Epic Marketplace Hit for History Sniffing Practices

An online advertising company has agreed to stop gathering sensitive data from millions of consumers and will cease its secret “history sniffing” activities, which revealed the websites users had visited in the past.   The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that Epic Marketplace, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Epic Media Group, LLC, gathered data from customers […]
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Dunkin Donuts Slogan Claim Mere Puffery

Dunkin’ Donuts may claim it has the “Best Coffee in America” but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) found the phrase was mere “puffery” and had not acquired a secondary meaning sufficient to be registered on the principal register. In 2007, Dunkin’ Donuts registered the phrase “Best Coffee in America” for restaurant services, snack […]
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EEOC Plaintiff Must Disclose Passwords to Former Employer

A Colorado federal judge ordered that a person suing her former employer must provide all of her cell phone messages, social media passwords, and passwords to access any of her email accounts or blogs for the judge’s in camera review. The former employee, along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sued The Original Honeybaked Ham Company of […]
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FTC Addresses Facial Recognition Privacy

Facial recognition applications now link faces with other databases, allowing companies to identify anonymous individuals and obtain their personal information without the consumer ever knowing, thus raising privacy concerns. In an effort to give companies guidance and protect consumer privacy, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a pamphlet with Best Practices for Common Uses of Facial […]
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No Buts About It, North and South Settle, Again

No more buts about it.  The faceoff between North Face and South Butt is over—again.  The North Face Apparel Corp. had sued The South Butt, LLC, and several individuals for trademark infringement for offering products with the names South Butt and Butt Face.  The original case was settled via a consent decree.  The lawsuit was revived […]
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Bidder’s PowerPoint Defamed Competitor

A manufacturer of high-speed turbo blowers used by waste water treatment plants not only defamed its competitor but also violated the Lanham Act, the Seventh Circuit found. The appellate court found that the PowerPoint presentation by KTurbo, Inc. contained false accusations, the company was warned repeatedly that its accusations were false, the company ignored the […]
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Stars’ Websites Collected Children’s Information

The operator of websites for several music stars who appeal to tweens illegally collected information from children under 13 and agreed to a fine of $1 million.  The websites for Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting the names, addresses, email addresses, birth dates, […]
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Federal Monitoring Shows Dramatic Increase

Federal law enforcement monitoring of electronic communications in the United States has increased dramatically according to the most recent data obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU’s finding is based on documents produced by the Justice Department, which show the requests for both “pen register” and “trap and trace” surveillance requests.  Pen registers capture […]
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Google Not Required to ID Bloggers

Google, Inc., is not required to identify anonymous bloggers who posted their opinions regarding a real estate developer on a blog hosted by Google.  The company had been subpoenaed by the developer to disclose the names of the posters.  The trial court quashed the subpoena.  The New Jersey appellate court found that the bloggers comments […]
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Mobile Privacy Bill Would Require Disclosure Of Data Collected

Companies would be required to obtain consent from consumers before mobile device monitoring software starts collecting information under a bill introduced in Congress. Sellers of mobile telephones and providers of mobile service or broadband would need to disclose the following information to consumers prior to activating or collecting information from them under the “Mobile Device […]
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