In a rare course correction, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reopened and vacated its 2024 consent order against Rytr LLC, a generative AI-powered company. The unusual move reflects a significant strategic reset of how federal regulators will approach AI technology, especially when alleged harms are hypothetical rather than concrete.
In 2024, the FTC filed…
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 683, which makes a significant addition to Civil Code § 3344, California’s Right of Publicity statute. With the amendment, § 3344 now expressly authorizes injunctive relief, which strengthens individuals’ ability to protect their name, image, voice, and likeness from unauthorized use.
Previously, under the…
Chris Mufarrige, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spoke last week at the National Advertising Division’s Annual Conference in Washington, providing further insight into how the FTC is thinking about key issues.
Mufarrige focused his remarks on privacy and AI. He said he views the basic principles for all consumer protection…
This year’s National Advertising Division’s (NAD) Annual Conference demonstrated that the self-regulatory process remains an active venue for companies interested in challenging competitor advertising claims. Attorneys from Venable’s Advertising and Marketing Group represent both advertisers and challengers at all levels of the NAD process, and this year has been particularly busy with NAD challenges. Read…
FTC Commissioner Mark Meador spoke at the National Advertising Division’s Annual Conference this week in Washington and provided some insight into his views on advertising and consumer protection.
Meador began by noting that he was an antitrust lawyer prior to becoming a commissioner, with limited exposure to consumer protection issues. He noted that many antitrust…
In the past few months, the administration, the Copyright Office, and the courts have weighed in on several material issues at the cross section of copyright law and AI. The White House’s recent announcement of its AI Action Plan offers an opportunity to examine the interesting alignment and discord on key issues relating to fair…
In the second landmark decision this week relating to whether use of copyrighted content for training generative AI qualifies as a fair use, Judge Chhabria, in the federal court for the Northern District of California, ordered summary judgment in favor of Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta), finding that Meta’s copying of a group of 13 bestselling…
On June 23, 2025, Judge Alsup in the Northern District of California issued an order in Bartz et al. v. Anthropic PBC, granting in part and denying in part Defendant Anthropic’s motion for summary judgment on the sole issue of whether its use of Plaintiffs’ books as training data for Anthropic’s large language models…
On June 23, 2025, Judge Alsup in the Northern District of California issued an order in Bartz et al. v. Anthropic PBC, granting in part and denying in part Defendant Anthropic’s motion for summary judgment on the sole issue of whether its use of Plaintiffs’ books as training data for Anthropic’s large language models…
On May 15, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chairman Andrew Ferguson testified before the House Appropriations Committee in support of the FTC’s budget request. His testimony provides insight into the agency’s downsizing and its strategic enforcement priorities moving forward.
Ferguson reported that the FTC is implementing a 10% reduction in its workforce, bringing its headcount to…
