The Fine Print

Social media disclosures may cause heart palpitations for advertisers and copywriters, but the Federal Trade Commission isn’t backing down.

In the wake of the recent ransomware attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, news reports have emerged that at least three more medical centers and a large health care system have been the victims of these attacks.

Costco Wholesale Corporation recently moved to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging that the discount retailer printed more than the last five digits of a customer’s credit card number on her receipt, in violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.

Following a settlement, ASUSTeK must maintain a comprehensive security program and endure 20 years of independent audits. The onus is on technology companies to ensure reasonable security measures and practices.

In a recent opinion, the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit against the developer of the highly-anticipated videogame Grand Theft Auto V.

Amazon.com, Inc. recently moved for partial summary judgment in lawsuit brought by the FTC alleging the company unfairly billed users for “in-app purchases.”

Cybersecurity may have rocketed to the top of management’s priority list in the wake of the recent cyberattack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) that left the hospital unable to access some of its computer systems for ten days.

More details are still to come regarding the potential replacement to the invalidated Safe Harbor data transfer mechanism, the EU-US Privacy Shield.

This morning, the European Commission and US Department of Commerce agreed on a Safe Harbor replacement deal, rebranded as the EU-US Privacy Shield.

As 2016 gets underway, companies should be mindful that regulators are paying close attention to automatic recurring debit transactions.

The Federal and Trade Commission recently released a report outlining the benefits and risks involved in using big data.

Macy’s, Inc. and subsidiary Bloomingdale’s, Inc. were recently served with a class action complaint alleging that the retail chains misled consumers with a “phantom pricing scheme” that inflated the savings available on items marked for sale.

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued its long-anticipated guidance on native advertising.

The Federal Trade Commission amended its Telemarketing Sales Rule at the end of 2015 to ban certain forms of abusive payment methods.

The EU Commission, Parliament, and Council of Ministers recently reached an agreement on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that Lumos Labs had agreed to settle false and deceptive advertising claims related to the company’s promotion of its “Lumosity” cognitive training programs (commonly referred to as “brain training”).

The Federal Trade Commission has a reached a settlement agreement with several major retailers, including Nordstrom, Bed Bath & Beyond, and JCPenney, over claims that they improperly labeled and advertised rayon products as being made of bamboo.

A federal judge in the Northern District of California recently dismissed a complaint in which video game producers claimed that characters from their games had been misappropriated by competing developers, in violation of copyright law.

A judge in New Jersey federal district court recently dismissed a lawsuit brought against The Cartoon Network by a renowned video gamer.

The Supreme Court ruled interactive computer service providers like Yelp cannot be held legally responsible for info created and developed by third parties.

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), an advertising industry trade group for third-party advertisers, recently released the 2015 update to its Mobile Application Code.

The FTC may start to scrutinize marketers that engage in cross-device tracking. Advertisers engaged in cross-device tracking should review their online disclosures to ensure that the tracking is adequately described.

Multinational businesses and EU member states are currently making ad hoc decisions to regulate data transfer to the US. To address the chaos, several EU data protection authorities have issued new guidance.

A federal judge for the Southern District of California recently held in Branca v. Nordstrom, Inc. that a class action could proceed with claims that Nordstrom made deceptive savings claims at a Nordstrom Rack store.

Banks are a key target for hackers, and finance hub New York aims to set first state regulations in this space. While the cyber regulatory landscape continues to shift, companies should constantly analyze and update security measures as compliance does not guarantee security.