Copyright, Social Media, and Technology

Intellectual Property Solutions for Businesses

We strategize with clients to create brand protection programs and offer counsel to protect trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Whether you are an emerging or existing business, identifying and developing a solution to protect your most valuable brand assets is essential to maintaining your position in the marketplace.

Copyright and Social Media

Our attorneys counsel clients in social media and branding while helping them mitigate the risk that comes with advertising online. Social media is an ever-expanding marketing and branding platform for businesses of all types. We encourage our clients to participate in the use of social media whenever and wherever appropriate to promote their brands and define their public image in the marketplace. However, with expanded use comes expanded scrutiny and regulation.

It is vital to make sure your business use complies with applicable state law, assorted regulatory rules, and FTC guidelines for advertising, as well as data protection and privacy laws. In addition to the myriad of regulations that apply to social media and advertising online, our team of attorneys can also assist you with copyright registration, DMCA Notice and Take Down, as well as fair use analysis and copyright infringement issues.

Promotions, Contests, and Sweepstakes

Many businesses utilize prize promotion in their marketing efforts. We can assist you in developing and executing your prize promotion, from drafting the rules to complying with regulatory requirements to executing winner affidavits and releases.

Prize promotions fall into two categories: games of chance and contests of skill.

Chance promotions can take various forms, such as sweepstakes, where a random drawing determines winners, and “instant win” promotions, where winning game pieces are randomly seeded in the overall run of pieces. Chance promotions are subject to a host of state regulatory requirements, including registration, disclosure (including odds of winning), and in some states, escrow requirements. If combined with any form of payment or other consideration (even purchase requirements), chance promotions can become illegal lotteries, which may result in state enforcement action and/or civil damages. Work with our team to develop your prize promotion to avoid unintended legal consequences.