Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar will pay $1.2 million in fines and restitution to the New York Attorney General to resolve allegations that they routinely sold expired medicines and failed to comply with New York’s bottle deposit law. The bulk of the penalty – $1.1 million – will be paid by Dollar General, … Continue Reading
Venable clients that engage in selling goods and/or services over the internet should evaluate whether the recent Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair will now require them to begin collecting sales and use taxes in states where they have not previously done so. In the Wayfair Case the Court held that a state … Continue Reading
States can now require internet retailers to collect sales taxes even if the retailer has no physical presence in the state. In South Dakota v. Wayfair, the Supreme Court overturned its 1992 decision in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota, which limited a state’s ability to impose its sales tax on an out-of-state retailer. In Quill … Continue Reading
Scrolling online through the California Business and Professions Code the other day, I was struck by a frightening sight. My pulse raced. My jaw dropped. I called out to an associate for help. I wanted to make sure that what I was seeing was real, i.e., that I wasn’t out of my mind. Many lawyers … Continue Reading
As states continue their quest to compel online vendors to collect sales and use tax on sales to customers located in the state and to subject such vendors to state income tax, a current trend has been targeting vendors selling via online marketplaces. Some states assert that the presence of inventory held for a vendor … Continue Reading
The New York State Department of Health recently proposed a new set of regulations that would loosen marketing and advertising laws affecting New York’s medical cannabis program. The proposed regulations were published in the New York Register on August 23, 2017, and are open for a 30-day public comment period before the new regulations are … Continue Reading
It’s no secret that automatic renewal (or continuity or negative option programs) are on many regulators hit lists. Regulators argue that consumers are often unaware that they have signed up for services or products for which they will be billed on a monthly basis unless and until they cancel, particularly when it involves a free … Continue Reading
We wanted to alert retail readers to these developments in price advertising laws in the United Kingdom from our friends at Lewis Silkin. Late last year new U.K. Pricing Practices Guidelines were published by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, replacing the long standing guidelines which retailers and advertisers had been following for many years. The … Continue Reading
The plaintiffs’ bar is at it again, this time with a new target—the shipping and handling fees that retailers charge consumers in the course of delivering a product. We may think in the day of Amazon Prime that when we shop on the web the product should arrive at our door for free. But there … Continue Reading
While we love our male colleagues, I am delighted that the women partners and associates in our adlaw group easily outnumber them. It seemed appropriate to close out Women’s History Month by taking a look at issues involving women in advertising (for the FTC’s take on Women’s History Month click here). Gender equality was clearly … Continue Reading
Baseball season is just around the corner, and the FTC’s native advertising case against retailer Lord & Taylor illustrates the baseball rule of “Three strikes and you’re out!” In its first native advertising case since releasing its Enforcement Policy Statement Addressing Native Advertising and Deceptively Formatted Advertising, the FTC reminds advertisers that those guidelines will … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has just released its Annual Summary of Consumer Complaints, and debt collection (29%), identity theft (16%), and imposter scams (11%) top the list of the most common categories of consumer complaints. The Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book is produced every year from complaints received by the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, … Continue Reading
Well, not quite live. This week we’ll be providing updates from the NAD Annual Conference, which kicked off today in New York. The keynote address was given by FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, who reminded the audience that while the advent of the internet age and social media has radically changed how advertisers market their products and … Continue Reading
It’s Summer in the City and the back of my neck, and just about everything else, is getting dirty and gritty. The FTC, however, just announced two cases reminding advertisers to keep it clean on claims that their products can sanitize. The FTC sued Angel Sales, Inc. and Zadro Health Solutions, as well as the … Continue Reading
We all love a good bargain, but sometimes a good deal seems too good to be true. In 2011, Cynthia Spann went bargain-hunting at a California J.C. Penney, and walked out convinced that she had saved over 30%. However, she later discovered the products she bought at a “bargain” price had never really been sold … Continue Reading
We agree – the Jetsons era has indeed arrived. Beyond the days of “smart” everything, now 3D printing has taken center stage in the tech world. While it is not so farfetched to imagine 3D-printed machine parts, prototype models, or even toys, it is might be harder to watch it printing foods, implantable medical devices, … Continue Reading
The Better Business Bureau (BBB), known for being the home of NAD, CARU and other advertising self-regulatory forums, is now also the proud owner of an updated advertising code. The BBB announced earlier this month significant updates to its Code of Advertising for the first time since 1985 (when the number one single was “Careless … Continue Reading
The gift card saga in New Jersey looks like it has finally wrapped up with Governor Chris Christie tying a bow on the proceedings by signing NJ S-2235, eliminating data collection requirements for sellers of qualifying gift cards and gift certificates. Those who have followed this story may recall that back in 2010 New Jersey … Continue Reading
Companies doing business in California must now complete a comprehensive “survey” if selling particular products to consumers within the state. However, this is not your typical consumer satisfaction survey, but rather a submission of detailed information for each product meeting the requirements discussed below. The detailed submission must include include information on product formulas and unit … Continue Reading
Everyone loves an award. It is one thing when a marketer promotes its own product but to be able to back promises with a seal, a certificate, or other third-party recognition of greatness gives extra confidence to consumers that this is a product they can really trust. There has been much talk recently about dos … Continue Reading
While many focus important questions such as whether or not to brine the turkey and whether to cook the stuffing inside or outside of the bird, many of our clients focus on bigger issues of whether the holiday sales season will put the company in the red or the black. What used to be just … Continue Reading
3-D printing is one of the most disruptive technologies to penetrate the market place. While it is currently and extensively used for prototype design, medical devices and creating novelty items, it has the potential for dramatically changing our way of life. As new technologies emerge and business models come online, we often see a lag … Continue Reading
It is almost football season and the FTC tries to stay seasonal; around this time in 2012, it announced a settlement with football mouthguard manufacturer Brain-Pad regarding unsubstantiated concussion prevention claims. Subsequently, the FTC has sent warning letters to other manufacturers of sporting equipment regarding concussion prevention claims. This year, however, the FTC has called … Continue Reading
You feel pretty good heading to work wearing that designer outfit you picked up at a bargain price over the weekend at the local outlet center. But what if that deal you got wasn’t a deal at all? Questions have increasingly been raised about the potentially deceptive marketing practices related to the quality and source … Continue Reading
