Acai diet pill promoters lose millions in settlement with FCC over fake news stories

The Federal Trade Commission won a $4 million settlement against marketers of the Acai diet pill who made false claims about the pill’s effectiveness that included reference to fake news stories. The promoters will only pay $500,000, the value of their tangible assets. -db From the Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2012, by Matt Stevens. [...]

Federal appeals court upholds $37.6 million fine against infomercial pitchman

A federal appeals court found that a infomercial pitchman violated the terms of a 2004 Federal Trade Commission settlement over his ads, upholding a $37.6 million judgment. The court wrote that the government must protect consumers and could do so by imposing narrow restrictions on commercial speech without running afoul of the First Amendment. -db [...]

U.S. Supreme Court considers free speech limits on marketing violent video games to minors

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge Nov. 2 to a California law that limits sales of violent video games to children in a controversial First Amendment case.  In taking the case, the Court is indicating it may consider new limits to free speech as it applies to children and violence. -db Wall Street [...]

Law research center releases paper on news aggregating

The Citizen Media Law Center has released a white paper on hot news misappropriation and copyright infringement to suggest “best practices” for those aggregating the news. -db Citizen Media Law Center Press Release August 30, 2010 By Kimberley Isbell As anyone who has been following the debate regarding the “future of journalism” knows, there have [...]

Media analyst says FTC offbase in approach to saving print journalism

Robert G. Picard disputes the fact that newspapers are not profitable and argues against the Federal Trade Commission’s proposals to imposes anti-competitive practices and taxes to save the industry. -db The Media Business Commentary June 12, 2010 By Robert G. Picard Following hearings on the state of newspapers this past year, the U.S. Federal Trade [...]