Do you want to be an Excellent Lawyer?

Here are the qualities that are important to a high-functioning attorney:

✅ Experience – has spent a significant amount of time practicing law

✅ Integrity- regard for honesty and a high standard of professional ethics

✅ Industry – desire to succeed through commitment and work hard when clients’ demands and professional progress call for it

✅ Intelligence – competence to analyze the law and facts

✅ Communication – capacity to clearly communicate ideas both verbally and in writing.

✅ Legal knowledge – proficiency in both broad and specific areas of law

✅ Motivation – willingness to take accountability for the client’s issues and to do the work that has been assigned on time

✅ Judgment – ability to decide logically and practically

✅ Efficiency – the capacity to complete high-quality work in a timely manner

✅ Involvement – participation in civic, professional, and other extracurricular engagements

 

🌟 Which traits are you striving to improve? Follow Your Ad Attorney for more tips.

Barbie has been busy at Court!

While the Barbie live-action movie was a success, numerous lawsuits have been filed in court as Mattel, Inc., the doll’s creator, has attempted to uphold its rights and safeguard her image since its release in 1959. Here are some of them:

🎀 2004: Mattel filed a suit alleging that the “Rockettes 2000”, a doll created by the Radio City Music Hall in celebration of the millennium, copied facial features from two distinct Barbie dolls. According to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Barbie’s eyes, nose, and mouth were not covered by copyright protection. Yet the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and stated: “We can surmise that in the highly competitive, billion-dollar doll industry, getting the doll’s face and expression exactly right is crucial to success.”

🎀 2003: Mattel sued for infringement as Tom Forsythe, a Utah photographer, produced pictures of naked Barbie dolls posed with kitchen appliances. But Forsythe won. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the photographer’s social commentary and parody constituted a “fair use” of Mattel’s copyright and was protected under the First Amendment.

🎀 2002: Mattel filed an injunction restraining Susanne Pitt from producing a “Dungeon Doll,” which resembled a Barbie doll that had been repainted and given a new appearance while wearing a lederhosen-style bondage dress and helmet, as well as a mask and waspie. The court determined that Pitt may have a “fair use” defense due to the fact that Pitt’s dolls were “transformative” and not merely “supplanting” the original Barbie doll and Barbie does not have a line of “S+M” dolls.

🎀 1991: Mattel claimed that the toy company Kenner and the Miss America Organization’s “Miss America” line of five dolls breached the Barbie copyright. Mattel had an order of the dolls and were confiscated by US Customs on suspected infringement. Kenner and the Miss America Organization sued Mattel, asking for a ruling that the dolls did not violate Mattel’s copyright and an injunction prohibiting Mattel from interfering with their importation of the dolls. The court found that judicial involvement was unnecessary and that Customs should handle the situation in accordance with the administrative procedure outlined in Treasury Department regulations.

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7 Steps You can Take to Create a High-performing Team without Burnout

✅ Set a “done for the day” time
📌 Transformational managers demand that employees leave the office at a decent hour
📌 A manager would say to an employee staying late “Why are you still here? We don’t stay late here unless there is an absolute emergency. We want you to be fresh tomorrow morning. Please go home.”

✅ Request a little less than the maximum effort–studies show that 85% effort is ideal
📌 Maximum effort doesn’t always translate into the best results. Studies show that 85% effort leads to better long-term results.
📌 Managers can start by asking, “What does it feel like to be at 100% intensity?” and then, “How can you keep this closer to the 85% level?” to help coach employees to reach and maintain this sweet spot.

✅ Ask “how I am adding unnecessary stress to your work?”
📌 Top performers are already self-motivated, so managing them in the same way as everyone else will just wear them out and make them a flight risk.
📌 Managers can ask their top performers “How I am adding unnecessary stress to your work?” and take the necessary steps to fix the situation

✅ Encourage 85%-correct decisions
📌 Let people know that an 85%-right decision is acceptable while making decisions as a team. Don’t insist on “100% perfect.”
📌 Asking for 85%-correct decisions relieves your top employees of unnecessary strain and keeps your team moving forward as opposed to waiting for the 100%-right decision before taking action.

✅ Be mindful when using high-pressure language
📌 High-pressure words like “ASAP,” “NEED,” or “URGENT” can put your team members under too much stress.
📌 Asking your team members, “What do you need to say no to in order to say yes to this?” can be a better alternative to expecting them to always agree to every request.

✅ End meetings 10 minutes early
📌 Research from Microsoft’s Human Factors Lab found that a brief break prevents stress from building up, but back-to-back no-break meetings make it harder for attendees to concentrate and participate.
📌 Ending meetings 10 minutes early can help keep employees out of “stressed brain” and keep them in “relaxed brain,” where they can do their best thinking.

✅ Make 85% your personal intensity level
📌 Managers must similarly set their own intensity to 85% to show their employees that it’s okay to not constantly be stressed out.
📌 Managers that embrace the 85% rule as their new way of thinking will see an improvement in the performance of their teams.

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Get better long-term results with 85% effort

Despite some company’s best efforts, a wellness app cannot change the current burnout culture. Instead, it requires managers and organizations to change their mindset and work culture.

❌ The old harmful management mindset
🔸 “Maximum effort = Maximum results”
🔸 “No pain, No gain” and “Give it 110%”
🔸 Take a look at McKinsey’s burnout study, which found that “toxic workplace behavior was the biggest predictor of burnout symptoms and intent to leave by a large margin.”
🔸 Having these harmful midsets not only hinders great performance, but it also breeds toxic behavior, which leads to burnout, which feeds toxicity, and so on.

✅ The new better management mindset
🔹The 85% rule – to reach maximum output, you need to refrain from giving maximum effort. Giving 85% effort rather than 100% effort allows you to sustain your performance for longer and keeps your mind fresher and sharper.
🔹The idea of “No pain, no gain” is illogical – Carl Lewis, a 9-time Olympic gold medalist, would explain, “In many cases, it is more important to rest than it is to drive yourself to the point of pain.”

In order to truly get the best out of our workforce, we need a new mindset backed by data. A better formula would be “optimal effort = maximum results” as opposed to “maximum effort = maximum results,” as less effort can actually result in greater achievement.

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“Review Hijacking” – Why a Supplement Company Must Pay $600k to Consumers

🚩The Bountiful Company was issued a final consent order by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for deceiving consumers on Amazon. According to the FTC, Bountiful participated in a practice called “review hijacking,” which is where a company steals or repurposes reviews from one product and applies them to another.

Bountiful had manipulated a feature on Amazon and deceived consumers by applying ratings and reviews from established products that Bountiful offered on Amazon to its new products – this made it appear that Bountiful’s new supplements had more favorable reviews and ratings than they actually did. The Amazon feature is intended for variations on the same product (size, flavor, color, etc.), but Bountiful used it to group unrelated products in an effort to boost the sales of poor-selling releases. Aside from a boost in reviews and ratings, some new Bountiful products were also unjustifiably given badges like “#1 Best Seller” and “Amazon’s Choice” on the Amazon marketplace.

❓What are the consequences of Bountiful’s deceptive conduct?

The FTC took action to hold Bountiful accountable and protect consumers. Its order requires Bountiful to:
📌Pay $600,000 to compensate harmed consumers;
📌Stop making similar misrepresentations and using deceptive review tactics; and
📌Provide periodic records to the FTC to demonstrate compliance with the order.

💡What’s the ultimate lesson here?

✅ Keep your reviews truthful and accurate; and
✅ Don’t mislead your customers about the quality of your products or services (even when deception is easy).

☎ Need guidance or have questions about truthful advertising or how to comply with marketing regulations? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Your Ad Attorney, Inc. Schedule a call with me at https://calendly.com/youradattorney. We are here to assist you in staying on the FTC’s good side.

670 Companies Warned of $50k+ Penalties for Unsubstantiated Product Claims

📋 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued penalty offense notices to 670 companies, urging them to substantiate their product claims to avoid hefty civil penalties exceeding $50,000. These notices come after similar warnings related to endorsements, testimonials, education practices, and money-making opportunities.

These penalty offense notices warn companies of specific deceptive practices they should avoid, and the takeaways regarding product claim substantiation include:
❌ DO NOT make product claims without any reliable evidence to support them.
❌ DO NOT make health or safety claims without proper scientific evidence that has been objectively evaluated by qualified individuals and accepted by the professional community.
❌ DO NOT promote a product as a cure, mitigation, or treatment for a serious disease without conducting and relying on a well-designed human clinical trial that meets specific criteria.
❌ DO NOT misrepresent the level or type of evidence backing a claim.
❌ DO NOT assert that a product claim has been scientifically or clinically proven without enough evidence to convince the relevant scientific community.

In short, companies should be able to adequately back up what they say in their advertising – and they need to gather their evidence for their claims before they are made.

Although there is some controversy over the FTC’s use of their authority in sending these notices regarding substantiation, two things are clear:
🔹the FTC isn’t playing games, and
🔹it is crucial for marketers and manufacturers to comply with regulatory guidelines to ensure their marketing is accurate, valid, and not harmful to consumers.

📌 If you need guidance or have questions about substantiating your product claims or how to comply with marketing regulations, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Your Ad Attorney, Inc. We are here to assist you in navigating these important legal considerations with ease.

#marketinglaw #advertisinglaw #legal

Noticing an uptick in suspicious communications targeting you or your business?

Here are some ways to stay vigilant and protect yourself from fraud and scams.

Be aware of these red flags in communications from potential fraudsters:
🚩Texts/Phone Calls
▪️”spoof” calls or texts appearing to be from a known company but directing you to respond to an unknown number
▪️language that is alarmist or too complimentary
▪️aggressive requests to respond
▪️notices that you will lose money if you fail to act

🚩Website
▪️invitations to click on links to “spoof” websites that appear legitimate but use fake URLs to resemble those of well-known companies and trick you into providing confidential information
▪️altered or additional login details or transaction pages

🚩Email/Letter
▪️scam emails posing as official correspondence from a company that persuade you to click on a link to address an urgent issue regarding your account
▪️the email address does not  match the actual email of a legitimate sender you have been communicating with
▪️badly written requests with poor grammar or spelling
▪️different payment details provided than previously shared

🚩General
▪️impending charge notices
▪️urgent requests
▪️requests to pay for services through a specific method such as a gift card or through a digital service
▪️unexpected requests to renew your services

What can you do?
✅Be vigilant. Regularly reviewing your invoices, account statements and transactions will help you spot and report fraud. Any illegal transactions should be immediately reported to your bank and companies that are being imitated by fraudsters.

✅Verify. If you receive an unexpected call from a stranger claiming to be from a bank or asking for payment, hang up and call your banker or the corporate office of the company that is potentially being imitated.

✅Be cautious about sharing personal information. Never share your personal passwords with anyone over text, phone call, email or otherwise. If you receive a call unexpectedly from someone asking you to divulge personal information, make sure that the phone number is legitimate before sharing.

✅Cybersecurity. Only install and download software from reputable sources.

✅Passwords. Change your password regularly.

🌟 Like and follow for more tips!

#law #businessintelligence #youradattorney

Are you aware of New York’s newly proposed price gouging rules?

Following a string of warnings to New York businesses since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York attorney general Letitia James recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish stronger barriers against price hikes during emergencies such as the pandemic. The proposed rule aims to protect consumers amidst abnormal market disruptions by imposing stricter regulations on businesses for price gouging.

New York’s current price gouging law, New York General Business Law 369-R, provides that, “[d]uring any abnormal disruption of the market,” no business in the distribution chain may charge an “unconscionably excessive price” for good or services. Proof of price gouging may include pricing representing a “gross disparity” between the price charged for the same product or service prior to and following the market disruption. The statute also provides businesses with an affirmative defense if they are able to show that a price increase preserves their profit margin or if additional costs beyond their control were imposed. However, the law offers little guidance regarding compliance, including regarding what constitutes “unconscionably excessive” pricing or a “gross disparity” in price.

Consequently, the following seven proposed rules seek to improve clarity for businesses by providing additional guidance and guardrails to rely upon:

🔸Presumptive Cases of Gross Disparity – a “gross disparity” in price exists when a product’s price increase exceeds 10% of the price at which it was sold before the market disruption.

🔸Costs Not Within the Business’s Control – a business may claim the affirmative defense that additional costs imposed on consumers are not within their control, provided that such costs are “only actually incurred costs attributable to the production, purchase, storage, distribution, taxation, labor, and sale of the specific good or service, and a directly attributable percentage of the overhead costs of the business.”

🔸New Goods or Services – the fact that a product or industry that did not exist before the market disruption is not a defense to the law, and profit margins for a new product that are higher in percentage terms than a comparable product may serve as proof of unfairly high prices

🔸Presumptive Cases of Unfair Leverage – “unconscionably excessive” pricing includes pricing obtained through “unfair leverage or unconscionable means,” including through the use of unfair bargaining power, high-pressure sales tactics, and ambiguous or hidden language in contracts

🔸Unfair Leverage – “unfair leverage” is presumed when either a seller with at least 30% market share or a large competitor (a business with over 10% market share in a market with five or fewer significant competitors) raises prices.

🔸The Statute Applies to All Parties in the Distribution Chain – the proposed rules specify that the statute applies to all parties involved in the distribution of goods and services sold in New York, including manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, distributors, and retail sellers

🔸Dynamic Pricing – for purposes of comparing pricing prior to and following a market disruption, the pre-disruption price for sellers employing dynamic pricing is the median price for the same good or service at the same time one week prior to the market disruption

Do you have any questions or concerns about the proposed changes to New York’s price gouging statute? If so, please contact Your Ad Attorney, Inc. today!

How do telemarketing laws impact your business?

📌 Overview of Applicable Laws
The Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) places several prohibitions and restrictions on calls or texts to consumers, such as whether businesses use equipment that qualifies as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS or auto-dialer).

The definition of ATDS has been at the forefront of TCPA litigation, particularly considering changing technology.

In Facebook v. Duguid (2021), the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling to decide a split on the definition of an ATDS, and, by doing that, the Court narrowed the dialing systems that qualify as an ATDS or auto-dialer under the TCPA by deciding that a device must have the capacity either to store a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator or to produce a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator.

On the other hand, many states (Florida, Oklahoma, and Washington included) have enacted mini-TCPAs in their states that include a broader definition of ATDS than the TCPA post-Duguid.

📌 Takeaway
Now businesses need to be aware of both the federal and state requirements when creating a compliant calling and texting campaign. Does your business engage in telemarketing?

💡 Need Help?
Contact Your Ad Attorney, Inc. today to discuss how we can help you comply with the TCPA and state telemarketing laws.

Intuit in Hot Water with the FTC for misleading “free” claim

📋 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently alleged that Intuit/TurboTax engaged in misleading ads for claiming that they offer “free” tax-filing services with inadequate disclaimers. The company failed to explain how people can make “free” tax filings or even clarify that the “free” claim only applies to consumers who file “simple tax returns.”

The FTC said that Intuit’s disclaimers were:

🔸Inadequate because the “free” tax-filing service is limited to “simple tax returns” or “simple U.S. returns only;”
🔸Disproportionately small when compared to the prominent text emphasizing the “free” service;
🔸Appearing for just a few seconds, in writing only, not read by voiceover, and often in color similar to the background;
🔸With eligibility requirements hidden behind a hyperlink over the words “See why it’s free,” requiring consumers to click on the hyperlink to trigger a pop-up explaining the limitations; and
🔸Unfair because their website forced consumers to spend significant time and effort creating an account and inputting their sensitive personal and financial information before learning they were ineligible for the “free” service.

Intuit has already agreed to settle claims with the attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for $141 million, requiring Intuit/TurboTax to cease its “free” advertising campaign.

📌 The TurboTax case is a reminder that all advertising must be truthful and not misleading to consumers, and, more importantly, disclosures must be presented clearly and conspicuously. Disclosures cannot cure a false claim or provide information contradicting a material claim. Businesses should also avoid designing customer flows with #darkpatterns that hide or delay disclosure of material information (like fees!) or adopting bait-and-switch messaging to lead consumers to a more expensive outcome.

☎️Contact Your Ad Attorney today. We help businesses comply with advertising laws.


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