Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

When starting, acquiring, or merging with a direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) e-commerce business, there are many legal issues that must be considered. One of the more important is compliance with consumer data privacy statutes. Nearly 20 States in the U.S. have now enacted consumer data privacy and protection statutes. The general concern of these statutes is to […]

E-commerce and direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) businesses should be aware of the requirements of the federal Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act enacted by Congress in 2023. The Act is called the INFORM Consumers Act. Many e-commerce and DTC businesses already comply with the Act, either because the required information is supplied […]

When considering entering into any Esports contractual agreement, one legal issue that should be carefully reviewed and negotiated concerns name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) rights. Often, the contract templates that are offered to esports athletes include “breezy” language stating that the promoter will be allowed to “use” the event photographs, video, statements, etc. However, caution […]

Trademark Class 041 is likely the trademark class to use for trademarking a gamer-tag. Class 009 is often ALSO selected as the Class with which a gamer-tag trademark is associated. Gamer-tags are, of course, similar to usernames required for creating accounts with video gaming and esports platforms. Most gamers use the same gamer-tag across platforms […]

In consumer privacy protection news, the California Governor has signed into law a statute that added “neural data” to the definition of “sensitive personal information” in California’s consumer privacy protection statute. See Barron’s media report here. The new law is an amendment to existing statutes and is known as Senate Bill 1223. What is “sensitive […]

Yes and no. In terms of “yes,” for very specific word usage, a “trademark” refers to a word, logo, design, mark, or something similar that is used with a product — a physical thing. By contrast, a “service mark” is a word, logo, design, symbol, or something similar used with a service — a non-physical […]

As recently reported — see Reuters media report here — the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Trademark Office office has canceled the trademark registrations for a set of “SUPER HERO” trademarks, at least one of which dates to the mid-1960s. According to the media reports, these trademarks are jointly owned by the […]

Almost half of the States in the U.S. have enacted some version of an online personal or consumer data privacy statute. The statutes all use a similar framework that requires data collectors and processors to provide notices, obtain consent, and comply with mandates and prohibitions. For example, all of the online data privacy statutes require […]

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — located in San Francisco — partially struck down California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (“CAADCA”). See Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.99.28 et seq. The CAADCA was passed in 2022 by the California State Assembly. The CAADCA was enacted to protect the online privacy of children — persons under the […]

Trademark creation and use are both essential for the success of modern businesses. Trademarks are logos, words, phrases, designs, marks, and other things that consumers use to identify a business as the commercial source for goods or services. Trademarks are generally registered and can be valid for as long as the trademark is being used […]