in complex
commercial and corporate litigation.
Peter Hardy, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2958 · phardy@reedsmith.com
Peter is a partner in the European Litigation Group and is an insurance recovery and reinsurance expert. He
specialises in insurance recovery and reinsurance litigation and is recognised as a leading insurance
recovery and reinsurance litigator in London. His practice covers a diverse range of insurance recovery and
reinsurance disputes but reflects his particular experience in commercial crime and financial institutions'
fidelity policies and other key commercial liability covers such as E&O, D&O and Pensions Trustee Liability.
He is experienced in matters concerning the crossover between life insurance and pensions and the liability
insurance market and has advised extensively on policy wordings and policy programme structures and
reinsurance arrangements as well as in connection with issues arising upon the insolvency of an insurance
company.
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Andrew L Hurst, Partner – Falls Church/Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9275 · ahurst@reedsmith.com
Andrew is a member of Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Group. His practice can be described
as having three aspects. First, Andrew represents corporations in civil fraud litigation, with a focus on health
care providers and other government contractors being sued under the civil False Claims Act. Second,
Andrew represents corporations and individuals in connection with criminal investigations and prosecutions
by the Department of Justice and other federal and state entities. Third, Andrew serves as outside general
counsel for several small and mid-size emerging corporations. He provides general legal advice and
facilitates representation of the clients by the appropriate Reed Smith departments, providing these clients
with tools to grow to the next level of their business.
Marc S. Kaufman, Partner – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9249 · mkaufman@reedsmith.com
Marc specializes in assisting his clients in managing and monetizing their intellectual property assets. He has
developed structured procedures for defining and executing intellectual property strategies that are aligned
with overall business objectives, for a wide variety of business entities. From procuring and enforcing rights
both in the United States and abroad to structuring and negotiating intellectual property transactions, Marc
uses his skills and experience to help his clients achieve all of their objectives, Marc possesses a unique
ability to understand the needs of his clients and to deliver relevant, timely and practical intellectual property
related business and legal advice. Specifically in the area of patents, Marc has developed and managed
patent portfolios that have been widely licensed by major corporations. Often times, he guides his clients in
the sale of patents, that are no longer relevant to core objectives.
Antony B. Klapper, Partner – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9302 · aklapper@reedsmith.com
Tony’s practice focuses on products liability, toxic tort and consumer fraud claims, but his litigation
experience also includes government contracts, complex business, defamation, and employment litigation.
Tony is an experienced litigator with first-chair experience, and has taught for several years trial advocacy
courses, including those sponsored by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and Equal Justice Works.
Dr. Alexander R. Klett, Partner – Munich · +49 (0)89 20304 145 · aklett@reedsmith.com
Alexander is a partner in the German Intellectual Property (IP) group, responsible for all “soft” IP matters,
and a commercial lawyer with international experience in a wide range of IP law matters, both contentious
and non-contentious. Alexander advises regularly on prosecution, portfolio management, licensing, and
infringement matters, particularly in the areas of trademarks, designs, copyrights and unfair competition. He
advises on IP issues involving corporate transactions, and has advised on several high-profile disputes
before the German and European Community authorities and courts involving trademark and copyright law
matters. His clients include high-tech companies, financial investors, clients from such industries as clothing,
watches and household goods, as well as film studios, entertainment companies and publishers.
Emma Lenthall, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3432 · elenthall@reedsmith.com
Emma is a commercial litigator and she jointly heads Reed Smith's Intellectual Property, Media, Advertising
and Technology disputes group. She has acted on high profile defamation matters involving well known
celebrities, newspapers and other individuals and organisations. She has also worked on copyright, trade
mark and passing off matters for clients with famous brands. She regularly advises on clearance issues in
relation to advertising and promotions and in the areas of privacy and confidence. Emma assists in the
protection of a very well known intellectual property portfolio and has also worked on international
arbitrations and professional negligence matters. She is a full member of Equity.
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Celeste A. Letourneau, Partner – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9260 · mcletourneau@reedsmith.com
Celeste advises clients on FDA and health care regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters. Celeste
specializes in advising clients on FDA regulatory and transactional issues related to pre-clinical and clinical
trials; marketing approval; product labeling; manufacturing and distribution; advertising and promotion;
pharmacovigilence, biospecimens, and FDA inspections and enforcement actions. Celeste also advises
clients on a broad range of health care regulatory matters, including: Medicare coverage of routine costs and
medical devices in clinical trials, HIPAA, and state regulation of manufacturers, distributors and health care
providers.
Stacy K. Marcus, Partner – New York · +1 212 549 0446 · smarcus@reedsmith.com
Stacy concentrates her practice in e-commerce, advertising and technology law. Stacy advises clients on
social media guidelines, branding, trademark and copyright-related issues, celebrity endorsement and talent
agreements, software licensing and development, sweepstakes and promotions, mobile marketing, email
marketing and telemarketing. She has counseled clients in a wide variety of services available through the
Internet and mobile platforms, including issues related to social media, user-generated content and premium
SMS promotions. Her clients include advertisers, advertising agencies, financial institutions and website
owners.
Mark S. Melodia, Partner – Princeton · +1 609 520 6015 · mmelodia@reedsmith.com
Mark leads the Global Data Security, Privacy & Management practice as a partner within the Global
Regulatory Enforcement Group. He has recognized experience in litigating putative class actions and other
"bet-the-company" suits. He works on behalf of clients in a variety of industries, including, but not limited to,
financial services, media, and retail. He has succeeded in getting complaints dismissed, class certifications
denied and/or favorable settlements negotiated on behalf of these clients. He has organized, led and
participated in successful mass defense efforts involving claims of data breach, securities fraud, predatory
lending, multi-state attorneys general and other government investigations, as well as allegations of antitrust
conspiracy and deceptive sales practices.
J. Andrew Moss, Partner – Chicago · +1 312 207 3869 · amoss@reedsmith.com
Andy is a member of Reed Smith’s Insurance Recovery Group in the Litigation Department. Andy joined
Reed Smith when the firm combined with Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd. in March 2007. Andy concentrates his
practice on the representation of companies and management as policyholders in insurance disputes
involving directors’ and officers’ liability (D&O), professional and errors and omissions liability (E&O), data
and network security and privacy liability (cyberliability), fiduciary liability, employment practices liability (EPL)
and fidelity bond and commercial crime insurance. In addition, Andy counsels companies and management
in the negotiation, evlauation, placement and renewal of D&O, E&O, fiduciary liability, employment practices
liability, fidelity bond and commercial crime insurance.
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Kathyleen A. O’Brien, Partner – Century City · +1 310 734 5268 · kobrien@reedsmith.com
Kathyleen is a partner in Reed Smith’s Advertising, Technology and MediaGroup. She represents consumer
products and media and entertainment companies in federal and state litigation and enforcement actions,
including false advertising and antitrust litigation, consumer class actions involving unfair and deceptive
advertising and trade practice claims and trademark and copyright infringement actions. She also regularly
counsels clients on advertising, marketing, branding, privacy and data collection and use issues, oversees
an active trademark and copyright prosecution practice, and conducts compliance programs, internet and
employee training in these areas.
Cynthia O’Donoghue, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3494 · codonoghue@reedsmith.com
Cynthia is a partner in the European Corporate Group and a core member of the firm’s multi-disciplinary
Outsourcing Group. Cynthia specialises in large, complex IT and business process outsourcing transactions
and advises on all aspects of sourcing and procurement-related transactions for both customers and service
providers in the health care/life sciences, financial services, technology and telecommunications sectors.
Cynthia also regularly advises on data privacy and cloud computing issues.
Gregor J. Pryor, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3536 · gpryor@reedsmith.com
Gregor is a partner in the Advertising, Technology and Media team. He has broad experience of advising
clients concerning the acquisition, production, licensing and distribution of content on digital media networks
and platforms. He regularly advises content owners such as film and television production companies, record
labels, music publishers and advertisers regarding the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property
rights. He also advises companies that are involved in the distribution and sale of digital content, such as
social networks, online retailers, aggregators, network operators, platform owners and search engines,
regarding their arrangements with content owners and consumers. Gregor also advises clients concerning
data protection and privacy matters, particularly in relation to online operations and targeted advertising.
Peter D. Raymond, Partner – New York · +1 212 549 0364 · praymond@reedsmith.com
Peter specializes in intellectual property and commercial litigation. He has tried bench and jury cases and
argued appeals in the state and federal courts in New York and has appeared in courts and in administrative
tribunals throughout the country. In particular, Peter represents clients in disputes involving false advertising,
unfair competition, copyright and trademark infringement, trademark dilution, product disparagement, and
invasion of rights of privacy and publicity. Peter has also lectured and acted as an expert witness in
intellectual property and comparative advertising matters.
Laurence G. Rees, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3545 · lrees@reedsmith.com
Laurence has specialised in employment law work since 1980 and advises clients drawn from a wide range
of industrial and commercial sectors, on all aspects of employment law. Laurence has extensive experience
of service agreements and other contracts of employment, and of consultancy arrangements, employment
aspects of transactions, and executive compensation. He is regularly instructed on redundancy and
workforce restructuring exercises, and the employment aspects of outsourcing. Laurence frequently advises
on terminations of employment, often at boardroom level and the negotiation and documentation of
settlement terms. Laurence also has significant expertise in the commercial aspects of UK immigration law.
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Stephan Rippert, Partner – Munich · +49 (0)89 20304 160 · srippert@reedsmith.com
Stephan is a partner in the European Corporate Group and also responsible for the German Advertising,
Technology & Media (ATM) practice. He is a commercial lawyer with international experience in a wide range
of sophisticated and complex transactions. Stephan regularly advises on all contractual, commercial and
regulatory ATM transactions including content distribution, digital and wireless media, licensing, syndication
and production agreements, IT-Outsourcing and BPO, advertising and sponsoring, media concentration
rules, software, e-commerce, intellectual property, data protection, privacy issues, unfair competition, and
litigation. His practice also encompasses joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions and strategic alliances.
Stephan has advised on several major transactions in Germany with respect to the acquisition of the German
broadband systems and digital platform operations. His clients include international broadcasters, U.S. film
studios, new media companies, software and technology companies, food and steel companies, and
financial investors. Stephan also advises clients in the life sciences sectors medical devices, biotechnology
and pharmaceuticals on a wide range of transactional and regulatory matters.
Carolyn H. Rosenberg, Partner – Chicago · +1 312 207 6472 · crosenberg@reedsmith.com
Carolyn joined Reed Smith when the firm combined with Sachnoff & Weaver. She is a member of the firm’s
Executive Committee, as well as the firm’s Audit Committee, and heads the firm’s Talent Committee. She
frequently advises corporations, directors and officers, risk managers, insurance brokers, lawyers and other
professionals on insurance coverage, corporate indemnification, and litigation matters nationwide and
internationally. Carolyn also assists clients in evaluating insurance coverage and other protections when
negotiating transactions and represents them in resolving coverage disputes. She has addressed coverage
issues ranging from directors’ and officers’ liability and fidelity bond insurance to data privacy and
cyberliability policies. Carolyn is also a frequent speaker and commentator.
Casey S. Ryan, Partner – Pittsburgh · +1 412 288 4226 · cryan@reedsmith.com
Casey is a partner in the Labor and Employment group. She represents employers in a wide variety of
employment-related litigation, including harassment, retaliation, discrimination, wrongful discharge and
breach of contract litigation in federal courts throughout the country, and routinely appears before both
federal and state agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and various state
human relations commissions. Casey has prevailed in numerous arbitration proceedings, involving matters
such as breach of employment contracts, wage claims and bonus and incentive pay disputes. As part of
counseling employers on day-to-day issues, Casey routinely advises on issues of hiring, disciplining and
firing in both unionized and non-unionized workplaces. She also routinely advises employers, drafts policies
and conducts workforce training on topics such as computer and Internet usage, employee use of social
media, employment agreements and handbooks, drug testing and workplace violence.
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Alexander “Sandy” Y. Thomas, Partner – Falls Church/Washington, D.C. · +1 703 641 4276 ·
athomas@reedsmith.com
Sandy focuses his practice on commercial litigation, with particular experience in antitrust counseling and
litigation. He has successfully defended clients accused of monopolization and attempted monopolization,
trade secrets misappropriation, and violations of state and federal unfair competition laws. He has also
represented clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by U.S. competition agencies. Sandy
regularly counsels businesses in claims arising out of breach of contract, including breaches of restrictive
covenants and proprietary information agreements. He has litigated such cases to successful bench and jury
verdicts. Sandy also has considerable experience advising corporate counsel on issues relating to the
attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, and has written and spoken extensively on the
subjects. He has counseled numerous large corporate law departments on privilege and work-product
challenges in internal investigations.
Douglas J. Wood, Partner – New York · +1 212 549 0377 · dwood@reedsmith.com
Douglas Wood. Doug is Chair of Reed Smith’s Media & Entertainment Law Group and is resident in the
firm’s New York office. Doug has more than 30 years’ experience representing the entertainment and media
industries, including individuals and multinational companies in motion picture, publishing, advertising,
marketing, promotions, unfair competition, intellectual property, and e-commerce matters. He is the author of
the book, Please Be ADvised, the Legal Guide for the Advertising Executive, published by the Association of
National Advertisers (www.ana.net) and is the Chairman and founder of the Global Advertising Lawyers
Alliance (www.gala-marketlaw.com).
Michael J. Young, Partner – London · +44 (0)20 31163655 · myoung@reedsmith.com
Michael specialises in advising clients in respect of a broad range of corporate finance and
company/commercial transactions, including cross-border and domestic takeovers, mergers and
acquisitions, joint ventures and equity issues by public and private companies. Michael has extensive
experience in acting for companies on their admission to the markets of the London Stock Exchange and
subsequent fundraisings. Michael has particular experience of acting for clients in the media and technology
and financial services sectors.
Jesse J. Ash, Counsel – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9449 · jash@reedsmith.com
Jesse is a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group. His practice focuses on products liability
litigation and he has extensive experience handling matters for an array of multinational companies in the
pharmaceutical, medical device, health care and alcoholic beverage industries in both state and federal
courts. Jesse has a strong background in electronic discovery, organizing and supervising numerous largescale
document productions for clients around the country, including all facets of the process from hold
letters, to initial preservation and organization of discovery parameters, to the review and assessment for
production, privilege and fact development. As a member of the Sedona Conference on Electronic
Discovery, Jesse combines the unique experience gained while working at his prior discovery counsel
boutique law firm, where he also had responsibility for the day to day management of the firm, with his longtime
experience at Reed Smith, which puts him on the cutting edge of the electronic discovery industry.
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Tisha Schestopol, Counsel – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9237 · tschestopol@reedsmith.com
Tisha joined Reed Smith in 2013 as counsel for the Life Sciences Health Industry Group. Previous to joining
the firm, she was Senior Regulatory Counsel at Human Genome Sciences, where she provided health care
and FDA regulatory and compliance guidance as the company pursued commercialization of its first product
under a co-commercialization agreement with a large pharmaceutical manufacturer. She assisted in the
development and monitoring of the corporate compliance program, including establishment of policies and
processes related to health care professional interactions, compliance with transparency reporting,
investigations, advisory boards, field exhibit and display requests, charitable contribution and grant review.
She also advised on compliance with FDA requirements and guidance related to advertising and promotion.
Louise Berg, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2831 · lberg@reedsmith.com
Louise focuses on intellectual property and media law and has advised on disputes involving trade mark
issues, copyright law, design right, defamation, privacy and breach of confidence. She also advises on noncontentious
intellectual property matters, assisting clients with clearance work and issues relating to trade
mark registrations and licences. She has experience in digital distribution and e-commerce issues and her
work in this area includes advice on user generated content, Internet piracy, domain name disputes and
liability under IT services contracts. Louise also advises on general commercial disputes and was engaged
on a large multiparty case involving insurance, film finance, allegations of fraud, professional negligence and
breach of contract.
James Boulton, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2844 · jboulton@reedsmith.com
James joined Reed Smith in 2007 having joined from a boutique corporate practice in Birmingham. He is an
associate in the European and Middle Eastern Corporate Group, advising clients on company/commercial
and transactional matters.
Jillian L. Burstein, Associate – Chicago · +1 312 207 2779 · jburstein@reedsmith.com
Jillian is a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation Group.
Carl De Cicco, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2892 · cdecicco@reedsmith.com
Carl trained at Reed Smith and joined the Employment Group upon qualification in September 2005. He
undertakes a broad spectrum of employment work and has advised clients in relation to matters involving
unfair dismissal, discrimination on grounds of race, sex, disability and age, whistleblowing and breach of
contract. Carl has also been involved in the employment aspects of a large number of corporate
transactions, both business sales (involving the application of TUPE) and share sales. Carl also advises
clients with matters involving contracts of employment, redundancy situations and the enforcement of garden
leave provisions and restrictive covenants.
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Christine Nielsen Czuprynski, Associate – Chicago · +1 312 207 6459 · cczuprynski@reedsmith.com
Christine focuses her practice specifically in the area of data privacy and security, as well as
telecommunications and marketing, as part of the firm’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Group. Christine
counsels clients on topics ranging from security breach preparedness and response, to SMS and email
marketing campaigns.She provides regulatory advice on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In addition to TCPA and FCRA compliance advice, Christine
offers guidance on CAN-SPAM, COPPA, and U.S./EU Safe Harbor certification. She also has extensive
litigation experience, defending her clients against privacy-related class actions, such as those involving the
TCPA and data security breaches.
Erin Felix, Associate – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9273 · efelix@reedsmith.com
Erin is a member of the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group and focuses her practice on government
contracts and grants. Erin’s practice includes representing prime and subcontractor clients in negotiations;
disputes, claims, and bid protests; government audits and investigations; and the application of the Federal
Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") and individual agency supplement procurement regulations. Erin has also
assisted with a variety of issues relating to internal investigations and other compliance matters associated
with doing business with the federal government.
Daniel Z. Herbst, Associate – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9232 · dherbst@reedsmith.com
Dan is an associate in the firm’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Group. His experience involves
representing clients in a variety of multi-jurisdictional commercial and regulatory litigation. Dan’s practice
focuses on two practice areas: first, financial services litigation, where he defends banks and other financial
institutions in a disputes ranging from large class action litigation to arbitrations before financial regulatory
bodies; second, media and defamation law, where he advises clients and litigates disputes relating to
broadcast, print, and Internet speech and trade libel and business defamation.
Ed Hunter, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2997 · ehunter@reedsmith.com
Ed joined Reed Smith as a trainee in February 2011 and joined the Employment Group on qualification in
February 2013. Ed undertakes a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work, including advising on
general employment matters such as terminations, bonus and restrictive covenant disputes and working time
rights, as well as drafting contracts of employment and HR policies and procedures. Ed regularly advises on
the employment aspects of corporate transactions, including business sales, share sales, private equity
transactions and outsourcing matters. He also has experience working on large-scale projects such as global
restructures and redundancy exercises.
Lisa B. Kim, Associate – Los Angeles · +1 213 457 8043 · lkim@reedsmith.com
Lisa is a senior associate in the firm's Commercial Litigation Group. Lisa's practice focuses primarily on data
privacy, security, and management, professional liability, and financial services. Lisa also has significant
experience with landlord-tenant disputes, toxic tort matters, and general business disputes. Lisa defends
businesses in data privacy class action litigation involving the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, the Telephone
Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and other related statutes. Lisa also advises companies on compliance
with various data privacy and security laws, including the TCPA, CAN-SPAM, the Video Privacy Protection
Act (VPPA), California’s Shine-the-Light law, and California’s Do Not Track Disclosures. She writes and
speaks regularly on new developments in California and federal law related to data privacy.
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Frederick H. Lah, Associate – New York · +1 212 549 0324 · flah@reedsmith.com
Fred focuses his practice on data privacy, advertising, technology, and media. As a member of the Data
Privacy, Security, and Management Group, Fred counsels clients on regulatory issues relating to data
privacy such as data breach notification, telemarketing, e-mail marketing, mobile privacy, and children’s
privacy. He regularly advises companies on website privacy policies, terms of use, end user agreements,
and data transfer and processing agreements. He has also assisted in the successful defense of a number of
consumer privacy class actions. Fred is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (“CIPP”). He authored
the note, “Are IP Addresses Personally Identifiable” for A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information
Society. For the Advertising, Technology & Media Group, Fred represents clients on a wide range of legal
issues surrounding advertising and marketing, including contests and sweepstakes, celebrity endorsement
and talent agreements, social media marketing, sponsorship agreements, as well as trademark and
copyright issues. His clients include advertising agencies, individual brands, financial institutions,
professional sports teams, online service providers, and trade associations.
Joelle E.K. Laszlo, Associate – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9212 · jlaszlo@reedsmith.com
Joelle is a member of the Global Regulatory Enforcement. Joelle's practice primarily involves assisting
clients with issues related to federal and state contracts and grants, including the interpretation and
applicability of: Federal Acquisition Regulation provisions and clauses, administrative and record-keeping
requirements for contractors and grantees, and procurement and funding processes and procedures. Joelle
has represented large and small business clients in bid protest actions before the Government Accountability
Office, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the District of Columbia Contract Appeals Board, and other
adjudicating bodies. She has also assisted with internal investigations related to government contract
compliance, and responses to show cause letters and other notices of potential suspension and debarment..
Kevin M. Madagan, Associate – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9236 · kmadagan@reedsmith.com
Kevin is a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group, practicing in the area of health care
regulatory law. His practice encompasses a wide range of regulatory, litigation, corporate and contractual
matters. Kevin works with numerous health care entities, including, pharmaceutical companies, medical
device manufacturers, pharmacies, and health care providers—hospitals, skilled nursing facilities,
rehabilitation facilities. In addition, Kevin has experience with FDA and USDA regulated food entities. Kevin
assists clients with marketing issues, product development, product launches, clinical trials, contract
negotiation, importation issues, seizures, regulatory due diligence, regulatory filings, internal fraud and abuse
investigations, corporate transactions, regulatory appeals (e.g., PRRB, DAB), and government inspections
and investigations.
Bonnie M. Mangold, Associate – Pittsburgh · +1 412 288 5264 · bmangold@reedsmith.com
Bonnie is an associate in Reed Smith's Financial Industry Group, practicing in the area of Financial Services
Litigation. During law school, Bonnie worked as a summer associate at the firm and as a law clerk at
Scottsdale Healthcare in the areas of Compliance and Risk Management.
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Huw Morris, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 2816 · hmorris@reedsmith.com
Huw is an Associate in the Advertising, Technology and Media Group and a founding member of the Reed
Smith Advertising Compliance Team (ReACTS). He has extensive experience in Intellectual Property, digital,
contractual and regulatory matters, advising some of Reed Smith's major clients in the advertising, media,
gaming and FMCG sectors. He joined Reed Smith from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, where he
advised an impressive client list of the major UK advertising agencies on a wide variety of legal issues
relevant to the advertising industry. Since joining Reed Smith, he has undertaken a number of successful
secondments to high-profile clients, providing a wide range of advertising/media compliance and general
commercial advice. He is a regular speaker at events hosted by the Advertising, Technology and Media
Group, and recently spoke on the subject of social media marketing at a conference in Belgrade, Serbia,
hosted by one of the world's largest independent advertising agency networks.
Alexandra A. Nelson, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3485 · anelson@reedsmith.com
Alexandra joined Reed Smith in 2007 when Richards Butler combined with the firm. She is a member of the
Corporate Group.
Jennifer Pike, Associate – Washington, D.C. · +1 202 414 9218 · jpike@reedsmith.com
Jennifer is a member of the Life Sciences Health Industry Group, practicing in the area of health care law.
Her practice focuses on health care regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters, with a specific focus
on entities regulated by the FDA. She counsels clients on regulatory and transactional issues related to
biologic, pharmaceutical and medical device products in a variety of areas, including product marketing and
clinical testing. In addition, she counsels clients on health information privacy and security compliance
(HIPAA and state law), fraud and abuse compliance, Medicare reimbursement, and health care licensing
issues..
Meredith D. Pikser, Associate – New York · +1 212 521 5432 · mpikser@reedsmith.com
Meredith concentrates her practice on intellectual property issues. Her experience includes advising clients
in matters relating to trademark, unfair competition, infringement, anti-counterfeiting and domain name
disputes. She assists clients in developing and maintaining their intellectual property rights, both foreign and
domestic, with special emphasis on trademark clearance and availability, filing and prosecution of trademark
applications, opposition and cancellation proceedings, and trademark infringement. Meredith has
successfully prosecuted Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy actions and advises clients on
matters pertaining policing trademarks on social media networks.
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Sachin Premnath, Associate – London · +44 (0)20 3116 3531 · spremnath@reedsmith.com
Sachin is a senior associate in the Media & Technology Group. He specializes in advising clients on digital
content licensing and distribution issues, software licensing, data protection, and related matters regarding
the protection and exploitation of intellectual property rights on digital media networks and platforms. In
particular, he has experience and expertise in digital music licensing, and structuring and negotiating
commercial arrangements involving online music services, record labels, music publishers, collection
societies and users.
Jillian W. Riley, Associate – Pittsburgh · +1 412 288 3521 · jwriley@reedsmith.com
Jillian joined Reed Smith as an associate in the Life Sciences Health Industry Group in 2013. She brought
with her more than two years of experience with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of the Chief
Counsel, where she served as Assistant Chief Counsel for Enforcement. Jillian's background includes
pursuing enforcement actions from initiation through settlement or judgment against manufacturers of
adulterated and misbranded drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements, tobacco, and various kinds of
foods. This included personally negotiating many consent decrees on behalf of the agency.
David A. Scharfstein, Associate – New York · +1 212 549 0296 · dscharfstein@reedsmith.com
David is an associate in the complex commercial litigation group at Reed Smith LLP. He is an experienced
litigator who handles a wide variety of commercial disputes, with a particular interest in trademark litigation
and false advertising claims.
Dr. Alin Seegel, Associate – Munich · +49 (0)89 20304 158 · aseegel@reedsmith.com
Alin is an associate in the European Corporate Group in Munich and part of the Media & Technology Team.
Alin has broad expertise covering contentious and non-contentious matters of IT law, in particular in the field
of IT-outsourcing, negotiating and drafting of IT-agreements, data protection as well as in matters regarding
IT-litigation and e-commerce. She also advises clients in cases relating to insolvency law issues.
Katharina A. Weimer, Associate – Munich · +49 (0)89 20304 160 · kweimer@reedsmith.com
Katharina is a member of the European Corporate Group and focuses in the area of Advertising,
Technology & Media (ATM). She is a commercial lawyer with a strong focus on all media and entertainment
related matters. Among her clients are international broadcasters as well as new and old media enterprises.
She also has substantial experience in copyright-related contentious and non-contentious matters,
international and national data protection matters and all aspects of doing business on the Internet.
Katharina’s main focus is supplemented by continuous advice in life sciences and clinical trial projects,
involvement in various international transactions and litigation and extensive experience in agreements for
the virtual world.
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Jennifer M. Westhoff, Associate – Century City · +1 310 734 5261 · jwesthoff@reedsmith.com
Jennifer is a member of Reed Smith's Corporate and Securities Group where she specializes in representing
Entertainment clients. Jennifer has participated in multi-million dollar financing deals for production
companies and individual television and film productions, film and television development and production
agreements, purchases of record companies and groups of compositions, video game production
agreements, and the purchase of films for distribution.
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— Guide to Social Media Terminology and Websites —
Please note that websites are provided in parentheses.
Site Guide
Unless otherwise indicated, the definition provided below has been taken from the website of the social media tool described.
Tools
Bebo – A social networking site that combines community, self-expression and entertainment. The acronym stands for Blog
Early, Blog Often. (www.bebo.com)
Facebook – A social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. The site is used
by people and businesses to connect with friends, share photos, and create personalized profiles. (www.facebook.com)
Fast Pitch! – A social network for business networking professionals to market their business, press, blogs, events and
networks. (www.fastpitchnetworking.com)
Friendster – A global social network emphasizing genuine friendships and the discovery of new people through friends. Online
adults, 18-and-up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school, social groups, activities and interests.
(www.friendster.com)
Gather – A social networking site that brings people together through the things they love to do and want to talk about.
(www.gather.com)
Kickapps – A site that provides brands, enterprises and web publishers with solutions that enable them to create and manage
next generation web experiences that are social, interactive, dynamic, distributed, and data-informed. (www.kickapps.com)
LinkedIn – An interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world. Users can find, be introduced to, and
collaborate with qualified professionals who they need to work with to accomplish their goals. (www.linkedin.com)
MOLI – A mall of online stores, where buyers of goods and services can interact directly with the sellers in an environment built
exclusively for them. (www.moli.com)
MySpace – An online community that lets users meet their friends’ friends. It is used for friends who want to talk online, singles
who want to meet other singles, families who want to keep in touch, business people interested in networking, and anyone
looking for long-lost friends. (www.myspace.com)
Ning – A social media site built to allow users to explore interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around a
shared pursuit. Allows users to create and join new social networks for their interests and passions. (www.ning.com)
Orkut – An online community designed to make the user’s social life more active and stimulating. Its social network can help
users maintain existing relationships with pictures and messages, and establish new ones by reaching out to people they’ve
never met before. (www.orkut.com)
Plaxo – A social media site that keeps its users connected to the people they know and care about, by using “Pulse,” which is a
way for the users to see what their friends are posting to other sites, such as their blog, Flickr, Twitter and Yelp. It is also used to
securely host address books. (www.plaxo.com)
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Publishing
Blogger – A site that provides an easy way for users to share their thoughts about current events, what’s going on in their lives,
or anything else they’d care to discuss with the world. (www.blogger.com)
Constant Contact – A site that helps all types of small businesses and organizations create professional-looking email
newsletters and online surveys. (www.constantcontact.com)
Joomla – A content management system (CMS) that enables the user to build websites and powerful online applications. A
content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on a user’s website, much like a local public
library keeps track of books and stores them. (www.joomla.org)
Knol – A user-generated site that makes it easy for anyone to write and share his or her knowledge with the world. Each knol
(unit of knowledge) is searchable through popular search engines and is owned by each individual author.
(http://knol.google.com/k)
SlideShow – A social entertainment company that offers people the ability to communicate, engage and have fun with one
another within the context of relationships they built on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. (www.slide.com)
TypePad – A blogging service for professionals and small businesses. TypePad hosts many popular blogs and small business
websites. (www.typepad.com)
Wikia – A consumer publishing platform where users go to discover, create and share information on thousands of topics. Wikia
content is released under a free content license and operates on the Open Source MediaWiki software. (www.wikia.com)
Wikipedia – A multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based mostly on anonymous contributions. The name
“Wikipedia” is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia. (www.wikipedia.org)
WordPress – A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. It is used as a
blog publishing application and content management system. (www.wordpress.org)
Photos
Flickr – An online photo management and sharing application. It has two main goals, which are to help people make their
content available to the people who matter to them, and to enable new ways of organizing photos and video. (www.flickr.com)
Photobasket – An online storage site for users’ photos. (photobasket.co.cc)
Photobucket – A site that offers image hosting, free photo-sharing and video-sharing. Allows users to upload photos, host their
videos, and share them with friends and family. (photobucket.com)
Picasa – A free software download from Google that helps users organize, edit, and share photos. (picasa.google.com)
Radar – A way to instantly share camera phone pictures, videos and conversations between friends. Radar is free and works on
any mobile phone. (radar.net)
SmugMug – A photo- and video-sharing site, which allows users to easily create online photo albums, and share, store,
organize and print. (www.smugmug.com)
Twixtr – A site that allows users to share pictures from their mobile phone and automatically publish them on social networks
and photo-sharing sites. (www.twitxr.com)
Zooomr – A social utility for friends, family and co-workers who want to communicate securely through both photos and text
messages in real-time. (www.zooomr.com)
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Audio
iTunes – A free application for Mac or PC users, which organizes and plays their digital music and video on their computer. It
syncs all media with their iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. They can also purchase entertainment for their iPod touch, iPhone, and
Apple TV. (www.apple.com/itunes)
Podbean – A website to host and socially subscribe to podcasts on. Podcast Social Subscribing lets the user collect his or her
favorite podcast in one place and find everyone else’s favorites. (www.podbean.com)
Podcast.com – A podcast destination that provides access to a growing list of more than 60,000 constantly updated podcast
feeds representing more than 1 million episodes of audio and video content. (www.podcast.com)
Rhapsody – A digital music service that lets users listen to a variety of music by paying for a membership rather than per track.
(www.rhapsody.com)
Video
Brightcove – An online video platform used by media companies, businesses and organizations worldwide to publish and
distribute video on the web. Its on-demand platform is used by hundreds of professional publishers to power online video
initiatives that reach more than 100 million Internet users every month. (www.brightcove.com)
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) – A device that records video in a digital format to a memory medium, such as a disk drive, within
a device. Source: Wikipedia
Google Video – A website for video posting and sharing. It is provided by Google, so it also offers a video search engine.
Source: Wikipedia (video.google.com)
Hulu – A free online video service that offers hit TV shows including “Family Guy,,” “30 Rock,” and the “Daily Show with Jon
Stewart.” (www.hulu.com)
Metacafe – A video site attracting more than 40 million unique viewers each month. It specializes in short-form original content–
from new, emerging talents and established Hollywood heavyweights alike. (www.metacafe.com)
Viddler – A service that allows a user to upload videos, record videos directly to the site via webcam, post comments and tags at
specific points in the video, and share videos with RSS and iTunes. (www.viddler.com)
YouTube – A website for users to upload and share video. It uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display content that is
uploaded by users, such as movie clips, TV clips, music videos and video blogging. Source: Wikipedia (www.youtube.com)
Microblogging
Plurk – A way to chronicle and share the things users do, the way they feel, and all the other things in between that make up
their life. (www.plurk.com)
Twitter – A social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to send and read messages from others they follow. A
tweet is an individual post to Twitter of up to 140 characters, which is then displayed in the writer’s profile page and delivered to
their subscribers, also known as followers. Source: Wikipedia (www.twitter.com)
Twitxr – A site that allows users to share pictures from their mobile phone and automatically publish them on social networks
and photo-sharing sites. (www.twitxr.com)
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Livecasting
BlogTalkRadio – A site that allows users to create free talk radio podcasts and listen to thousands of original talk radio shows.
(www.blogtalkradio.com)
Live365 – A site that offers a depth of streaming music, talk, and audio, and that features 260+ genres of music produced by
5,000+ broadcasters and music tastemakers from more than 150 countries. Through easy-to-use tools and services, as well as
royalty coverage, anyone with a computer and Internet connection can create his or her own Internet radio station and reach a
global audience. (www.live365.com)
Justin.tv – An online community for people to broadcast, watch and interact around live video. (www.justin.tv)
SHOUTcast – An Internet radio service that offers free MP3 & AAC radio stations from DJs and broadcasters around the world.
(www.shoutcast.com)
TalkShoe – A service that enables anyone to easily create, join, or listen to live interactive discussions, conversations, podcasts
and audioblogs. (www.talkshoe.com)
Virtual Worlds
Active Worlds – A site that offers a comprehensive platform for delivering real-time interactive 3-D content over the web.
Businesses can use it to sell products, perform interactive product demos, and conduct online corporate training.
(www.activeworlds.com)
Kaneva – A site that combines social network with a virtual world. Members create the digital version of themselves, known as
avatars, and then meet up in a 3-D world based on the modern day, where they can listen to music, shop and invite friends to
their virtual loft. (www.kaneva.com)
Second Life – A free 3-D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using voice and text chat.
(www.secondlife.com)
There – An online getaway where members can hang out with their friends and meet new ones in a 3-D environment.
(www.there.com)
ViOS (Visual Internet Operating System) – A way of organizing all Internet resources, including web pages, into multiuser 3-D
environments. These environments include customizable avatars for the users. Source: Wikipedia
Gaming
Entropia Universe – A multiplayer virtual world that has no subscription fees, but members buy in-game currency with real
money to buy virtual items. Source: Wikipedia (www.entropiauniverse.com)
EverQuest – A multiplayer online game in which members create a character, such as an elf or a dwarf, select their occupation,
and fight monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points. They can also interact with other players through roleplaying.
Source: Wikipedia (everquest.station.sony.com)
Halo3 – A first-person shooter online and console (Xbox) game for 1-16 players. It represents the third chapter in the Halo
trilogy, in which players engage in combat in a mysterious alien ring-world. (www.halo.xbox.com/halo3)
World of Warcraft – A multiplayer online role-playing game, which is often referred to as WoW. Members create a character,
explore, fight monsters, complete quests and interact with other members. Source: Wikipedia (www.worldofwarcraft.com)
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Productivity
Acteva – An event-registration service-provider for event organizers. It automates the entire event-registration process and
brings it online where it can be easily accessed any time. (www.acteva.com)
AOL – A global web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings. The business spans online content,
products, and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. (www.aol.com)
Avvo – A website that rates and profiles lawyers. It also allows users to review attorneys based on their experience with them.
(www.avvo.com)
BitTorrent – An open source file-sharing application effective for distributing very large software and media files.
(www.bittorrent.com)
Concep – An interactive email marketing platform. It allows users to create digital email campaigns and view statistics on
readership. (www.concepglobal.com)
Constant Contact – A site that helps organizations create professional-looking email newsletters and online surveys.
(www.constantcontact.com)
Eventful – An events website that enables its community of users to discover, promote, share and create events.
(www.eventful.com)
Google Alerts – A service that provides email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on the
user’s choice of query or topic. (www.google.com/alerts)
Google Docs – A web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allows users to share and collaborate online.
(docs.google.com)
Google Gmail – An email provider that is built on the idea that email can be more intuitive, efficient and useful.
(mail.google.com)
MSGTAG (Message Tag) – An email-tracking program that tracks whether or not a user’s sent email has been read.
(www.msgtag.com)
ReadNotify – A program in which users get free return email notifications, and/or SMS/ICQ instant messages when email they
have sent gets opened, and they can track their emails’ reading history. (www.readnotify.com)
Sensidea – A digital media consultancy and products company that helps clients deliver innovative digital strategies, products,
and solutions. (www.sensidea.com)
SurveyMonkey – A tool to create and publish custom surveys, and then view results graphically and in real time.
(www.surveymonkey.com)
TiddlyWiki – A reusable, non-linear personal notebook. It is the place to find documentation and resources from TiddlyWiki
users and developers. (www.tiddlywiki.org)
Yahoo! – An online network of integrated services that allows users to communicate with each other, conduct transactions, and
access, share and create information. (www.yahoo.com)
Zoho – A comprehensive suite of online business applications. Customers use Zoho to run their business processes, manage
their information, and be more productive while at the office or on the go. (www.zoho.com)
Zoomerang – An online survey software tool that allows users to create online surveys while providing reporting and advanced
survey logic. (www.zoomerang.com)
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Aggregators
Delicious – A social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized
source. (www.delicious.com)
Digg – A place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the
most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by its users. (www.digg.com)
FriendFeed – A service that allows users to invite friends, and get an instant, customized feed made up of the content that their
friends share, from photos to interesting links and videos, to messages just for them. (www.friendfeed.com)
Google Reader – A site that constantly checks a user’s favorite news sites and blogs for new content. It shows the user all of his
or her favorite sites in one place. (www.google.com/reader)
iGoogle – A service that allows users to add news, photos, weather, and other items from across the web to their page.
(www.google.com/ig)
Mixx – A user-driven social media website that serves to help users submit or find content by peers based on interest and
location. Source: Wikipedia (www.mixx.com)
My Yahoo! – A customizable web page with news, stock quotes, weather, and many other features. (my.yahoo.com)
Reddit – A source for what’s new and popular online. The users vote on links that they like or dislike and help decide what’s
popular, or submit their own links. (www.reddit.com)
SocialSeek – A product of Sensidea, which lets users search for a topic, item, brand or company across news sites, blogs,
Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and events. The user can also track mentions of a particular search query by city and receive charts
that show trends on popularity of a topic across websites, or Twitter. (www.sensidea.com/socialseek/download.html)
StumbleUpon – A service that helps the user discover and share websites with others who have similar interests. It allows users
to rate websites and recommend sites to friends. (www.stumbleupon.com)
Yelp – An online urban city guide that helps people find places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed
opinions of a vibrant and active community of locals in-the-know. (www.yelp.com)
RSS (Rich Site Summary)
Atom – A way to read and write information on the web, allowing users to keep track of more sites in less time, and to share their
words and ideas by publishing to the web. (www.atomenabled.org)
FeedBurner – Gives weblog owners and podcasters the ability to manage their RSS feeds and to track usage of their
subscribers. (www.feedburner.com)
PingShot – A feature of FeedBurner that alerts users that new content is on a particular feed. Source: Google.com
(www.feedburner.com/fb/a/publishers/pingshot)
RSS 2.0 – A web-feed format that publishes content, such as blog entries, news, audio and video. It includes full and
summarized text and published dates and authors. Source: Wikipedia
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Search
Bing – A search engine that finds and organizes the answers users are looking for so they can make faster, better-informed
decisions. (www.bing.com)
EveryZing – A digital media merchandising platform, in which media companies leverage EveryZing’s ability to drive the volume
of online content consumption and create new revenue streams. (www.everyzing.com)
Google Search – A search engine that allows users to seek out content on the web. (www.google.com)
IceRocket – A search engine that specifically searches blogs and other sources, such as Twitter and MySpace. Source:
Wikipedia (www.icerocket.com)
MetaTube – A website to browse the top 100 of the most popular video-sharing sites around the world related to any topic. The
user only needs to enter his or her specific search term once for all 100 sites to appear. (www.metatube.net)
Redlasso – A site that enables users to search nearly live TV and radio. Users can search for clips, create clips of the stories,
and share them with friends. (www.redlasso.com)
Technorati – A blog search engine that also provides services to the blogs and social media sites, and connects them to
advertisers who want to join the conversation. (www.technoratimedia.com)
Yahoo! Search – A web search engine that assists users in finding what they are looking for. (search.yahoo.com)
Mobile
airG – A service that powers mobile communities and wireless social networking. It has a worldwide mobile community and
interconnects with mobile operators, such as Sprint Nextel, AT&T and Vodafone. (www.airg.com)
AOL Mobile – A service that allows users to receive news, email, and instant messages via their mobile phone.
(http://mobile.aol.com/)
Brightkite – A social networking site that connects people based on the places they visit in the real world. With Brightkite, users
can see where their friends are, what they’re up to, see what’s going on around them, and meet real-world friends.
(www.brightkite.com)
CallWave – A provider of Internet and mobile-based unified communications solutions. These solutions allow mobile
professionals to communicate and collaborate from anywhere and from any device. (www.callwave.com)
Jott – A site that allows individuals and businesses to easily capture thoughts, send emails and text messages, set reminders,
organize lists, and post to web services and business applications–all with their voice, using any phone. (www.jott.com)
Jumbuck – A provider of community messaging applications to wireless carriers. (www.jumbuck.com)
SMS.ac – A mobile data and Internet communications company that distributes and bills people purchasing and selling content,
such as video, music and applications, through mobile devices. Source: Wikipedia (www.sms.ac)
Interpersonal
Acrobat Connect – A web conferencing software that allows users to communicate and collaborate instantly through interactive
online personal meetings. (www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnect)
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AOL Instant Messenger – A program where users can send messages to friends instantly and keep track of friends’ status and
presence updates. (www.aim.com)
Go To Meeting – A web conferencing software that allows users to work with anyone, anywhere, in online meetings.
(www.gotomeeting.com)
iChat – An instant messaging application that works with AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and helps users stay in touch with
friends using text and video. (www.apple.com/support/ichat/)
Jott – A site that allows individuals and businesses to easily capture thoughts, send emails and text messages, set reminders,
organize lists, and post to web services and business applications–all with their voice, using any phone. (www.jott.com)
Meebo – A web platform for IM (Instant Messaging) on any network or site. It connects the user to MSN, Yahoo, AOL/AIM,
MySpace, Facebook, Google Talk, and others. (www.meebo.com)
Skype – A program that allows users to make free calls over the Internet to other people for an unlimited time period, to
anywhere. It is free to download. (www.skype.com)
Webex – A program that provides users with online meetings, desktop sharing, web conferencing, video conference, net
meeting, and web conference. It combines real-time desktop sharing with phone conferencing. (www.webex.com)
Terminology
Advercasting – A term to describe advertising on a podcast or video podcast. Source: Wikipedia
Advergaming – A term to describe the act of playing an advergame, which is a computer game published by an advertiser to
promote a product or service. Source: Wikipedia
Astroturfing – A term used to describe an advertising, public relations or political campaign that is planned by an organization,
but designed to mask the origin and create the impression of being spontaneous, or to mask statements by third parties. Fake
reviews posted on product sites would be examples of astroturfing. Source: Wikipedia
Blog – A type of website in which entries are usually made regularly by one person, containing commentary, descriptions of
events, or other materials such as graphics or video. The term blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to uphold or add
substance to a blog. Source: Wikipedia
Bookmark – Also known as a favorite, it is a term to describe a record of the address of a file or webpage serving as a shortcut
to it, or the act of creating a bookmark to easily access it at a later time. Source: Wikipedia
Buzz Marketing – A term used to describe word-of-mouth marketing. The interaction of users of a product or service amplifies
the original marketing message, creating a form of hype. Source: Wikipedia
Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) – The application of the field of computer graphics, such as 3-D computer graphics to
special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. Source:
Wikipedia
Cybersmearing – A term describing the insulting of an individual or company online. Source: www.goliath.com
Digital Download – A method of retrieving web content, such as games, music, videos, etc., via downloading from a particular
source.
Embedded Players, Widgets and Gadgets – Tools that are added and set in to a webpage. For example, a blog can have an
embedded widget allowing users to follow Twitter events on their webpage. Source: Wikipedia
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Interactive Gaming – An electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface and usually other users via instant
messages or voice chat, such as World of Warcraft or Webkins. Source: Wikipedia
Interstitial Advertisement – A webpage of advertising that displays before the user’s expected content page. Source: Wikipedia
Keyword – A term used to locate material in a search engine or catalog. Source: Wikipedia
Meta Tag – A tool used by content-owners to communicate information about their webpage to search engines, such as a
description tag with text, that is to appear in major search engine directories that describes the site or the use of a keyword tag to
help push information to end-users via search engine results when they are seeking material related to those words. Source:
Wikipedia
Microsode – A relatively short video of content to be viewed, usually over the Internet.
Mobisode – An episode of content that has been condensed to be viewed with a cellular phone. Source: Wiktionary
On-Demand Programming – A term to describe the systems, Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand, which allow users
to select and watch and/or listen to video or audio content at their request. Source: Wikipedia
Opt In – A term to describe when someone is given the option to receive “bulk” email. Obtaining permission before sending
email is critical because without it, the email is Unsolicited Bulk Email, known as spam. Source: Wikipedia
Opt Out – A term to describe the method by which an individual can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information.
Source: Wikipedia
Podcast – A series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released regularly and downloaded through web
syndication. Special client software applications that are used to deliver the podcasts (i.e., iTunes, Zune, Juice and Winamp) are
what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing media files over the Internet. Source: Wikipedia
Promercial – A term to describe on-air promotion spots, with brands increasingly being incorporated into these tune-in spots on
many networks. Source: www.allbusiness.com
Satellite Dish – A type of antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites that transmit data or
broadcasts, such as satellite television or radio. Source: Wikipedia
Search Engine – A tool to search for information on the World Wide Web. Source: Wikipedia
SMS (Short Message Service) – A service for sending text messages by way of a cellular telephone, usually mobile-to-mobile.
Source: Wiktionary
Social Networking – A term to describe the act of making connections and socializing with people who share interests and/or
activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social networking is done through webbased
programs, which provide a multitude of ways for users to interact. Source: Wikipedia
Streaming – A method of delivering a medium, such as audio or video content, over telecommunications networks. Source:
Wikipedia
Twitter-Jacking – A term describing the act of one person taking control of another person’s Twitter account, usually to post
untrue or harmful material. Source: www.mashable.com
Typosquatting – Also known as URL hijacking, is a type of cybersquatting when a user accidentally enters an incorrect website
address, then is led to an alternative website, usually displaying undesired materials, owned by a cybersquatter. Source:
Wikipedia
Unwired or Wireless – A term to describe an electronic device being equipped with Internet or electricity, without the use of
electrical conductors or wires. Source: Wikipedia
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User-Generated Content – A term that refers to various kinds of publicly available media content, produced by end-users. Also
known as consumer-generated media or user-created content. Source: Wikipedia
Viral Marketing – A term that describes marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce an increase in
brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives. Source: Wikipedia
Virtual Community – A group of people who primarily interact via electronic media such as newsletter, telephone, email,
Internet social network service or instant messages rather than face-to-face, for social, professional, educational or other
purposes. Also known as an e-community or online community. Source: Wikipedia
Virtual Reality – A technology that allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, either simulating real world
or an imaginary world. Source: Wikipedia
Vlog – The shortened term for video blogging, it’s a form of blogging utilizing the video medium. Source: Wikipedia
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) – An open international standard for network communications in a wireless-communication
environment. Most of its use involves the ability to access the mobile web from a mobile phone or PDA. Source: Wikipedia
Webcast – A media file broadcasted over the Internet using streaming media technology. Source: Wikipedia
Wi-Fi – A trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a global, nonprofit association of companies that promotes WLAN technology and
certifies products as Wi-Fi-Certified, to ensure compatibility among products that communicate data wirelessly via the IEEE
802.11 specification. Source: Wikipedia
Wired – A term to describe an electronic device being equipped with wires, so as to connect to a power source or to other
electric or electronic wires. Source: Wiktionary
Word-of-Mouth Advertising – Promotion of a product or service through oral statements by independent users or individuals
authorized by a marketer.
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— Endnotes —
1 E-consultancy.com Limited, http://econsultancy.com/blog/4402-20+-more-mind-blowing-social-media-statistics
2 See, “Changing the Conversation,” http://www.publicis.com/#en-GB/approach
3 http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/best-buy-learns-social-media-lesson/
4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
5 New York Times, Oct. 29, 2009, “With Video, a Traveler Fights Back,” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/business/29air.html
6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDkR-Z-69Y&feature=PlayList&p=7EDD98D1C5CD57F6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
7 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1201671/Singer-Dave-Carroll-pens-YouTube-hit-United-Airlines-breaks-guitar--shares-plunge-10.html
8 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-213
9 http://static.uspirg.org/consumer/archives/airline_passenger_rights/index.html; see also http://www.examiner.com/x-10533-Seattle-Travel-Industry-
Examiner~y2009m9d23-Power-to-the-people--airline-passengers-that-is-if-the-Passenger-Bill-of-Rights-gets-passed
10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cOb7fWG0A0
11 http://www.prweekus.com/Dominos-changes-up-online-strategy-following-video-prank/article/130751/
12 Erik Qualman, http://socialnomics.net/
13 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Marina Palomba to the content of this chapter.
14 World Internet Usage Statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm, as of June 30, 2012.
15 State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012, Neilsen, (2012)
16 Ring the Bells: More Smartphone in Students’ Hands Ahead of Back-to-School Season, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/ring-the-bells-moresmartphones-
in-students-hands-ahead-of-back.html (Oct. 29, 2013).
17 See, “Web Ad Spend Outstrips TV for First Time,” The Times, Sept. 30, 2009.
18 “Social, Video Sites Will See Big Boosts in US Advertiser Spending,” eMarketers (Oct. 15, 2013) (http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social-Video-Sites-Will-
See-Big-Boosts-US-Advertiser-Spending/1010300).
19 “B2Cs, B2Bs See Digital, Social Ad Spend Rising, as Traditional Stalls,” eMarketers (Oct. 3, 2013) (http://www.emarketer.com/Article/B2Cs-B2Bs-See-
Digital-Social-Ad-Spend-Rising-Traditional-Stalls/1010270 ).
20 http://www.the-connection.com/social-media-reshaping-customer-care/
21 https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms; http://about.pinterest.com/terms/; http://www.tumblr.com/policy/en/terms_of_service;
http://www.youtube.com/t/terms, and https://twitter.com/tos.
22 Id.
23 https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php
24 https://support.twitter.com/articles/18366-impersonation-policy# ; https://en.help.pinterest.com/entries/21134891-Pinterest-s-impersonation-policy.
25 http://help.instagram.com/464700830247492
26 http://support.twitter.com/articles/68877-guidelines-for-contests-on-twitter#
27 https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php
28 https://fbcdn-dragon-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/851577_158705844322839_2031667568_n.pdf
29 https://support.twitter.com/articles/68877-guidelines-for-contests-on-twitter#; http://business.pinterest.com/brand-guidelines/
30 https://doritoscrashthesuperbowl.thismoment.com/
31 http://www.folgerscoffee.com/folgers-jingle/
32 With regard to eligibility, in order to avoid Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) issues, a sponsor should limit eligibility to individuals who are
at least the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which they reside (18 in most states). If individuals under the age of 18 are permitted to enter, they should
do so only with parental permission. If individuals under the age of 13 are permitted to enter, a company must comply with both the COPPA requirements
concerning collection of personal information from children, and Children’s Advertising Review Unit (“CARU”) requirements for advertising directed toward
children. Remember, however, that if a promotion is being offered via a third-party’s website or platform (e.g., Facebook, YouTube or Twitter), a company
must comply with such third-party’s terms of use, which typically prohibit use by children under 13.
33 N.Y. G.B.L. § 369-e and F.L. Stat. § 849.094.
34 Id.
35 R.I. Stat. Ch. 11-50, et seq.
36 Mark Adams, Director of Communications for the International Olympic Committee, quoted in “Social media bringing down the walled garden of the
Olympic Games,” TMC.net, Sept. 24, 2009.
37 Nick Bilton, “Disruptions: Celebrities’ Product Plugs on Social Media Draw Scrutiny.” http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/disruptions-celebritiesproduct-
plugs-on-social-media-draw-scrutiny/?_r=0, June 9, 2013.
38 Michael Luca and Georgios Zervas, “Fake It Til You Make It: Reputation, Competition, and Yelp Review Fraud,” (Sept. 24, 2013).
39 http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/how-yelp-protects-consumers-from-fake-reviews.html
40 “A.G. Schneiderman Announces Agreement With 19 Companies To Stop Writing Fake Online Reviews And Pay More Than $350,000 In Fines,”
http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-announces-agreement-19-companies-stop-writing-fake-online-reviews-and
41 16 CFR Part 255.
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ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
42 16 CFR § 255.l(d).
43 .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising, Federal Trade Commission (Mar. 2013).
44 Paige Cooperstein, “Native Advertising: How It Works at the Huffington Post,” http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/10/native-advertising-how-it-works-atthe-
huffington-post/, October 8, 2013.
45 Charlie Warzel, “The Real Problem With The Atlantic's Sponsored Post: Debacle proves that above all else, native ads need to feel native,”
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/real-problem-atlantics-sponsored-post-146553, January 15, 2013.
46 http://advertising.theatlantic.com/
47 http://fastlane.gmblogs.com
48 http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/about.html
49 Andrew LaVallee, “Starbucks Unveils Its First iPhone Apps,” http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/23/starbucks-unveils-its-first-iphone-apps/, Sept. 23, 2009.
50 http://about.americanexpress.com/sm/
51 http://www.godaddy.com/socialmedia/social-media.aspx
52 http://www.fritolay.com/about-us/press-release-20130507a.html
53 Doctor’s Associates Inc. v. QIP Holders LLC, 82 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1603 (D. Conn. April 18, 2007).
54 Joseph Lewczak, “Quiznos/Subway Settlement Poses Threat to Future UGC Promos,” PROMO Magazine, March 23, 2010.
55 Seaton v. TripAdvisor LLC, Opinion, No. 12-6122 (6th Cir. Aug. 28, 2013), available at http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/09/03/tripad.pdf
56 Christina Brinkley, “More Brands Want You to Model Their Clothes,” Wall Street Journal (May 15, 2013)
(http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324216004578483094260521704 ).
57 Agence France Presse v. Morel, Judgment, No. 10-cv-02730 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 10, 2013).
58 Eiselein v. Buzzfeed, Inc., Complaint, No. 1:13-cv-03910 (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 7, 2013).
59 Bundesgerichtshofentscheidung dated Nov. 12, 2009 (AZ I ZR 166/07, www.marions.kuchbuch.de ).
60 BGH order for reference dated Mai 16, 2013 (AZ I ZR 46/12 – framing..
61 This discussion presumes that either the advertiser or advertising agency is a signatory to the union contracts. Of course, if there is no signatory
relationship, no contractual obligations will exist, although professional talent may insist upon such contractual coverage.
62 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of John L. Hines and Janice D. Kubow to the content of this chapter.
63 See, Cass R. Sunstein, “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done,” (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2009).
64 The Impact of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 on the Federal Courts.
65 15 U.S.C. § 45.
66 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a).
67 15 U.S.C. § 45.
68 Available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-decept.htm
69 Kraft, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, 970 F.2d 311, 314 (7th Cir. 1992); FTC v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 776 F.2d 35, 40 (D.C. Cir. 1985).
70 Int’l Harvester Co., 104 FTC 949 1058 (1984).
71 Sandoz Pharmaceuticals v. Richardson-Vicks, 902 F.2d 222, 228 (3d Cir. 1990).
72 15 U.S.C. § 45 (m)(1)(A) (civil penalty of $10,000 per violation where violator has actual knowledge, or knowledge fairly implied). 15 U.S.C. § 53(b).
73 U.S. Healthcare v. Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia, 898 F.2d 914, 921 (3d Cir. 1990); Johnson & Johnson v. Carter-Wallace, Inc., 631 F.2d 186, 190-91
(2d Cir. 1980).
74 Sandoz Pharmaceuticals v. Richardson-Vicks, 902 F.2d 222, 228 (3d Cir. 1990) (“The key distinctions between the FTC and a Lanham Act plaintiff turns
on the burdens of proof and the deference accorded these respective litigants. The FTC, as a plaintiff, can rely on its own determination of deceptiveness.
In contrast, a Lanham Act plaintiff must prove deceptiveness in court.”).
75 U.S. Healthcare, 898 F.2d at 921 (3d Cir. 1990) (quoting 2 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 27:713 (2d Ed. 1984)).
76 See, e.g., Bruno v. Quten Research Inst., LLC, 280 F.R.D. 524 (C.D. Cal. 2011) (class-action lawsuit instituted after NAD finding that advertiser possessed
insufficient support for its claim that its liquid dietary supplement was absorbed six times “better” than competing products).
77 See, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm (“FTC
Guides”) (issued Oct. 5, 2009 and effective Dec. 1, 2009).
78 FTC Guides, at 53125, n.11.
79 FTC Guides, § 255.0.
80 FTC Guides, at 8.
81 15 U.S.C. § 45.
82 FTC Guides, § 255.1(d).
83 FTC Guides, at 38-39.
84 FTC Guides, § 255.1(d).
85 FTC Guides, at 42.
86 Id.
87 FTC Guides, at 15.
88 Id.
89 FTC Guides, at 39.
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90 FTC Guides, at 40, 42.
91 Federal Trade Commission, .com Disclosures, available at http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus41-dot-com-disclosures-information-about-onlineadvertising.
92 Id. at p. iii
93 Id. at A-18.
94 See Spencer v. Sensa Products, LLC, Index No. BC519632 (Cal. Super. Ct. 2013).
95 See, 1 McCarthy, Rights of Publicity, § 5:22 (“under the proper circumstances, any person, celebrity or non-celebrity, has standing to sue under § 43(a) for
false or misleading endorsements.”), quoted in Doe v. Friendfinder Network, Inc., 540 F.Supp.2d 288, 301 (D.N.H. 2008).
96 The CAP Code can be found on CAP’s website at http://www.cap.org.uk.
97 See: http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/~/media/Files/ASA/Hot%20Topics/Charity%20advertising%20-%20Hot%20topic.ashx
98 Restatement, Second, Torts § 558.
99 Dendrite v. Doe, 775 A.2d 756, 760 (N.J. App. 2001); but see, Solers, Inc. v. Doe, 977 A.2d 941, 954 (D.C. 2004) (requiring a prima facie showing but
rejecting a balancing test at the end of the analysis); see also, Cohen v. Google, Inc., No. 100012/09 (Unpublished) (New York Supreme Court orders
Google’s Blooger.com to disclose identity of anonymous blogger, where plaintiff established the merits of her cause of action for defamation and the
information sought was material and necessary to identify potential defendants).
100 E.g., Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy, 1995 WL 323710, at *3 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., May 24, 1995) (Unreported).
101 E.g., Cubby v. Compuserve, 776 F.Supp. 135 (S.D.N.Y. 1991).
102 47 U.S.C. § 230 (“CDA”).
103 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1).
104 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(3).
105 474 F.Supp. 2d 843 (W.D. Tex. 2007).
106 In Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 570 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2009), for example, the Ninth Circuit dismissed a claim for negligence where the claim was more clearly
tied to a failure to take down offensive speech.
107 474 F.Supp.2d at 849.
108 Black v. Google, Inc., 457 F. App'x 622, 623 (9th Cir. 2011) (“The district court properly dismissed plaintiffs' action as precluded by [the CDA] because
plaintiffs seek to impose liability on Google for content created by a third party.”); Getachew v. Google, Inc., 491 F. App'x 923, 925 (10th Cir. 2012) (“Under
[the CDA], Google cannot be held liable for search results that yield content created by a third party”).
109 2009 WL 3240365, No. 102578/09 (N.Y. Sup. Sept. 15, 2009).
110 2009 WL 3240325, at *1.
111 2009 WL 3240365, at *1 (citing Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F.Supp. 44, 52 (D.D.C. 1998)).
112 478 F.3d 413 (1st Cir. 2007).
113 Id. at 421.
114 521 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc).
115 See Nemet v. Chevrolet Ltd. v. Consumeraffairs.com, 591 F.3d 250, 256-257 (4th Cir. 2009) (distinguishing Roommates.com, the Fourth Circuit holds,
among other things, that defendant is not encouraging illegal conduct).
116 See also, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc, 519 F.3d 666, 669-70 (7th Cir. 2008) (rejecting that Section 230
confers an absolute immunity).
117 Shiamili v. Real Estate Grp. of New York, Inc., 17 N.Y.3d 281, 290, 952 N.E.2d 1011, 1018 (2011).
118 See Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2003) (provider’s “minor alterations” to defamatory material not actionable); 318 F.3d 465, 470-71 (3d Cir.
2003); Ben Ezra, Weinstein & Co. v. Am. Online, Inc., 206 F.3d 980, 985-86 (10th Cir. 2000) (rejecting argument that service provider’s deletion of some,
but not all, inaccurate data about plaintiff from another source “transforms Defendant into an ‘information content provider’ “); Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992
F.Supp. 44, 52 (D.D.C.1998) (exercise of “editorial control” over defamatory third-party content fell within § 230 immunity); Doe v. Friendfinder Network,
Inc., 540 F.Supp.2d 288, 297 and n. 10 (D.N.H. 2008) (slight editorial modifications to defamatory profile does not defeat immunity).
119 See, Anthony v. Yahoo! Inc., 421 F.Supp.2d 1257, 1262-1263 (N.D. Cal. 2006) (service’s alleged creation of false profiles inducing plaintiff to maintain his
membership not barred by Section 230); Hy Cite Corp. v. badbusinessbureau.com, L.L.C., 418 F.Supp.2d 1142, 1149 (D. Ariz. 2005) (service provider’s
creation of its own comments and other defamatory content associated with third-party postings defeats Section 230 defense).
120 47 U.S.C. § 230(e)(2).
121 See, Doe v. Friendfinder Network, 540 F.Supp.2d at 303 n. 13 (notion that trademark claims are not intellectual property claims, while not before the court,
strikes it as “dubious”).
122 488 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 128 S.Ct. 709 (2007).
123 Id. at 1118-19.
124 540 F.Supp.2d 299-304. Accord, Atlantic Recording Corporation v. Project Playlist, 603 F.Supp.2d 690 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) (“if Congress wanted the phrase
‘any law pertaining to intellectual property’ to actually mean ‘any federal law pertaining to intellectual property,’ it knew how to make that clear, but chose
not to”); Universal Commc’n Sys., Inc. v. Lycos, 478 F.3d 413, 422–23 (1st Cir. 2007) (stating in dicta that “[c]laims based on intellectual property laws are
not subject to Section 230 immunity.”); Parisi v. Sinclair, 774 F. Supp. 2d 310, 317-18 (D.D.C. 2011) (stating in dicta that the court is “not inclined to extend
the scope of the CDA immunity as far as the Ninth Circuit”).
125 O’Grady v. Superior Court (Apple Computer, Inc.), 39 Cal.App.4th 1423 (Sixth Dist. 2006).
126 See, e.g., Too Much Media, LLC v. Hale, 2010 WL 1609274, A-0964-09 (N.J. Super. A.D., April 22, 2010) (rejecting defendant’s assertion of the reporter’s
privilege with respect to his pornography blog because, among other reasons, the defendant “produced no credentials or proof of affiliation with any
r e e d s m i t h . c o m Endnotes 144
ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
recognized news entity, nor has she demonstrated adherence to any standard of professional responsibility regulating institutional journalism, such as
editing, fact-checking or disclosure of conflicts of interest.”).
127 558 U.S. 310, 352, 130 S. Ct. 876, 905-06, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753 (2010).
128 2014 WL 185376 (Jan. 17, 2014).
129 175 F.3d 848 (10th Cir. 1999) (affirming dismissal of claims directed to credit ratings based on First Amendment).
130 2003 WL 21464568, No. CIV-02-1457-M (W.D. Ok., May 27, 2003).
131 2011 WL 5079526 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 26, 2011)
132 Id. at *6.
133 Id. at *7.
134 Id.
135 Id. at *8.
136 Cairns v Modi ([2012] EWCA Civ 1382).
137 McAlpine v Bercow ([2013] EWHC 1342 (QB))
138 Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in
particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market.
139 Art. 15 (1) of the Directive: Member States shall not impose a general obligation on providers, when providing the services covered by Articles 12, 13 and
14, to monitor the information which they transmit or store, nor a general obligation actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity.
140 Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], GRUR 2004, p. 860 – Internet auction I.
141 Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], GRUR 2007, p. 708 – Internet auction II.
142 See, for example, Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], GRUR 1999, p. 418.
143 17 U.S.C. § 102 (a).
144 S. 1 (1) UK Copyright Designs and Patents Act.
145 § 2 (2) German Copyright Act.
146 Such as in § 51 German Copyright Act.
147 The author wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Rachel A. Rubin to the content of this chapter.
148 Twitter Terms of Service (effective June 25, 2012), https://twitter.com/tos?PHPSESSID=57a411f70b1964a2bc78b82638ba1843
149 Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (last revised Nov. 15, 2013), https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
150 Instagram Terms of Use (effective January 19, 2013), http://instagram.com/legal/terms/#
151 YouTube Terms of Service (June 9, 2010), https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms
152 Evelyn M. Rusli, Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion, N.Y. TIMES DEALBOOK BLOG (Apr. 9, 2012),
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
153 Erin Geiger Smith, News outlets improperly used photos posted to Twitter: judge, REUTERS (Jan. 15, 2013), http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/15/ussocialmedia-
copyright-ruling-idUSBRE90E11P20130115
154 Joseph Ax, Photographer wins $1.2 million from companies that took pictures off Twitter, REUTERS (Nov. 22, 2013),
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-media-copyright-twitter-idUSBRE9AL16F20131122
155 17 U.S.C. § 1201 (2013)
156 Online service providers include any company, organization or group that provides on online service, including social media sites.
157 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A)(i-vi) (2013)
158 Id.
159 https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/208282075858952
160 https://support.twitter.com/forms/dmca
161 http://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/copyright-complaint.html
162 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A)(i-vi) (2013)
163 Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 487 F.3d 701 (9th Cir. 2007)
164 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913 (2005)
165 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
166 Elf Man, LLC. v. Cariveau, No. C13-0507 RSL, (W.D. Wash. Jan. 17, 2014)
167 Id.
168 Facebook Platform Policy (last revised Aug. 20, 2013), https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
169 Twitter Developer Rules of the Road (last updated Jul. 2, 2013), https://dev.twitter.com/terms/api-terms
170 Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR Part 255—Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, available at
http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf
171 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Amy S. Mushahwar and Gregory J. Payor to the content of this chapter.
172 “Press Room,” available at: https://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts
173 Federal Trade Commission, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: Recommendations For Businesses and Policymakers,” available at:
http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commission-report-protecting-consumer-privacy-era-rapid-changerecommendations/
120326privacyreport.pdf (Mar. 26, 2012) (hereinafter “FTC Final Report”); Department of Commerce, “Consumer Data in a Networked
r e e d s m i t h . c o m Endnotes 145
ReedSmith Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Phenomenon
World” available at:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.commerce.gov%2Fsites%2Fd
efault%2Ffiles%2Fdocuments%2F2012%2Ffebruary%2Fprivacy-final.pdf
&ei=juHiUrrGIMrNsQSV_oCQBA&usg=AFQjCNGST_wR3Vz0bETcA2ZcsOOIW5JruQ&sig2=UTGI6r2EUIir9astubNj-g&bvm=bv.59930103,d.cWc (Feb.
23, 2012)
174 John Lister, “Most Departing Employees Steal Company Data,” Tech.Blorge (Feb. 23, 2009) available at:
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2009/02/23/most-departing-employees-steal-company-data/ (stating almost six in 10 people who left a job in the
United States in 2008 took confidential data with them, according to a survey by data protection firm Ponemon), and “Many Users Say They’d Sell
Company Data for the Right Price,” by Tim Wilson, DarkReading (Apr. 24, 2009) available at:
http://www.darkreading.com/insiderthreat/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217100330 (stating 37 percent of workers would sell data for $1.5
million, according to a survey of commuters in London’s railway stations by InfoSecurity Europe).
175“Working Document 02/2013 providing guidance on obtaining consent for cookies- WP 208 (02.10.2013)” available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/dataprotection/
article-29/documentation/opinion recommendation/files/2013/wp208_en.pdf
176 For example, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires certain types of companies (financial institutions, insurance companies and brokerage companies) to
maintain privacy policies. In addition, the California Online Privacy Protection Act requires a website or online service operator to conspicuously post its
privacy policy on the website or make it available through the online service. See Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22575. Effective January 1, 2015, website and
online service providers will have to allow minors erase their own posts on social media. See Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22580.
177 Some common privacy-oriented consumer monitoring groups are: the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, World Privacy
Forum and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, amongst others.
178 Catharine Smith, “Facebook, FTC Reach Settlement Over Alleged Privacy Violations,” Huffington Post (Nov. 29, 2011) available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/facebook-ftc-reach-settle_n_1118996.html
179 Federal Trade Commission, “Facebook Settles FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers By Failing To Keep Privacy Promises,” Press Release (Nov. 29,
2011) available at: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/11/facebook-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived-consumers-failing-keep
180 Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Approves Final Settlement With Facebook,” Press Release (Aug. 10, 2012) available at: http://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/
press-releases/2012/08/ftc-approves-final-settlement-facebook
181 Center for Digital Democracy, “EPIC & CDD ask Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to withdraw proposed changes weakening user rights and expanding data
collection,” (Nov. 26, 2012), available at: http://www.centerfordigitaldemocracy.org/epic-cdd-ask-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-withdraw-proposed-changesweakening-
user-rights-and-expanding
182 “FTC Looking Into Facebook’s Proposed Privacy Policy Changes,” Huffington Post (Sept. 12, 2013), available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/ftc-looking-into-proposed_n_3915645.html
183 Facebook, Inc., “Thanks For Your Feedback,” (Nov. 15, 2013), available at: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-site-governance/thanks-for-yourfeedback/
10153503594325301
184 Heather Kelly, “Facebook changes privacy settings for teens,” CNN (Oct. 31, 2013), available at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/tech/socialmedia/
facebook-teens-privacy/
185 http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/news/docs/pr_28_01_10_en.pdf .
186 “Google Wins Louis Vuitton Trademark Case” 23.03.2010 available at: : http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/mar/23/google-louis-vuitton-search-ads
187 “Opinion of Advocate General Poaires Maduro in the Joined Cases C-236/08-C-238/08” available at:
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=73281&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=288109 ; also
See “Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 23 March 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation - France) - Google France,
Google, Inc. v Louis Vuitton Malletier (C-236/08), Viaticum SA, Luteciel SARL (C-237/08), Centre national de recherche en relations humaines (CNRRH)
SARL, Pierre-Alexis Thonet, Bruno Raboin, Tiger SARL (C-238/08),” available at :
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=83961&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=288109 .
188 “Opinion of Advocate General Jaaskinen delivered on 25 July 2013 in the Case of C-131/12 Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Española de
Protección de Datos (AEPD),”available at:
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=138782&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=292528 ; also
See: “ECJ Press Release on Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-131/12 dated 25 June 2013,”available at :
http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2013-06/cp130077en.pdf
189 “Google not obliged to delete data, rules EU lawyer” 25.06.2013 available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23044809
190 “Judgement of the Honourable Mr Justice Tugendhat of Vidal -Hall & Ors v Google Inc [2014] EWHC 13 (QB) (16 January 2014)” available at:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2014/13.html
191 “Google must face UK courts over claims of privacy breach of iPhone users” 16.01.02014 available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/16/google-uk-courts-privacy-breach-iphone-safari
192 “Google privacy policy slammed by EU data protection chiefs” available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/oct/16/google-privacy-policies-eudata-
protection
193 “Google Fined for Illegally Collecting Personal Data” available at: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/01/29/2014012901599.html
194 “Google to be told by EU to unravel privacy policy” available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/oct/15/google-privacy-policy
195 “The CNIL's Sanctions Committee issues a 150 000 € monetary penalty to GOOGLE Inc.” 08.01.2014 available at: http://www.cnil.fr/english/news-andevents/
news/article/the-cnils-sanctions-committee-issues-a-150-000-EUR-monetary-penalty-to-google-inc/
196 See Press Release “The AEPD sanctions Google for serious violation of the rights of the citizens” 19.12.2013 available at:
http://www.agpd.es/portalwebAGPD/revista_prensa/revista_prensa/2013/notas_prensa/common/diciembre/131219_PR_AEPD_PRI_POL_GOOGLE.pdf ;
also see “Spain levies maximum fine over Google privacy policy” 20.12.2013 available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25461353
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197 See Press Release of European Parliament 21.10.2013 “Civil Liberties MEPs pave the way for stronger data protection in the EU” available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fTEXT%2bIMPRESS%
2b20131021IPR22706%2b0%2bDOC%2bXML%2bV0%2f%2fEN&language=EN
198 “Facebook loses friends as privacy campaign grows” 14.05.2010 available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/may/14/facebook-privacycampaign-
delete-account
199 “Facebook could face €100,000 fine for holding data that users have deleted” 20.10.2011 available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/20/facebook-fine-holding-data-deleted
200 “Student group to take Facebook to task in Irish court “ 04.12.2012 available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20592799
201 “Facebook Ireland Audit Report- December 2011” available at: http://dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?m=&fn=/documents/Facebook Report/final
report/report.pdf ; also see “Irish privacy watchdog calls for Facebook changes” 21.12.2011 available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16289426
202 “Facebook facial recognition software violates privacy laws, says Germany “ 03.08.2011 available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/03/facebook-facial-recognition-privacy-germany
203 “German state fights Facebook over alleged privacy violations “ 04.01.2013 available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/04/facebookgermany-
data-protection
204 YouTube Website, Privacy Issues: Privacy Complaints for Other People, available at:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=84753 (“In order to process privacy claims, we must receive notification directly from the
individual in the video…. Any attempt to report a privacy violation for someone other than yourself will not be investigated.”)
205 Twitter, The Twitter Rules, https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311#
206 Twitter, How to report violations, https://support.twitter.com/articles/15789-how-to-report-violations#
207 Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, available at: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
208 Id. at § 5.8.
209 Instagram, Learn How to Address Abuse, available at: http://help.instagram.com/527320407282978/ (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
210 Instagram, Community Guidelines, available at: http://help.instagram.com/477434105621119 (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
211 Pinterest, Acceptable Use Policy, available at: http://about.pinterest.com/use/ (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
212 Id.
213 Pinterest, Report objectionable or spammy content, comments or people, available at: https://help.pinterest.com/entries/22163668-Report-objectionable-orspammy-
content-comments-or-people (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
214 MySpace.com Terms of Use Agreement, last updated June 10, 2013, available at: https://www.myspace.com//pages/terms (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
215 Id. at §§ 8.2.
216 “Snapchat’s expired snaps are not deleted, just hidden,” The Guardian, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/partner-zoneinfosecurity/
snapchat-photos-not-deleted-hidden
217 Snapchat, How Snaps Are Stored and Deleted, available at: http://blog.snapchat.com/post/50060403002/how-snaps-are-stored-and-deleted (May 9,
2014).
218 Twitter, Twitter supports Do Not Track, available at: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169453-twitter-supports-do-not-track# (“When you turn on DNT in
your browser, we stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor suggestions based on your recent visits to websites that have integrated our buttons
or widgets. We also stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor ads based on your visits to our ad partners’ websites. Specifically, we stop
collecting the unique browser cookie that links your browser to visits to these websites for tailoring suggestions or ads.”) (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
219 Pinterest, What’s this “Do Not Track” thing?, available at: https://help.pinterest.com/entries/24996501-What-s-this-Do-Not-Track-thing- (last visited, Jan. 28,
2014).
220 Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, “WhatApp’s violation of privacy law partly resolved after investigation by data protection authorities,”
available at: http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2013/nr-c_130128_e.asp (Jan. 28, 2013).
221 Federal Trade Commission, “Path Social Networking App Settles FTC Charges it Deceived Consumers and Improperly Collected Personal Information
from Users' Mobile Address Books,” http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/02/path-social-networking-app-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived
(Feb. 1, 2013).
222 See “Proposal for General Data Protection Regulation (the Regulation)” available at: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st05/st05853.en12.pdf .
223 See “ Proposal for Data Protection Directive (the Directive) covering law enforcement” available at:
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st05/st05833.en12.pdf .
224 “EU Panel Data Protection Regulation Vote Delayed Until Fall by Amendments” available at:
http://privacylaw.bna.com/pvrc/7060/split_display.adp?fedfid=32440623&vname=prabulallissues&jd=a0d9p0q1u4&split=0
225 McKeogh v John Doe 1 & Ors [2012] available at http://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/2012/H95.html
226 http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/workinggroup/wpdocs/2009_en.htm
227 Opinion 5/2009 on online social networking, p. 6.
228 Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data and on the free movement of such data implemented in the UK by the Data Protection Act 1998.
229 Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of
privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) implemented in the UK by the Privacy and Electronic
Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426).
230 See “Social networking and online forums- when does the DPA apply?” available at:
http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/topic_guides/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Detailed_specialist_guides/socialnetworking-
and-online-forums-dpa-guidance.ashx
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231 See” ICO Privacy Notices Code of Practice” available at:
http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/guidance_index/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Detailed_specialist_guides/PRIVACY_NOTICES_COP_FIN
AL.ashx
232 “Making privacy notices meaningful” The Reporter (Calleja Consulting) July 2009.
233 Federal Trade Commission, “Facebook Settles FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers By Failing To Keep Privacy Promises,” available at:
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/11/facebook-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived-consumers-failing-keep (Nov. 29, 2011).
234 Federal Trade Commission, “Myspace Settles FTC Charges That It Misled Millions of Users About Sharing Personal Information with Advertisers,”
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2012/05/myspace-settles-ftc-charges-it-misled-millions-users-about (May 8, 2012).
235 Portions of this chapter first appeared in, and are reprinted with permission of, the Privacy & Security Law Journal.
236 “Facebook Shuts Down Beacon to Settle Class-Action Lawsuit,” 27 No. 9 Andrews Computer & Internet Litig. Rep. 8 (Sept. 30, 2009), citing Lane, et al. v.
Facebook Inc., et al., No. 08-CV-03845-RS (N.D. Cal.).
237 Drew Hendricks, “Facebook To Drop Sponsored Stories: What Does This Mean For Advertisers?,” available at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhendricks/2014/01/16/facebook-to-drop-sponsored-stories-what-does-this-mean-for-advertisers/ (Jan. 16, 2014).
238 David Kravets, “Judge Approves $20M Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ Settlement,” Wired (Aug. 26, 2013) available at:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/judge-approves-20-million-facebook-sponsored-stories-settlement/
239 iab, Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, available at http://www.iab.net/insights_research/public_policy/behavioraladvertisingprinciples
240 Council of Better Business Bureaus, The National Partner Program, available at: http://www.bbb.org/council/the-national-partner-program/nationaladvertising-
review-services/accountability-program/case-decisions/ (last visited, Jan. 28, 2014).
241 See Article 29 Working Party “Opinion 2/2010 on online behavioural advertising” available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2010/wp171_en.pdf ; also see Article 29 Working Party “Opinion 16/2011 on EASA/IAB Best
Practice Recommendation on Online Behavioural Advertising” available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/documentation/opinionrecommendation/
files/2011/wp188_en.pdf .
242 Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of
privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) implemented in the UK by the Privacy and Electronic
Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426).
243 See “EASA Best Practice Recommendations For Online Behavioural Advertising” available at:
http://www.easaalliance.org/binarydata.aspx?type=doc/EASA_BPR_OBA_12_APRIL_2011_CLEAN.pdf /downlo
245 See CAP “Rules For Organisations Conducting Online Behavioural Advertising” available at: http://www.cap.org.uk/News-reports/Media
Centre/2012/~/media/Files/CAP/Misc/New%20Online%20Behavioural%20Advertising%20rules.ashx
246 Yelp, “Deals, Gift Certificates, and Check-in Offers,” http://www.yelp.com/advertise/national/offer
247 Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Staff Report Recommends Ways to Improve Mobile Privacy Disclosures,” Press Release, available at:
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/02/ftc-staff-report-recommends-ways-improve-mobile-privacy (Feb. 1, 2013).
248 State of California Department of Justice, “Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Guidance on How Mobile Apps Can Better Protect Consumer
Privacy,” available at http://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-kamala-d-harris-issues-guidance-how-mobile-apps-can-better (Jan. 10,
2013).
249 Federal Trade Commission, “Android Flashlight App Developer Settles FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers,” available at: http://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/
press-releases/2013/12/android-flashlight-app-developer-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived (Dec. 5, 2013).
250 “The NSA Files” available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files
251 “LIBE Draft Report on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental
rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (2013/2188(INI)” available at: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/ep-draft-nsasurveillance-
report.pdf
252 Hays v. Ions, EWHC (Ch), No. 745, 4/16/2008. available at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2008/745.html ; also see Whitmar Publications Ltd. v.
Gamage, EWHC (Ch), No. 1881, 7/4/2013 available at: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2013/1881.html
253 See Joseph Menn, “Social networks scan for sexual predators, with uneven results,” Chicago Tribune, dated July 12, 2012, available at
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-12/business/sns-rt-usa-internetpredatorsl2e8iadyl-20120711_1_predators-smartphone-app-facebook ; see also
Justin P. Murphy and Adrian Fontecilla, “Social Media Evidence in Government Investigations and Criminal Proceedings: A Frontier of New Legal Issues,”
19 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 11, 7 (2013).
254 Emma W. Sholl, “Exhibit Facebook: The Discoverability and Admissibility of Social Media Evidence” ,” 16 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. 207, 223 (Fall 2013),
citing Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 30 Misc.3d. 426, 432-33 (2010).
255 John Browning, “It’s Complicated: How to Walk the Fine Ethical Line in the Age of Social Media,” 76 Tex. Bar Journal 959, 961 (2013).
256 Tariq Remtulla, “Facebook Not So Private? Ontario Court Finds Facebook Profile Discoverable,” 14 No. 4 Cyberspace Law. 17 (May 2009).
257 Pre-paid Legal Services, Inc. v. Cahill, 924 F.Supp.2d 1281, 1292-93 (E.D. Okla. 2013).
258 IT-Lex Technology Law, “NLRB Looks At Retaliatory Firings Based On Facebook Posts,” http://it-lex.org/nlrb-looks-at-retaliatory-firings-based-on-facebookposts/
(Apr. 30, 2013).
259 Margaret DiBianca, “Warnings Against LinkedIn Recommendations: Justified or Propaganda?” 14 No. 9 Del. Emp. L. Letter 2 (Sept. 2009).
260 See Harry Haydon The Sun dated 05 Jul 2009, available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2517719/MI6-spy-chief-has-cover-blown-on-
Facebook-by-wife.html ; Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Esq., and Jessica Sawyer Wang, Esq., “Are Your Company’s Secrets Threatened By Your Employee’s
MySpace Page?” 28 No. 14 Andrews Automotive Litig. Rep. 7 (Jan. 6, 2009).
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261 See generally Leser v. Penido, 96 A.D.3d 578 (2012); Internet Solutions Corp. v. Marshall, 611 F.3d 1368 (11th Cir. 2010); Doe I, et al. v. Individuals, 561
F.Supp.2d 249 (D. Conn. 2008).
262 “Service of Process Through Facebook” 03.10.2011 available at:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/international-law/b/international-law-blog/archive/2011/03/10/service-of-process-through-facebook.aspx
263 MKM Capital Property Limited v Corbo and Poyser, No. SC 608 of 2008
264 Axe Market Gardens v Craig Axe CIV: 2008-485-2676
265 Knott v. Sutherland (Feb. 5, 2009) Edmonton 0803 002267 (Alta.Q.B.M.)
266 “Service via Twitter – the UK courts embrace technology” The Reporter (Calleja Consulting) November 2009; also see “Court order served over twitter”
available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8285954.stm
267 AKO Capital and AKO Master Fund against former broker TFS Derivatives; also see “Legal claims can be served via Facebook, High Court judge rules “
21.02.2012 available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9095489/Legal-claims-can-be-served-via-
Facebook-High-Court-judge-rules.html
268 Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Strengthens Kids' Privacy, Gives Parents Greater Control Over Their Information By Amending Childrens Online Privacy
Protection Rule,” available at: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2012/12/ftc-strengthens-kids-privacy-gives-parents-greater-control-over
(Dec. 19, 2012).
269 “Warsaw Declaration on the appification of society” available at: https://privacyconference2013.org/web/pageFiles/kcfinder/files/ATT29312.pdf .
270 “Digital Agenda: children using social networks at a younger age; many unaware of basic privacy risks, says survey” 18.04.2011 available at:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-479_en.htm?locale=en
271 “Digital pictures and facial recognition in our digital life: trends and challenges for tomorrow” 03.2013 available at:
http://www.cnil.fr/fileadmin/documents/en/LettreIP4_en_def.pdf ; also see “First Issue of CNIL IP Reports – Privacy Towards 2020” available at
http://www.cnil.fr/english/news-and-events/news/article/first-issue-of-cnil-ip-reports-privacy-towards-2020-42-experts-share-their-visions-of-the/
272 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/social_networking/eu_action/selfreg/index_en.htm
273 Whilst this may be based on a range of factors, there is an implication in the notes to the principles that a minimum age of 13 could be imposed in line with
the U.S. approach and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act which in the UK only allows providers to collect data without parental consent from
users over 13 years old. Suggested measures to ensure age-appropriateness could include providing means for content providers, partners or users to
label, rate or age restrict content when appropriate, using for example the Broadband Stakeholder Group’s good practice principles on audiovisual content
information.
274 For example, taking steps to ensure that private profiles of users registered as under 18 are not searchable.
275 http://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/news/20100209_safer_internet_en.htm
276 See “Self-regulation for a Better Internet for Kids” available at: http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/self-regulation-better-internet-kids
277 See “Safer Internet Day events in Brussels: Neelie Kroes to hand out prizes for Best Online Content for Kids “ 12.05.2013 available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/safer-internet-day-events-brussels-neelie-kroes-hand-out-prizes-best-online-content-kids
278 See “ICO- Personal Information Online- Code of Practice” available at:
http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/topic_guides/online/personal_information_online
279 See http://www.getsafeonline.org/businesses/data-protection-act/ ; http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
280 See “Information Commissioner’s guidance about the issue of monetary penalties prepared and issued under section 55C (1) of the Data Protection Act
1998” available at:
http://ico.org.uk/enforcement/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Detailed_specialist_guides/ico_guidance_on_monetary_penalties.pdf
281 See sections 4, 55, 55A and 55B of the Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended).
282 Christopher Niebel v The Information Commissioner (EA/2012/2060)available at:
http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DBFiles/Decision/i1106/Niebel,%20Christopher%20EA.2012.0260.pdf ; also see Scottish Borders Council v The
Information Commissioner (EA/2012/0212) available at:
http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DBFiles/Decision/i1068/Scottish%20Borders%20Council%20EA.2012.0212%20(210813)%20Preliminary%20Decision.pdf
283 Facebook, “Information for Law Enforcement Authorities”; Google, “Transparency Report,” available:
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/legalprocess/ ; Twitter, “Guidelines for Law Enforcement,” available at:
http://support.twitter.com/articles/41949-guidelines-for-law-enforcement#
284 Russ Buettner, “Judge Orders Twitter to Release Protester’s Messages,” available at: https://www.facebook.com/safety/groups/law/guidelines/ ; New York
Times: City Room (Jul. 2, 2012), available at: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/judge-orders-twitter-to-release-protesters-messages/
285 Somini Sengupta, “Twitter Appeals to Protect Protestor’s Tweets,” New York Times: Bits (Jul. 19, 2012), available at:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/twitter-appeals-to-protect-protesters-tweets/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
286 Russ Buettner, “A Brooklyn Protester Pleads Guilty After His Twitter Posts Sink His Case,” New York Times (Dec. 12, 2012), available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/nyregion/malcolm-harris-pleads-guilty-over-2011-march.html
287 Jose Pagliery, “2 million Facebook, Gmail and Twitter passwords stolen in massive hack ,” CNN Money (Dec. 4, 2013), available at:
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/technology/security/passwords-stolen/
288 Doug Gross, “Millions of accounts compromised in Snapchat hack,” CNN (Jan. 2, 2014), available at: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/socialmedia/
snapchat-hack/
289 Joel Schectman, “UPDATE: LinkeIn Confirms Security Breach,” Wall Street Journal: Digits (Jun. 6, 2012), available at:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/06/06/two-security-firms-say-they-verified-linkedin-breach/
290 The authors wish to note the contributions of the following individuals to the content of this chapter: Samantha Clancy, Kimberly Craver, Nathalie
Marchand, Michaela A. McCormack, Nicolas Sauvage and Amber Spataro.
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291 http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Proofpoint-Inc-1027877.html; “Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace,” Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics
& Workplace Survey results.
292 “Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace,” Deloitte LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results.
293 http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Proofpoint-Inc-1027877.html.
294 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/current-twitter-trends-sun-ceo-tweets-his-resignation-modern-haikus-1889534.html.
295 http://www.workforce.com/section/02/feature/26/66/08/#.
296 Schedule 1(1) and Schedule 2(1) Data Protection Act 1998
htttp://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/legResults.aspx?LegType=All%20Primary&PageNumber=1&BrowseLetter=D&NavFrom=1&activeTextDocId=3190610.
297 Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Employment Practice Code
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/employment_practices_code.pdf .
298 ACAS Code of Practice http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2175.
299 French Labor Code, articles L. 1221-6, L. 1221-8, L. 1221-9, L. 2323-32.
300 This may be partly because of the inexistence of punitive damages in the French judicial system, which generally leads to a different approach to
employment litigation than in some other jurisdictions.
301 The HALDE (“Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l’Egalité”) is the administrative body that, among other things, assists employees in
obtaining damages, or bringing actions before the relevant court regarding discrimination issues. Claims before the HALDE increased by 21 percent, to a
total of 10,545 for 2009, compared with 2008. http://www.halde.fr.
302 This was the case when in 2008 the HALDE controversially carried out “testing” of major French companies, sending a number of fake CVs in response to
job advertisements, and proceeded with a campaign of Naming and Shaming of those companies who statistically invited significantly less numbers of
candidates from certain minority groups for interview.
303 La Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, an independent French administrative authority whose mission is to ensure data privacy law is
applied to the collection, storage, and use of personal data.
304 Such as the MEDEF (The Mouvement des Entreprises de France), employers' organization representing the French business leaders.
305 “Charte réseaux sociaux, Internet, Vie Privée et Recrutement”.
306 An employee connected from home posted a comment on his personal Facebook page, criticizing his hierarchy. Two of his colleagues added other
negative comments on to the post. All three were dismissed for gross misconduct. French judges will have to rule on whether such correspondence should
be considered as private or not (and therefore, on whether or not it could be used, as grounds for dismissal).
307 Deloitte survey: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Proofpoint-Inc-1027877.html; “Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace,” Deloitte
LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results.
308 Employers must be careful, however, to apply their computer policy consistently to avoid claims of discriminatory discipline and/or monitoring based on any
protected category. For example, if the employer allows its employees to use social media sites, and in monitoring their usage discovers that certain
employees are seeking to form a union, the employer may not focus its monitoring efforts on only the employees advocating for the union.
309 See Blakley v. Continental Airlines, Inc. 751 A.2d 538 (N.J. 2000)
310 Under the recently revised FTC Guides, it is unclear to what extent, if any, an employer may be liable for an employee’s statements in social media. Under
Example 8 of 16 CFR Part 255.5, an online message board designated for discussions of new music download technology is frequented by MP3 player
enthusiasts…. Unbeknownst to the message board community, an employee of a leading playback device manufacturer has been posting messages on
the discussion board promoting the manufacturer’s product. Knowledge of this poster’s employment likely would affect the weight or credibility of her
endorsement. Therefore, the poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose her relationship to the manufacturer to members and readers of the
message board. 16 CFR Part 255.1(d) provides that “[a]dvertisers are subject to liability for…failing to disclose material connections between themselves
and their endorsers. Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the course of their endorsements.” Therefore, in Example 8, both the employee
and the employer may be liable for the employee’s failure to disclose his material connection with the employer.
311 See Doe v. XYZ Corp., 887 A.2d. 1156 (N.J. Super. 2005).
312 16 CFR Part 255.
313 Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Employment Practice Code, page 54 onwards
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/employment_practices_code.pdf .
314 The relevant legislation in the UK is the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/legResults.aspx?LegType=All%20Primary&PageNumber=3&BrowseLetter=R&NavFrom=1&activeTextDocId=1757378.
315 Otomewo v Carphone Warehouse Ltd ET/2330554/2011.
316 See for example, Teggart v TeleTech UK Ltd [2012] NIIT 00704_11IT; Gosden v Lifeline Project Ltd ET/2802731/2009.
317 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/23/sickie_woo.
318 Case No 06-45800 (Cass. soc., July 9, 2008): the employer is entitled to monitor its employees’ Internet connections in the absence of the latter, given that
connections during working hours, on the computer made available by the employer for the performance of the employee’s work, are presumed to have a
professional nature.
319 La Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, an independent French administrative authority whose mission is to ensure data privacy law is
applied to the collection, storage, and use of personal data.
320 Cases No 08-40.144 and 08-44.019 (Cass. soc., Feb. 3, 2010) An employer was held to be liable for the harassment that had occurred in the workplace
despite having taken measures on becoming aware of the situation; in one case the perpetrator resigned and in another the victim of the harassment was
moved to another site. Indeed, in such areas, employers are bound by an obligation to achieve a particular result “obligation de resultat” which is distinct in
French contract and tort law from an “obligation de moyens,” an obligation to act or a “best efforts obligation.”
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321 “Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc.,” No. C 08-5780, 2009 WL 1299698, at *4 (N.D. Cal. May 11, 2009) (“Access for purposes that explicitly are
prohibited by the terms of use is clearly unauthorized”).
322 http://www.facebook.com/terms.php.
323 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.
324 See, e.g., Cal. Lab. Code § 96k; see also N.Y. Labor Code § 201-d.
325 See Sigler v. Kobinsky, 762 N.W.2d. 706 (Wisc. Appt. Ct. 2008); Maypark v. Securitas Security Services USA, Inc, 2009 WL 2750994 (Wisc. Appt. Ct.
2009).
326 Laningham v. Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, 2009 WL 2998518 (N.D. Tex., Sept. 17, 2009); Wolfe v. Fayetteville, Arkansas
School District, 600 F.Supp.2d 1011 (W.D. Ark. 2009).
327 National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169.
Deloitte survey: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Proofpoint-Inc-1027877.html; “Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace,” Deloitte
LLP 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey results.
328 la Cour de Cassation
329 Case n° 08-17.191 Cass. Soc., (Déc. 08, 2009). The information for internal use was not well enough defined to judge whether it was necessary and
proportionate given the obvious breach of individual and collective rights and liberties, in this case freedom of expression (based on article L. 1121-1 of the
French labor code). Moreover, besides the consideration of civil liberties, the Labour Code contains specific articles (L. 2281-1 et seq.) pertaining to the
employees’ collective right to express themselves on issues such as working conditions and the content and organization of their work. The vague
definition of information to be considered as confidential did include information on which employees may need to communicate. With regard to the
whistleblowing disposition, employees were invited to denounce behavior thought to be in breach, not only of regulations pertaining to finance and fraud,
etc., but basically of other regulations of the code of conduct as well. This was not strictly in line with the application of Sarbanes Oxley regulations and
therefore infringed on employee rights. Moreover, the company did not comply with the proper CNIL procedure and was held as not providing enough
protection to employees using the facility.
330 TGI Caen, (Nov. 5, 2009)
331 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Areta L. Kupchyk and Colleen T. Davies to the content of this chapter.
332 Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, "Social media likes healthcare: From marketing to social business," available at http://www.pwc.com/us/en/healthindustries/
publications/health-care-social-media.jhtml.
333 See, e.g., 21 C.F.R. § 202.1.
334 For example, in November 2009, FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI), in conjunction with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and the
Office of Regulatory Affairs, Office of Enforcement, targeted 136 websites that appeared to be engaged in the illegal sale of unapproved or misbranded
drugs to U.S. consumers. As part of this investigation, FDA issued 22 warning letters to the operators of these websites and notified Internet service
providers and domain name registrars that the websites were selling products in violation of U.S. law. FDA, FDA Issues 22 Warning Letters to Website
Operators—Part of International Internet Week of Action, at http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm191330.htm.
335 See FDA, Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products on the Internet, Notice of Public Meeting, 61 Fed. Reg. 48,707 (Sept. 16, 1996).
336 See The Pink Sheet (Nov. 8, 1999) pg. 22 (Statement of Melissa Moncavage, DDMAC Public Health Advisor, at Drug Information Association conference
Oct. 23, 1999); see also DDMAC, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research presentation by Melissa Moncavage Nov. 3, 1999, at
http://www.fda.gov/cder/ddmac/diammm1999/tsld003.htm.
337 FDA Response to Ignite Health FDA Social Media, Questions for the FDA Regarding ‘Next Steps’ for Guidance Related to the Promotion of FDARegulated
Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools, Dec. 11, 2009,
http://www.fdasm.com/docs/FINAL%20DDMAC%20Responses%20to%20FDASM_Questions.pdf .
338 http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM381352.pdf .
339 See, e.g.,
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/EnforcementActivitiesbyFDA/WarningLettersandNoticeofViolationLetterstoPharmace
uticalCompanies/UCM055773#
340 See, e.g.,
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/EnforcementActivitiesbyFDA/WarningLettersandNoticeofViolationLetterst
oPharmaceuticalCompanies/UCM388800.pdf .
341 See http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm256922.htm.
342 So long as the dissemination of off-label information is a scientific exchange between medical or science professionals, FDA will not consider it
promotional; but if the dissemination is within a promotional context, FDA will regulate it as violative off-label advertising. Although the Internet, and social
media specifically, may facilitate scientific discussions through interactive, immediate, and spontaneous exchanges in professional venues such as Sermo,
FDA may consider discussions with multiple parties about off-label issues to be promotional in nature and not scientific exchange.
343 Promotional messages may not “recommend or suggest” the drug for unapproved uses. 21 C.F.R. § 202.1(e)(4)(i)(a). The only other thing more difficult
than ensuring adequate advertising content is determining when a statement or activity is in fact promotional as opposed to scientific exchange. This is
more important than it may appear at first blush. Technically, any statement or activity, from anyone – not just the company, its employees, vendors, or
agents, but, anyone, so long as the company “knows, or has knowledge of the facts that would give [the company] notice – that suggests a use other than
the specific use explicitly approved on the product label may be considered promotion of an unapproved or “off-label” use. 21 C.F.R. §§ 201.128 and
801.4. In other words, a company need not have any relationship with the person making the statement or conducting the activity; it need only have reason
to know that the product is being used for an off-label purpose.
344 http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM285145.pdf .
345 21 C.F.R. § 314.81 (b)(3)(i).
346 See http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM381352.pdf .
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347 FDA has issued guidance regarding responding to unsolicited requests for information.
348 The Pharmalot blog is now a twitter feed available at https://twitter.com/pharmalot.
349 Published by Pharmalot, available at http://www.pharmalive.com/fdas-abrams-long-awaited-social-media-guidance-coming.
350 As background, the holder of an approved marketing application is required to “review all adverse drug experience information obtained or otherwise
received by the applicant from any source, foreign or domestic, including information derived from commercial marketing experience, postmarketing clinical
investigations, postmarketing epidemiological/surveillance studies, reports in the scientific literature, and unpublished scientific papers.” 21 C.F.R. §
314.80(b) (emphasis added). By participating in social media interactions, a company may be required to investigate every adverse event claim it comes
across, regardless of its credibility. Such claims would also have to be reported if the company is able to determine at least four data elements: (1) an
identifiable patient; (2) an identifiable reporter; (3) a specific drug or biologic involved in the event; and (4) an adverse event or fatal outcome. Id. FDA’s
current adverse event reporting guideline states that a company is relieved from the adverse event reporting obligation only if one or more of the four
elements remain unknown “after being actively sought” by the company. Id. To what extent (if any) would this same standard apply to the Internet and
social media communications is the question.
351 See e.g., #TrendingTopic: Privacy Best Practices for #SocialMedia, July 24, 2013, available at https://cio.gov/trendingtopic-privacy-best-practices-forsocialmedia/.
352 Social Media and the Federal Government: Perceived and Real Barriers and Potential Solutions, Dec. 23, 2008, available at
http://www.howto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/SocialMediaFed%20Govt_BarriersPotentialSolutions.pdf .
353 Privacy and Government Contracts with Social Media Companies, available at http://epic.org/privacy/socialnet/gsa/.
354 See 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq. (1986).
355 See, e.g., United States v. Anderson, 664 F.3d 758, 762 (8th Cir. 2012) (noting hundreds of Facebook private chats obtained through a search warrant);
United States v. Kearney, 672 F.3d 81, 84 (1st Cir. 2012) (noting that law enforcement used account and IP address information obtained from MySpace
via an administrative subpoena to subpoena defendant’s Internet provider for his name and address); In re Grand Jury Subpoena No. 11116275, 846 F.
Supp. 2d 1, 2 (D.D.C. 2012) (denying anonymous intervenor’s motion to quash a subpoena issued to Twitter by a federal grand jury for records pertaining
to the intervenor’s identity); United States v. Sayer, Criminal No. 2:11 cr 113 DBH, 2012 WL 2180577, at *3 (D. Me. June 13, 2012) (using subpoenas to
obtain evidence from Facebook and MySpace); United States v. Meregildo, No. 11 Cr. 576(WHP), 2012 WL 3264501, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2012)
(obtaining evidence through warrant issued to Facebook).
356 The particularized showing required under the SCA only applies to certain substantive data including (1) contents of wire or electronic communications in
electronic storage; (2) contents of wire or electronic communications in a remote computing service; (3) subscriber records concerning electronic
communication service or remote computing service; and (4) basic subscriber information. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d); see also In re United States for an
Order Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2703(d), 36 F. Supp. 2d 430 (D. Mass. 1999).
357 Carolyn and Peter appreciate the helpful comments of their Insurance Recovery Group colleagues Mark Hersh and Andrew Moss in the United States and
Gregor Pryor in the UK in preparing this chapter.
358 According to a co-national managing director for Professional Risk Solutions at AON, the case of Heartland Payment Systems, a purported breach
involving up to 100 million records, led to three sets of claims: consumer class actions for alleged invasion of privacy and potential identity theft; class
actions involving financial institutions that had to cancel and re-issue credit cards; and securities class actions alleging that directors and officers did not
have adequate oversight measures in place. Phil Gusman, Data Explosion Expands Breach Exposure, But Insureds More Open to Handling Risks, NAT’L
UNDERWRITER, July 20, 2009.
359 See J. Andrew Moss, Enhancing the Brave New World of Cyberliabilities and Insurance Coverage, THE BRIEF, Spring 2013.
360 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Maureen C. Cain, Bonnie M. Mangold and Maria Dogaru to the content of this chapter.
361 See Chris Wheelock, A Growing Trend: Social Media As Legal Evidence, West Michigan Business (July 29, 2009, 12:30 p.m.),
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/07/a_growing_trend_social_media_a.html.
362 In re K.W., 666 S.E.2d 490, 494 (N.C. Ct. App. 2008); see Sandra Hornberger, Social Networking Websites: Impact on Litigation and the Legal Profession
in Ethics, Discovery, and Evidence, 27 Touro L. Rev. 279, 302 (2011).
363 People v. Liceaga, No. 280726, 2009 WL 186229, at *3-4 (Mich. App. Jan. 27, 2009).
364 Mai-Trang Thi Nguyen v. Starbucks Coffee Corp., Nos. CV 08-3354 CRB, CV 09-0047, 2009 WL 4730899, at *2, 5 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 7, 2009).
365 Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 907 N.Y.S.2d 650, 654 (Sup. Ct. 2010).
366 EEOC v. Simply Storage Mgmt. LLC, 270 F.R.D. 430, 434 (S.D. Ind. 2010); see Emma W. Sholl, Exhibit Facebook: The Discoverability and Admissibility of
Social Media Evidence, 16 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. 207, 225 (2013).
367 R v. Grewal, [2010] EWCA Crim 2448
368 Locke v Stuart [2011] EWHC 399 (QB)
369 Nield v. Loveday [2011] EWHC 2324 (Admin)
370 McMillen v. Hummingbird Speedway, Inc., No. 113-2010 CD, 2010 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 270, at *9 (Pa. D. & C. 2010); see Lisa McManus, Waiver
of Attorney-Client Privilege or Work Product Doctrine through Social Media, LexisNexis® Legal Newsroom (Feb. 18, 2011, 9:52 a.m.),
http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/technology/b/legal-technology-blog/archive/2011/02/18/waiver-of-attorney-client-privilege-or-work-productdoctrine-
through-social-media.aspx.
371 Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., No. C 07-03783 JF (PVT) 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119271, at *7-13 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 22, 2010); see Lisa McManus, Waiver of
Attorney-Client Privilege or Work Product Doctrine through Social Media, LexisNexis® Legal Newsroom (Feb. 18, 2011, 9:52 a.m.),
http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/technology/b/legal-technology-blog/archive/2011/02/18/waiver-of-attorney-client-privilege-or-work-productdoctrine-
through-social-media.aspx.
372 Juror Declares Defendant “GUILTY” on Facebook, CBSNEWS (Sept. 2, 2010, 10:49 a.m.), http://www.cbsnews.com/news/juror-declares-defendant-guiltyon-
facebook/.
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373 Dimas-Martinez v. State, No. CR 11-5, 385 S.W.3d 238, 246, 249 (Ark. Dec. 8, 2011); Suzi Parker, Arkansas Death Row Inmate Gets New Trial Because
of Tweets, Reuters (Dec. 8, 2011, 3:36 p.m.), http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/us-crime-twitter-arkansas-idUSTRE7B72C220111208.
374 Ben Zimmer, Juror Could Face Jail Time for ‘Friending’ Defendant, USA Today (Feb. 7, 2012, 2:34 p.m.),
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-07/juror-facebook-friend-defendant/53000186/1.
375 Larry Welborn, Facebooking Juror Kicked Off Murder Trial, OC Register (Aug. 21, 2013, 1:17 p.m.), http://www.ocregister.com/news/juror-329708-trialjudge.
html
376 Matt Reynolds, Blogging Juror Requires Retrial, Burglar Says, Courthouse News Service (Oct. 10, 2013, 12:47 p.m.),
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/10/10/61919.htm.
377 HM Attorney General v. Fraill and Sewart [2011] EWHC 1629 (Admin)
378 HM Attorney General v. Beard [2013] EWHC 2317 (Admin)
379 HM Attorney General v. Davey [2013] EWHC 2317 (Admin)
380 Blaney v. Persons Unknown (2009)
381 Order of Mr Justice Teare in the High Court of Justice, February 2012
382 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Jesse J. Ash and Paul Llewellyn to the content of this chapter.
383 See,e.g., Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements for Postmarketing Submissions of Interactive Promotional Media for Prescription Human and Animal Drugs
and Biologics, Guidance for Industry, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food & Drug Administration, January 2014, at 2 (hereinafter “FDA
Guidance”) (“a firm may promote its products through product websites, discussion boards, chat rooms, or other public electronic forums that it maintains
and over which it has full control”)
384 Examples of how a blog may be used to disseminate information about safety issues related to products are the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(“CPSC”) blog “on safety,” as well as its Twitter page. See, http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/category/safety-blogs/; http://twitter.com/OnSafety
385 FDA Guidance at 3.
386 For example, the New England Journal of Medicine recently had to issue a statement defending its practices after a survey showed its publication
contained more ghostwritten articles than other prominent medical journals. See “NEJM responds to survey on ghost-writing,” (Sept. 21, 2009);
http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2009/09/the_new_england.html
387 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of William M. Krogh to the content of this chapter.
388 2013 Fortune 500 Are Bullish on Social Media: Big Companies Get Excited About Google+, Instagram, Foursquare and Pinterest, By:Nora Ganim Barnes,
Ph.D., Ava M. Lescault, MBA and Stephanie Wright, Charlton College of Business Center for Marketing Research, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
available at http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/socialmedia/2013fortune500/
389 Anthony Fields, Securities Act Release No. 9291 (2012).
390 Michael Migliozzi II, Securities Act Release No. 9216 (2011).
391 See Disciplinary and Other FINRA Actions Reported November 2013 (Charles Michael Matisi (CRD #2650170, Registered Representative, Hauppauge, New
York)) available at http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@enf/@da/documents/disciplinaryactions/p385575.pdf
392 See Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Misrepresentative and Unbalanced “Tweets” and Other Misconduct, Quarterly Disciplinary Review, July 2011.
393 No. 14-cv-1409 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2014).
394 See SEC v. Christopher A. Black, Case No. 09-CV-0128 (S.D. Ind., Sept. 24, 2009).
395 SEC v. Presstek, Inc. and Edward J. Marino, 1:10-CV-10406 (D. Mass. March 9, 2010).
396 SEC v. Berliner, No. 08-CV-3859 (JES) (S.D.N.Y. April 24, 2008).
397 SEC v. Sarath B. Gangavarapu, No. CV09-231 (E.D. Tenn. Aug. 31, 2009).
398 The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Sachin Premnath to the content of this chapter.
399 http://crunchbase.com/company/twitter
400 Oneok, Inc. v. Twitter, Inc., Case Number 4:09-cv-00597 (N.D. Okl. Sept. 15, 2009).
401 Stewart, Daxton. Social Media and the Law, 2013 Taylor & Francis.
402 Id.
403 Sam Jones, HMV workers take over official Twitter feed to vent fury over sacking, 31 January 2013, available at
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jan/31/hmv-workers-twitter-feed-sacking
404 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/10568019/Syrian-Electronic-Army-hacks-Microsoft-Twitter-accounts.html
405 See generally: https://support.twitter.com/groups/56-policies-violations/topics/236-twitter-rules-policies/articles/18367-trademark-policy#
406 http://crunchbase.com/company/facebook
407 http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites
408 http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf
409 https://www.facebook.com/help/www/223752991080711
410 See Ryan Davis, Twitter Helps Usher in New Set of Trademark Perils, available at http://www.law360.com/articles/165012/twitter-helps-usher-in-new-setof-
trademark-perils
411 Id.
412 https://www.facebook.com/help/329992603752372
413 https://www.facebook.com/help/208017472571983
414 Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], NJW 2002, p. 2031 – shell.de; Hamm Court of Appeals, NJW-RR 1998, 909 – krupp.de.
415 http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/#
416 See more at: http://davisudoka.com/blog/view/can-i-trademark-my-awesome-hashtag#sthash.GeE6Ujf5.dpuf
417 Pinterest Spurs Online Sales – and Trademark Risks, available at www.law360.com/articles/402364/print?section=hospitality
418 Id.
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419 Id.
420 http://about.pinterest.com/trademark/
421 http://www.dailydot.com/business/pinterest-trademark-microsoft/
422 http://www.dailydot.com/business/pinterest-trademark-microsoft/
423 http://www.pinterest.com/search/people/?q=Mitt%20Romney
424 15 U.S.C. §1114(1)(a).
425 15 U.S.C. §1125(a) liability based on use in commerce of “any word, term, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, or any false designation of
origin, false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact that is likely to cause confusion.”
426 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c) liability against party who “at any time after the owner’s mark has become famous, commences use of a mark or trade name in
commerce that is likely to cause dilution by blurring or dilution by tarnishment of the famous mark.”
427 Stan Hammer, WDVA Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Trademark Infringement Claim Based on Alleged Fictitious LinkedIn Profile, available at
http://virginiaiplaw.com/2013/11/wdva-court-denies-motion-to-dismiss-trademark-infringement-claim-based-on-alleged-fictitious-linkedin-profile/
428 Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to
trademarks.
429 s10, Trade Mark Act 1994
430 Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trademark.
431 Céline Sarl v. Céline SA (Case C-17/06)
432 https://support.twitter.com/articles/18367-trademark-policy#
433 1-800 Flowers Inc. v. Phonenames Ltd [2000] FSR 697
434 Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], NJW 2005, p. 1435 – Hotel Maritime.
435 Irvine v. Talksport [2003] EWCA Civ 423
436 Sec. 4 no. 9 German Act Against Unfair Competition.
437 Cologne Civil Court, decision of September 16, 2009, file no. 33 O 374/08.
438 http://support.twitter.com/articles/18366-impersonation-policy#
439 https://support.twitter.com/articles/18366
440 https://support.twitter.com/groups/56-policies-violations/topics/236-twitter-rules-policies/articles/106373-parody-commentary-and-fan-account-policy
441 Jung, Andrew M. (2011) “Twittering Away the Right of Publicity: Personality Rights and Celebrity Impersonation on Social Networking Websites,” Chicago-
Kent Law Review: Vol. 86: Iss. 1, Article 16. Available at: http://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cklawreview/vol86/iss1/16
442 Anthony La Russa v. Twitter, Inc., Case Number CGC-09-488101 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Fran. Co., May 6, 2009).
443 https://support.twitter.com/articles/119135-faqs-about-verified-accounts#
444 Eli Langer, Respect me—I'm verified on Twitter (18 November 2013), available at http://www.cnbc.com/id/101200388
445 https://support.twitter.com/articles/119135-faqs-about-verified-accounts#
446 Taser International Inc. v. Linden Research Inc., 2:09-cv-00811 (U.S.D.C., D. Ariz., April 17, 2009).
447 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090421/1310304599.shtml
448 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aR6xHcnBMn9M
449 Richard Acello, Virtual Worlds, Real Battles: Trademark Holders Take on Use in Games (1 January 2011), available at
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/virtual_worlds_real_battles/
450 Adam Opel AG v. Autec AG (Case C-48/05).
451 Bundesgerichtshof [German Federal Court of Justice], decision of January 14, 2010, file no. I ZR 88/08 (not yet published).
452 Nir Kossovsky, MISSION INTANGIBLE, Blog of the Intangible Asset Finance Society, September 21, 2009 (quoting Darren Cohen).
453 Eros LLC v. Leatherwood, No. 8:2007cv01158 (M.D. Fla. 2007).
454 Eros LLC v. Simon, Case No. 1:2007cv04447 (E.D.N.Y. 2007).
455 Registration No. 3,483,253 covering “providing temporary use of non-downloadable software for animating three-dimensional virtual characters.”
456 Registration No. 3,222,158 covering “computer graphics services; graphic art design; graphic design services, graphic illustration serves for others.”
457 Registration No. 3,531,683.
458 Helen Lewis, Digital money talks, even when it trades in hats and hamburgers (14 April 2013), available at
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/14/virtual-economies-digital-money-talks
459 http://lindenlab.com/tos
460 Id.
461 Id.
462 Kierin Kirby v. Sega of America, Inc., 144 Cal App. 4th 47 (2006).
463 Marvel v. NCSoft, No. CV 04-9253 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2005).
464 This article is intended as a summary of the legal landscape and potential strategies for dealing with that landscape. However, nothing herein should be
construed as a legal opinion or specific legal advice for a particular matter or situation.
465 For example, recent changes to 35 U.S.C. have made it more difficult to sue multiple defendants in a single case, and have provided alternative agency
proceedings for challenging patents outside of civil litigation. Further, the “Innovation Act” which passed in the House of Representatives in December of
2013 increases the burden on patent asserters in several aspects. The Innovation Act is not yet law and the Senate has taken up a corresponding bill.
