Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

In 2023, California enacted a social media content moderation law commonly known as AB 587. The law has been codified at Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22675 et seq. and has no specific statutory name. We will refer to the law as “AB 587” herein. Shortly after enactment, the company formerly known as Twitter […]

As reported by AP News, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) will begin a rulemaking process that is intended to reclassify cannabis — marijuana — as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Cannabis is currently scheduled as a Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are deemed the most dangerous drugs and, presumably, […]

On May 9, 2024, Maryland passed its version of a comprehensive consumer data privacy statute called the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (“MODPA”). Like all similar statutes, the purpose of the MODPA is to protect consumer data that is collected from online businesses and websites used for various purposes, such as completing sales transactions and […]

On May 9, 2024, Maryland passed a comprehensive consumer data privacy statute called the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (“MODPA”). The nominal effective date for MODPA is October 1, 2025. However, section 14-6414, Sec. 2 states that MODPA will not “have any effect on or application to any personal data processing activities before April 1, […]

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has taken some steps recently to tackle the problem of companies that hijack their own customer product reviews when selling products on online platforms like Amazon. Review hijacking is one of many deceptive methods of manipulating consumer reviews to increase the chances of selling a new product. Essentially, review hijacking […]

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) was amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”). Both statutes deal with the same issue: protecting the online data privacy of consumers in California. In practice, there is no difference between the two statutes since, as noted, the CPRA is the statute that amended […]

To begin, let’s distinguish “kill fees” in social media influencer contracts and “kill fees” in writing/publishing contracts. “Kill fees” in publishing relate to fees paid by publishers to writers/content creators if the content is not published through no fault of the writer/creator. The “kill fee” is often 25% of the fee that would have been […]

When attempting to register a Trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), there are many legal requirements that must be satisfied for the registration to be successful. Some are very broad, and some are very narrow. As examples of broad requirements, the proposed trademark must actually function as a trademark, must be unique […]

On May 9, 2024, Maryland became the latest U.S. State to enact a comprehensive consumer data privacy statute called the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (“MODPA”). Technically, MODPA goes into effect on October 1, 2025. However, the true effective date of the statute is April 1, 2026. From a review of MODPA and comparison to […]

“Unavoidable” disclosure is a confusing concept. On the one hand, a social media influencer might think: “Well, yes, disclosures are unavoidable since I am required to make disclosures.” However, the concept of “unavoidable” disclosure is not about providing disclosures. Rather, “unavoidable” disclosures are evaluated from the viewpoint of the person consuming the content of a […]