Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

Protecting the privacy of children’s online personal data is complicated and challenging. The problems are made more difficult by the fact that, seemingly, children are happy to skirt and evade the various efforts made by online platforms to protect their privacy and by the fact that data collection businesses are happy if those efforts succeed. […]

About twenty States around the country have enacted some version of a consumer data privacy or protection statute. Six such statutes were enacted in 2024, with another six slated for legislative action going into the next year. When a new consumer data protection statute is passed for consumers and businesses, among the first questions asked […]

Name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) rights have been a “hot” topic lately. However, the focus seems to be on sports celebrities, particularly college and high school sports athletes. However, NIL and publicity rights have always applied to a much broader range of celebrities and personalities. For example, as reported here, musician and rapper Clifford “T.I.” […]

There are several ongoing legal controversies relating to AI computer software models — such as Chatbot — and whether the training and output of such models violate copyright laws and data privacy laws and endanger personal and social freedoms. We wrote recently about the pending case of Andersen v. Stability AI, Ltd. (N.Dist. Cal.) involving […]

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 […]