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From creating compliant campaigns to challenging competitor claims, you need the right team. Our global team of advertising lawyers leverage their subject matter expertise across the spectrum of advertising and marketing issues to provide pragmatic, commercially-focused insight – whatever your advertising need.
We work closely with advertisers, agencies, media, and regulators, helping companies balance legal compliance with their business objectives. We review packaging, labeling, advertising, and product launches before they go live, evaluating potential risks. And we appear regularly before courts and administrative bodies in contentious disputes, litigating the merits of advertising-related claims.
Our advertising lawyers practice at the intersection of regulation and disputes, advising companies operating in heavily-regulated, fast-moving industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, finance, retail, gaming, and media on the most cutting-edge legal issues.
The areas we focus on
Social Media Marketing
Promotions, Sweepstakes, and Sponsorships
Data, Privacy and Cybersecurity
Consumer Class Actions
False Advertising and Unfair Competition
Product Liability
Media and Entertainment
E-Sports and Gaming
Green Advertising
Labeling
Advertising and Copy Clearance
We advise clients around the globe on all aspects of product promotion, from review of packaging or product claims to analysis of what constitutes permissible discussion of investigational devices to the scope of allowable promotion of cleared, approved, and CE-marked devices. We help clients operating across a wide range of jurisdictions craft promotional strategies that benefit their business while complying with applicable regulations.
Representative experience
Advised multiple digital marketing and advertising agencies and publishers on compliance with GDPR, direct marketing, and cookie laws.
Social Media Marketing
We help clients manage compliance concerns related to online advertising and analytics, content regulation, cloud computing, AI, mobile applications, social media, e-commerce, and data science. We advise software developers and technology companies on media and advertising laws to better analyze, deliver, and measure digital advertising efforts. And we also advise on the ever-expanding types of adtech platforms available to companies to promote their products, including video-streaming sites, rideshare tablets, and social media influencers, and the rules and regulations associated with each.
Promotions, Sweepstakes and Sponsorships
We seamlessly navigate the landscape of campaigns and promotions, leveraging the expertise of our competition and intellectual property practice groups to ensure a holistic approach to elevate your brand. From crafting meticulous rules to developing compelling advertising copy and disclosures across various media, our firm is your strategic partner in bringing your contests and promotions to life.
Privacy and Cybersecurity
Never before have consumer protection and privacy ranked as high on your priority list. Their significance in the private and public spheres is only growing. Navigating the use of consumer data for marketing purposes, including online advertising and analytics, geolocation data, biometrics, personalization, data sharing, social media, e-commerce, and data science, can be overwhelming. We were advising on the critical e-privacy issues affecting the adtech ecosystem even before the requirement for cookie consent existed. Our team was instrumental in the adoption of early consent mechanisms and has since been deeply involved in the provision of advice to all types of players involved in adtech, from publishers and advertisers to technology providers.
Across the EU, we advise on advertising regulatory frameworks, such as the ecommerce Directive, and privacy legislation such as the EU GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. We also advise on their interplay with new and emerging regulations, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), which often overlap and interact, impacting the compliance function requirements of data driven companies.
Representative experience
Advising a large portfolio of media companies involved in publications, live entertainment, education technology, digital ads, and sports and athletics events on U.S. and global privacy and data protection matters, including advertising practices under federal and state child/student privacy laws, general privacy laws, and consumer protection laws.
Addressing privacy and security risks associated with the global launch of Peloton’s entry into the wellness industry, including through partnerships with health plans and partners and assisted Peloton manage data protection issues in the delivery of content and products to organizations operating in markets around the world.
Advising multiple consumer-facing software and technology companies on CCPA compliance, including on the impact of the CCPA on the use of advertising technology and analytics providers and the required scope of notice and opt-out regarding those data-sharing relationships.
Advising multiple digital marketing and advertising agencies and publishers on compliance with applicable privacy, direct marketing, and cookie laws.
Consumer Class Action
Our elite Class Action team integrates peerless class action experience with deep regulatory and industry knowledge of frequently targeted sectors. Our track record speaks for itself. We secure the most advantageous forums in proceedings before the U.S. Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, combat adverse publicity, achieve early dismissals, defeat class certification, and, on the rare occasion when class claims survive other challenges, defeat class claims at trial.
Representative experience
Advising a global company on failure to advise of harmful ingredients in national and statewide class actions.
Numerous representations of companies receiving putative class action demands in the food or life sciences space, resulting in no lawsuit or nuisance value settlements.
Successfully achieved dismissal on standing grounds in putative consumer class action against a men's clothing retailer alleging, among other things, that the retailer had engaged in unfair business practices by falsely promising to safeguard consumer personal information.
False Advertising and Unfair Competition
When competitors make false, misleading or unsubstantiated advertising claims or accuse you of the same, we leverage our extensive false advertising experience to vigorously represent your interests. We work across all sectors, including life sciences (pharma products and medical devices), food and beverage, consumer goods, cosmetics, and financial services, combining our industry know-how with our deep legal expertise. We coordinate with consumer survey and study experts to design and present the consumer surveys which are often at the heart of false advertising cases.
Representative experience
Advising a leading food manufacturer with regard to preliminary injunction proceedings on misleading advertising and unauthorized nutrition claims.
Defended the makers of a wide variety of food products against putative class actions alleging false advertising, unfair competition, and other state law claims.
Obtained favorable jury verdict and Consent Order in a Lanham Act false advertising case about urine drug testing services after three-week trial.
Product Liability
Intense scrutiny on promotional endeavors and regulatory shifts across markets can pose challenges in maintaining compliance standards. Our team of global product liability and class action specialists stands ready to assist in navigating the complex landscape of advertising-related challenges tied to product liability, regardless of where your products are marketed.
Media and Entertainment
From ensuring compliance with content creation regulations to advising on product placement in film and television or developing campaigns for streaming services and social media, our media and entertainment advertising team is committed to delivering tailored legal solutions to meet your needs.
E-Sports and Gaming
The gaming market is an area of continuous development and is subject to different regulation approaches all over the world. As legislative institutions try to catch up with technological improvement or show a newly awakened concern for addiction problems and the protection of the youth, labeling and marketing concerns are increasingly implicated. All this creates new market opportunities, as well as challenges. We keep you in the game.
Green Advertising
As sustainability continues to increase in priority, so too have advertising and marketing claims about sustainability become subject to increased regulatory scrutiny. Ever-evolving regulatory frameworks may require disclosure of the standards and control systems applied, as well as underlying methods and assumptions. The ISO norm and both the EU and ICC Guidelines state that claims about general environmental benefits of a product or service such as “sustainable”, “environment-friendly” or “ecological” must not be made without qualification. Our leading green marketing practice helps you showcase the sustainable benefits of your offerings without running afoul of the web of applicable requirements.
Labeling
In the intricate landscape of regulatory compliance concerning labeling, both in the food and beverage sector and the over-the-counter (OTC) drug market, a comprehensive strategy is essential. Our seasoned lawyers specialize in crafting precise labeling and marketing claims and adeptly navigating the complex regulatory frameworks. With decades of experience, we provide unparalleled insight and guidance, ensuring your products meet compliance standards while minimizing legal risks.
Keeping your finger on the pulse of regulatory changes to labeling and promotion of your food or beverage product can often be tricky. Having a solid strategy is essential in order to avoid a Warning Letter or other enforcement action — or a class action claim. Our lawyers track all of the latest changes to food labeling rules, including the recent modifications to the nutrition facts panels and serving sizes, new sesame allergen disclosure requirements, and the bioengineered food disclosure requirements. We help clients avoid litigation over their labeling claims when companies are developing claims. And, in the event of a threatened or filed lawsuit, we can vigorously defend the claims to achieve a favorable resolution.
Representative experience
Advising multiple clients on labeling and advertising claims for their products and ways to mitigate risks with claims such as “natural.”
Advising national food advertising campaigns for major restaurant chains on a range of issues, including comparative claims, product quality claims, and necessary substantiation, and counsel on compliance with mandatory federal calorie menu labeling rules.
There are myriad issues to consider when developing, manufacturing, and marketing over the counter (OTC) drugs pursuant to the OTC Drug Review. When marketing your OTC drug, significant attention must be paid to compliance issues, including your product’s labeling and marketing claims. Our broad experience with drug companies has resulted in a sophisticated understanding of the legal and competitive landscape they face. When marketing OTC drugs, you are faced with both opportunities and regulatory challenges — ones that our pharmaceutical and biotechnology lawyers have decades of experience handling, with some of them having worked at FDA.
Representative experience
Providing an assessment of FDA regulatory issues and corresponding regulatory risks for customized product line of cosmetic and OTC drug products, including review of applicable manufacturing, labeling, and advertising/promotion requirements.
Advising a U.S.-based cosmetics company on compositional, labeling and advertising regulatory issues in relation to the launch of a new cosmetics range in the UK, including reviewing on-pack artwork and marketing materials, advising on notification requirements, and coordinating an in-depth review of ingredient specifications.
