Showing posts with label Sweepstakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sweepstakes. Show all posts

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Quid Pro Quo Bad

Don't be like Ironman! Don't get fined for falling foul of America's "sweepstakes" laws.

Call it a "contest", but if one is not careful, the "contest" might be a lottery or sweepstakes, and it might be illegal if one does not know what one is doing... and many authors don't. They are simply keen to promote their books and their brand, attract massive followings on social media sites, and make a prestigious list.

Whether the quid pro chance-at-a-quo (or price of entry into a contest) is signing up for a newsletter, or giving a "like" on a site, becoming a "follower", quoting a quote, posting a review, or paying a fee, the "quid" is a thing of value, at least to the author.

The "quo" is the chance to win something, which might be money, a gift card, a token, an ebook, a signed paperback or hardback, a necklace, a bundle of books, even an ebook reader.

The fact is, for the contest to be legal, one must offer a free, alternative way to enter, such as mailing in one's name and contact information on a postcard. 

There are other important steps that a contest organizer must take, and they are clearly explained by Barry M. Benjamin of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Lexology link:
 
Original link

 

All the best,


Saturday, November 14, 2020

Sudden Death

If you do a DuckDuckGo search, you will have a hard time finding a definition of "sudden death" that involves bad luck and sportsmanship... or lack thereof. You will need to include a term such as "playoff" in your query.

Today, I am writing about the last gasp of the CASE Act, which has been apparently successfully smothered to death by being sat on by Oregon senator Ron Wyden and needs emergency resuscitation; the Legacy Kit from the SFWA; the focus at Authors Guild on the Death of the Author (owing to rampant overreach by internet giants), and the hidden perils of promoting ones book or other product through illegal contests involving luck or minimal "skill".

You see, it is all copyright-related, but grim, nonetheless.

If you follow this blog and do not support the SFWA, perhaps you should make joining a New Year's Resolution. It is a very useful professional association, and the dues are tax deductible.  They have just published a Legacy Kit, which is a wonderful, 28-page resource for authors interested in being prepared for their own sudden death and authorial immortality.

The Authors Guild is hosting a webinar on November 17th, called "The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling To Survive In The Age Of Billionaires And Big Tech".

The blurb:

"In the age of Big Tech and the gig economy, how can writers and artists survive? It’s never been easier to publish a book or make your art available to the public, but at the same time, the pay has never been lower."

Of course, the pay will never improve as long as writers have rights without meaningful recourse to the courts and the ability enforce their rights.  Which is why the Copyright Alliance is encouraging one final push by all creators and artists to implore their senators to pass the CASE Act, SW.1273.

Their blurb:

“Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019” (the CASE Act) — a bill that would create a “small claims court” within the U.S. Copyright Office to handle copyright infringement claims from individual creators and small businesses that cannot afford to defend themselves in federal court."

Their link:

Desperate to survive financially, many authors use legally questionable methods to promote their books, including illegal sweepstakes and contests that lack the fig leaf of legality. When the "skill" involved in a "contest of skill" amounts to little more than figuring out 2+2, it is little more than a game of chance. Depending where a contestant lives, a "consideration" (price of entry) might only be a "like" or a "follow" or a review on social media, but those things are "of value" to the author and therefore, to stay on the straight and narrow, the author must allow would-be winners of the prize, whatever it is, to enter in an alternative manner without providing the review or like or follow.

There is a lot more to it.  Legal bloggers Kasey Boucher and Matthew D. Stein, for the law firm Pierce Atwood LLP explain their top Ten Common Mistakes When Conducting Sweepstakes Or Contest Promotions On Social Media.

Lexology link:
 
Original link:

If you don't believe that you've been doing it all wrong these past many years, and would like a second legal opinion, or are especially concerned about Facebook, legal blogger David O. Klein of Klein Moynihan Turco LLP has just the ticket for you....metaphorically speaking with Planning On Running A Facebook Sweepstakes? Here's What You Need To Know.

Original link:
 
All the best,
Rowena Cherry   

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Perilous Promotions

Preamble: please be aware that Blogger places various types of cookies on any device that accesses Blogger blogs. By visiting this blog, you accept this fact of internet life.

Authors and aspiring authors are not necessarily marketing or legal experts. There's a lot to learn. For instance, swap a good review of a friendly colleague's book with a good review from your colleague for your own book and you might see reviews deleted by Amazon. Even the suspicion that you might have gamed the unsolicited review system might result in backlash.

Trusting a beginner to Tweet for you might also backfire if they damn your work or product or service with exceptionally faint praise.

Experienced legal blogger Jeff Greenbaum, writing for the law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz PC analyses the disastrous (well, not really dis-aster because misaligned stars had nothing to do with the self-inflicted damage provoked by some ill-advised Tweets) social media honesty about flying with KLM India.

Lexology link:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c1cd68eb-7ac8-45ec-9b94-f96ecf19fa06

Original article link:
https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102fo6e/klm-and-its-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day-on-social-media

Jeff Greenbaum's social media advice should be well-taken. Authors could learn from his top 5 tips.

What else *not* to do.

There's the matter of bribery, and illegal sweepstakes and "contests" to persuade people to provide something of value to the person running the contest.  An illegal sweepstakes might be designed to induce "Likes" on a friendship-related social network, or reviews on a book-selling site, or a surge of book purchases during a specific timeframe.

There's a lot to know, and an exponential amount of legal paperwork if the prize value is in excess of $600.
The more a would-be contest organizer knows, the better the chances of staying out of trouble.

Legal blogger Philip K. Rebentisch ACP, blogging for Manhattan Advertising & Media Law Inc. offers some tried and true advice about the difference between a sweepstakes and a contest..

Lexology link:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b65aa2cc-2485-4de4-be25-501ca0d75fd3

Original link:
https://admedialaw.com/sweepstakes-and-contests-not-knowing-the-difference-may-cost-you/
On the same topic, but geared towards healthcare organizations (but one can easily extrapolate), bloggers Randi Seigel and Po Yi for Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP define raffles, games of chance and games of skill and share a very good checklist (or to do list) for organizations that wish to increase outreach, brand awareness and/or raise funds.

Lexology link:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9e2030a9-9ed3-45ab-b0b4-e9e9cf887bd4

Original link:
https://www.manatt.com/Insights/Newsletters/Health-Update/Sweepstakes-and-Contests-What-Healthcare

There's also a webinar mentioned in the latter blogs, for those who have the time.

All the best,
Rowena Cherry

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Moral Rights Deadline, Keeping Your Contest Legal.


If you feel that, as an alien romance author (or any other type of author), your moral rights ought to be increased or more vigorously protected by the US Government, you have until one minute before midnight Eastern Time on March 30th, 2017 to submit your brief (or lengthy) remarks.

Explanation:
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/moralrights/

Instructions:
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/moralrights/comment-submission/

Moral rights are non-economic rights that are personal to an author, such as the right of attribution (giving you credit for being the author of your work), and the right not to have your work distorted in a way that harms your honor or integrity.

LaVar Oldham, of the law offices of Workman Nydegger has written a helpful article on Moral Rights in the USA, and why authors might wish to provide comments. Other countries provide greater protection for authors' moral rights than does the USA, partly because the American "First Amendment".
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7fec26a9-3207-44cd-bc73-84774f29e9b8&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-03-17&utm_term=

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP have a helpful article about staying on the sweet side of the law while running a contest to promote one's work.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5801a2a8-d61d-4c3d-bdda-f0b8262c88cc&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-03-09&utm_term=

This is the first of a series. In this part, they define what makes a "contest" look like an illegal lottery ("a prize", the element of "chance", and "consideration" or "anything of value") and how to tweak your contest so that it is not an illegal lottery.

Many independent authors, and some traditionally published authors run contests that appear to cross the line. This looks like a series that is worth following.

Kudos and attribution for the sweepstakes advice go to Darren S Cahr, Tore Thomas DeBella, and Mita K. Lakhia.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

PS. My apologies for not posting last Sunday. I blame Stella (the storm).

Sunday, November 29, 2015

"Likes" For Nothing

Does being apparently popular translate into sales? Who really knows? Since around Y2K there seems to have been a frenzy all over the internet of enterprises of all sizes trying bribe fun-loving individuals to "like" them, or "follow" them, or "friend" them, or "pin" them, or .... whatever term any given social site uses for the conspicuous attraction of attention.

One popular method has been the contest, which often ends up looking suspiciously like a lottery or sweepstakes. Sweepstakes are not legal in every state, and there are certain rules to be followed, certain phrases that must be included in every contest's rules in order to keep the promotion on the safe side of the law.

Such phrases should include "void where prohibited", "no purchase necessary", "full rules available at...", moreover, there should be alternate (write in) methods of entering, there should be a clearly stated start and end time and date for the promotion, the means of selecting the winner should be set forth. Ideally, there ought to be some skill involved to avoid the winner being chosen at random, but if the contest promoter satisfies two out of three criteria, he/she is probably fine.

Also, the contest promoter should be careful not to require "a consideration" (payment or a review or a "like" or some other valuable activity by the entrant.)

Here's a good guide: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/u-3.shtml
Here's another: http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/p/whatarecontests.htm

Here's a Thompson Coburn LLP law blog devoted to the topic:
http://www.thompsoncoburn.com/news-and-information/sweepstakes-law-blog.aspx

The law may be changing, per the latter, for the FCC, but there is also the FTC.  The following quote caught my attention.
the FTC brought an action against [a famous shoe company] for a sweepstakes promotion asking people to pin pictures of [the famous shoe company's] shoes, as well as destinations to which they would like to travel. People who pinned pictures received an entry into a sweepstakes. The FTC took the position that the mere act of pinning constituted an endorsement, and a sweepstakes entry was a "material connection that had to be disclosed." In other words, [the famous shoe company] needed to make sure that consumers disclosed that they were pinning pictures, because they were hoping to win a prize.
Find the entire article on Lexology.com
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9d4702c7-34f9-48d8-ac14-eec463f40d6f&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2015-11-26&utm_term=

All the best,


Rowena Cherry