Insights

As we’ve previously reported, FTC practitioners and businesses alike have been anxiously awaiting details about the rule that will prohibit purportedly deceptive practices in connection with reviews and testimonials. Our readers likely recall the FTC’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking from November 2022, the notice of proposed rulemaking from June 2023, and the informal hearing on the proposed rule which occurred in February 2024. The wait is finally over: just yesterday, August 14, 2024, the agency announced the “Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials” (the “Rule”). The final Rule, which the Commissioners unanimously approved, is a formal step to address alleged ongoing non-compliance with Section 5 of the FTC Act and the agency’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (the “Endorsement Guides”), particularly in the consumer review space.

Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group., represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), have sued online music AI generators, Suno AI (“Suno”) and Udio AI (“Udio”), for alleged copyright infringement, accusing them of replicating their artists’ music using AI technology. The Suno complaint is filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the Udio complaint is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The lawsuits also target Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company. The RIAA is asking for damages amounting to up to $150,000 per infringing song, which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. 

In its first en banc decision in six years, the Federal Circuit in LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, No. 2021-2348 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2024) overruled the prevailing obviousness test for design patents; abandoning the decades-old standard known as the Rosen-Durling test, and embracing a less rigid approach to assessing obviousness for design patents.  As explained below, the decision creates uncertainty as to how the obviousness of design patents should be assessed in the future.  

Crowell attorneys prepared Lexology’s Advertising and Marketing USA reference guide enabling side-by-side comparison of a variety of countries’ advertising and marketing standards, including the legal and regulatory framework; private enforcement (litigation and administrative procedures); misleading advertising; prohibited and controlled advertising; social media advertising; and recent trends.