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What Me Worry? Don’t Get Mad, Get Informed!

On Friday, October 23, 2009, from 12 – 1 p.m. (Eastern U.S. Time), Joseph I. (“Joe”) Rosenbaum, Partner at Rimon and General Counsel of the IAB, assisted by Adam Snukal, Senior Associate at Rimon, will be presenting an educational webinar, sponsored by the Long Tail Alliance Program of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), entitled: What Me Worry? Legal Best Practices for Small Publishers.

The webinar will provide an overview of the legal issues and suggested best practices in the following areas:

Trademarks: Buying someone else’s key words? Displaying advertising? Sponsoring or hosting contests, sweepstakes, co-branded promotions? Using social media or virtual worlds? Trademarks are everywhere. When should you worry?

Compliance: What’s new at the FTC and FCC? Industry groups want self-regulation. Privacy and consumer advocacy groups want more regulation. Congress is poised to “do something.” What you need to know about marketing to children, adults, compliance with sectoral advertising regulations, from finance and health care to product safety.

Privacy: Behavioral targeting has everyone up in arms. What should a small publisher do if she feels her privacy policy has been violated?

Social Media: Blogs, splogs and vlogs. Virtual worlds, avatars and pseudonyms. Profiles and networks, friends and fans. Testimonials and endorsements – from celebrities to consumers, paid and unpaid. Buzz, viral and word of mouth. Defamation, libel, copyright and personalized URLs. Sound confusing? It is. But ignorance won’t insulate you from liability. Don’t want to become a regulatory target? What you should know.

Q&A: IAB and Rimon to answer questions from participants.

The webinar is open to IAB members, to Rimon clients, and to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. Register now. You can get more information and register right here for What Me Worry? Legal Best Practices for Small Publishers.

About the Long Tail Alliance Program

The IAB formed the Long Tail Alliance program in summer 2008 to encourage involvement with individuals and small businesses who, powered by interactive advertising, have turned their interests and passions into a media revolution. The Alliance is the beginning of something the IAB envisions as a much larger portrait of American entrepreneurs who are pursuing and achieving the American dream, even as they row hard against strong economic currents. The IAB hopes to expand its Long Tail Membership in order to encourage advocacy, training, and a coming-together of smaller publishers across America as their businesses grow, all while the dynamic of technology and media continues to change.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86 percent of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City, with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C.

About Rimon

Rimon is a global, full service law firm with nearly 1600 lawyers in 23 offices around the world. Joseph I. (“Joe”) Rosenbaum, a partner in the New York office, chairs the firm’s global Advertising Technology & Media law practice; is the editor and publisher of Legal Bytes; is Corporate Secretary & General Counsel to the IAB; and is an ex-officio member of the IAB Board. Adam Snukal is a Senior Associate who works with Joe in the Advertising Technology & Media law group, and is editor of Adlaw by Request, the gold standard in advertising legal publications in the industry.

Join us for this exciting and timely IAB Long Tail Alliance webinar presented by Rimon. We look forward to your participation.

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Are You Behaving Badly? Redux

If you missed our teleseminar “Global Regulation of Behavioral Marketing in an Age of Privacy & Data Protection,” presented by Rimon partners Douglas J. Wood and Joseph I. Rosenbaum from New York and Gregor Pryor from London, I am pleased to make a copy of the “Are You Behaving Badly” presentation available to our Legal Bytes’ readers. The industry gave us “New Hope.” Privacy and consumer advocacy groups responded, and the “Empire Strikes Back.” Just recently, Congress commended the self-regulatory efforts of the industry, but noted a perceived need for additional legislation. “The Phantom Menace” persists.

The intergalactic battles continue, battle lines remain drawn, tensions remain high and the balance unclear – perhaps because changing technology, social media norms and advertising models keep rewriting the rules of engagement. If you listened in, thank you. If you missed it, here is the presentation. In either case, don’t hesitate to contact any of us with questions.

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Rimon DC Office Hosting Next FCBA Privacy/Data Security & Legislative Committees Meeting

Rimon will host the next brown bag lunch meeting of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s joint Privacy/Data Security and Legislative Committees. The meeting will be held on October 13, 2009 between 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. at Rimon’s Washington, D.C. offices (1301 K Street, NW, Suite 1100 East Tower). The Committees will discuss the legislative priorities for the 111th Congress with special emphasis on behavioral marketing and data security legislation. The following speakers are confirmed to-date: Amy Levine, Legislative Counsel to Congressman Rich Boucher; and Paul Cancienne, Legislative Aide to Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack. We also have invited staff from the U.S. Senate. Please RSVP to Desiree Logan at dlogan@rimonlaw.com to attend.

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Are You Behaving Badly? Global Regulation of Behavioral Marketing

On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, from 12 noon – 1 p.m. (U.S. EDT), Rimon will be hosting a teleseminar as part of its “Doing Business Globally” series. Entitled Global Regulation of Behavioral Marketing, this seminar will be presented by Rimon partners Douglas J. Wood and Joseph I. Rosenbaum from New York, and Gregor Pryor from London. The seminar will explore the legal implications to advertisers, marketing professionals and brands associated with the labyrinth of global regulation increasingly applicable, or newly enacted, in connection with the targeting of consumers — on and off the web — through behavioral marketing.

Privacy and consumer groups object to such sophisticated techniques, fearful it further erodes what little privacy protection remains. Regulators are concerned such practices may violate privacy and data protection laws, or worse, are simply not covered by existing law and regulation. Marketers respond that such advances allow for a far more efficient, consumer-friendly marketplace, and that self-regulation has been a successful model in the advertising industry for more than 30 years. In this interconnected, networked age of social networking and global communication, understanding the implications and the legal and regulatory landscape is critical for every advertising professional and marketer, and the brands they represent. The camps remain far apart. Advertising industry associations call for self-regulation, recently releasing a report entitled Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. Only about two months later, as previously reported in Legal Bytes, a coalition of 10 consumer advocacy and privacy groups released a fresh call for new regulation in a report referred to as a Legislative Primer, entitled Online Behavioral Tracking and Targeting Concerns and Solutions. The dividing lines remain drawn, tensions remain high, and the balance unclear – perhaps because the technology environment keeps rewriting the rules of engagement. Want to know more? Don’t miss this informative presentation.

Join us for this exciting and timely Rimon Teleseminar. You can view the Invitation to obtain more information, or go right to the Registration page. We look forward to your participation.

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ANA Announces 5th Annual Advertising Law Conference in D.C.

Save the Date. Association of National Advertisers 5th Annual Advertising Law Conference is scheduled for March 17-18, 2010, to be held at the Park Hyatt in Washington, D.C., and coincides with the 100th Anniversary of the ANA. Specifics of the agenda and confirmed speakers are yet to be announced, but rest assured that the ANA will continue to ramp up the cutting-edge legal curriculum and superb faculty you’ve come to expect. CLE credit, of course, will be offered.

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Whatz Gnu? Rimon Teleseminar: Facebook Personalized URLs: Titanic Brand Opportunity or Tip of an Iceberg?

Last week, Facebook announced the availability of a personalized Facebook URLs. This latest offering from Facebook raises serious issues—issues that are typically encountered when technology collides with traditional intellectual property laws intended to protect trademarks and brand names. Much like the confusion and abuse that proliferated when cybersquatting became rampant over the ownership and administration of domain names, we now have social networks and service providers allowing users to generate content and offering customized URLs within their domains in a digital and borderless world. Significantly, the promotional momentum created by Facebook’s offer has caused every astute brand and trademark owner to ponder whether they should be in a rush to register their personalized URL on Facebook, or let it ride and deal with potential infringements when—and if—they occur! You need practical guidance and insightful approaches to these problems.

The Media & Entertainment Industry Team and the Advertising Technology & Media Law Group at Rimon have put together an informative one-hour teleseminar entitled “Facebook Personalized URLs: Titanic Brand Opportunity or Tip of an Iceberg?” airing on Tuesday, June 23 at 12 p.m. EDT with partners Doug Wood and Joe Rosenbaum, to help you understand the issues, formulate an approach and make informed decisions and you are invited to participate. Participation is free, although long-distance telephone charges apply outside of the United States, the UK, France, and Germany, where 800 numbers are used. Don’t miss this call!

Call-in ports are limited, so please click here to register or contact Anna Kazachkov at akazachkov@rimonlaw.com no later than Monday, June 22, to receive a dial-in number and a passcode. If you require additional information, you can contact Anna by telephone directly at +1.212.702.1399.