97
votes
Why can't advertisers say 'Super Bowl'?
There is a general belief that a term being trademarked means that it's illegal to use the term without permission from the trademark holder, but that is false. It is illegal only if it is done in a ...
- 5,219
38
votes
Is it legal to describe something exactly as "cheese" without asterisks or other qualification if it doesn't contain any dairy?
The government guidelines on naming food products states that if an ingredient is different to what consumers expect, it must be made clear by either:
including the ingredient as part of the product’...
- 32.8k
37
votes
Accepted
Threatening to discontinue a service for a client
Is that extortion? false advertising? or in any way illegal?
Not at all. The owner of the site is simply exercising his right as outlined in the terms and conditions from when the user signed up. And ...
- 45.1k
31
votes
Accepted
What might be illegal about a company using deceptive phone calls to establish a contract and seeking payments under it?
Given that this is a UK based company, the most applicable Act would be the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971
A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is a right
to ...
- 3,736
28
votes
Accepted
Is it illegal to market a product as if it would protect against something, while never making explicit claims?
In the EU this could constitute a misleading advertisement under Article 3 of the Misleading and comparative advertising directive:
In determining whether advertising is misleading, account shall be ...
- 1,337
26
votes
Is it illegal to market a product as if it would protect against something, while never making explicit claims?
Specifically it can be legal in the United States, where commercial speech (speech made in order to elicit business transactions) is not as strongly protected as political speech (speech containing ...
- 21.6k
23
votes
Am I allowed to use images from sites like Pixabay in my YouTube videos?
As far as copyright goes...
Pixabay: Yes (with minor exceptions)
Pixabay's license is quite broad, and allows for unattributed commercial use with a small number of exceptions. You can't "use ...
- 10.2k
18
votes
Threatening to discontinue a service for a client
This is perfectly fine, unless you have a contract which states that they must continue to provide free service until a certain date.
If anything, they're doing the right thing by notifying you that ...
- 579
18
votes
Is it illegal to market a product as if it would protect against something, while never making explicit claims?
This would be illegal in australia
The Australian Consumer Protection law prohibits “misleading and deceptive conduct in trade or commerce”. This statement is misleading and probably deceptive.
When ...
- 183k
17
votes
Clicking ads as a form of protest or boycott
No, it's not illegal...
Ads are shown as a contract between the site that hosts it and the advertising company. The contract does not stipulate that customers need to buy something, in fact, the ...
- 27.3k
16
votes
What might be illegal about a company using deceptive phone calls to establish a contract and seeking payments under it?
In the USA, when a creditor tries to collect a debt, the presumed-debtor may demand proof that they actually owe the debt, and that the creditor holds the debt.
This can be satisfied by signed ...
- 2,084
13
votes
Accepted
Why are manufacturers allowed to make false claims about memory capacity of thumbdrives?
It's not the manufacturers who are wrong. Your definitions of KB, MB, and GB are incorrect. See, for example, NIST. The numbers they are using are not "rounded down," they are the proper standardized ...
- 22.6k
11
votes
Is it legal to describe something exactly as "cheese" without asterisks or other qualification if it doesn't contain any dairy?
I'll limit my answer to the specific example in the question:
our cheese is made of 100% plant ingredients
This is not false advertising or a deceptive trade practice. It is legal. This is because ...
- 174k
10
votes
Threatening to discontinue a service for a client
Extortion is a threat to do something unlawful
While threats to do something that's harmful for you are a key component of extortion, those threats generally (there are additional, separate ...
- 2,161
8
votes
Can a restaurant or retailer be held to "posted" prices?
Under the law of common law contracts, posting a price is an invitation to treat and is not binding.
However, in many jurisdictions, there may be (probably is) statutory consumer protection law that ...
- 183k
8
votes
How can a restaurant, Old Homestead Steakhouse, continue their false claims of selling Kobe beef?
It isn't obvious that one must be certified to advertise your product as "Kobe Beef" in the United States. The designation "Kobe Beef", in theory, is supposed to operate a lot like a trademark, but it ...
- 174k
8
votes
Threatening to discontinue a service for a client
This actually happens all the time and isn't considered extortion.
Essentially, this is nothing more or less than a free service getting monetized after a while. This happens many times per year. For ...
- 701
8
votes
Am I allowed to use images from sites like Pixabay in my YouTube videos?
It Depends, but Probably Not
You may not make copies of someone else's copyright images without permission. Even more, you may not use such images to help you make money without permission.
Sites such ...
- 112k
7
votes
Accepted
Putting up a "we're closing!" sign illegal?
The jurisdiction does matter.
Generally, at the national level, the Federal Trade Commission prohibits deceptive advertising. From the FTC's website, "Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small ...
- 5,515
7
votes
Accepted
Why does a word like "homemade" not constitute false advertising?
Why does a word like “homemade” not constitute false advertising?
It is not amount to false advertising when its mention in the advertisement matches the common, ordinary usage of the term. In that ...
- 45.1k
7
votes
Clicking ads as a form of protest or boycott
Legalities aside... You will most likely achieve the opposite with an interesting side effect. The campaign will prove to be very effective (as per the number of clicks), but the side owner may be ...
- 79
6
votes
What might be illegal about a company using deceptive phone calls to establish a contract and seeking payments under it?
What aspects of this operation are illegal?
As described, none of it is legal, it’s a scam. The crime is fraud.
Could any of these verbal agreements be enforceable?
No.
- 183k
6
votes
Am I allowed to use images from sites like Pixabay in my YouTube videos?
Don't risk it
I am (or have been) a semi-professional photographer, so I have some background information that I think you might find useful. In general, it's even riskier than David Siegel says in ...
6
votes
Accepted
Is it legal to describe something exactly as "cheese" without asterisks or other qualification if it doesn't contain any dairy?
In EU there is legislation against using the name "cheese" for non.diary products. This was unsuccessfully challenged in 2017 by company Tofutown:
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/...
- 76
5
votes
Can a restaurant or retailer be held to "posted" prices?
It depends on where exactly in the world you are.
In the United Kingdom, you cannot force the shop to trade at the advertised price. They can claim that they made a mistake and refuse.
However, ...
- 30.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Is it legal for an apartment manager to put advertisement stickers on my mail?
If the sticker is not easily removable, it would likely fall under defacement of the mail which is illegal according to 18 U.S. Code § 1705 - Destruction of letter boxes or mail:
Whoever willfully ...
- 4,235
5
votes
Accepted
GDPR liability for data that is no longer under the developer's control
A data controller is whoever determines the means and purposes of processing. It is possible that multiple controllers jointly determine the means and purposes. However, someone can only be controller ...
- 23.4k
5
votes
Is it necessary to explicitly disclaim warranties on "private" sales?
germany
Yes, such clauses are common and useful. § 437 BGB describes the rights of the buyer in case of defects, such as reducing the purchase price, demanding cure, or revoking the contract. But ...
- 23.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Can I use a celebrity’s likeness in a meme for advertising purposes?
No, you can’t
For at least 1 and up to 4 reasons
You don’t own the copyright in the photograph.
You risk the tort of passing off by implying that Jim endorses your company when he in fact knows ...
- 183k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is the trade name of a drug always written in all caps, even when the wordmark isn't?
It is capitalized because the word NEXIUM has a conspicuous definition. In other words, they're using it in the specific way they have defined it to mean. This is to differentiate it from any other ...
- 954
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible