Advertising Law News And Analysis - March 28, 2013

Edited by Jeffrey D. Knowles , Roger Colaizzi , Gary D. Hailey and Gregory J. Sater

News

FTC Reopens Comment Period on Proposed Changes to EnergyGuide Labels

On March 21, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it was reopening the public comment period on its recent proposal to update EnergyGuide label information and issue special labels for refrigerators and clothes washers. The proposed updates are intended to make it easier for consumers to compare products subject to new Department of Energy tests for measuring energy costs. Advertising Law News and Analysis covered the FTC's original notice of the comment period here.

The comment period will remain open until April 1. Click here to read the FTC's March press release and submit comments on the proposed rule changes.

Click here to read the text of the FTC's proposed rule changes.

Venable's Advertising Practice Named to Chambers USA Shortlist

Chambers USA, a leading publisher of legal rankings, earlier this week announced the short list for the 2013 Chambers USA Awards for Excellence. Each year, only one firm in each area of practice receives an award, which recognizes pre-eminence in key practice areas and reflects the firms' outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year Venable has been named to the Chambers shortlist in the Advertising category. Venable, which received the Advertising Award for Excellence in 2010 and 2011, is also the only law firm named to the shortlist every year since the creation of the Advertising category. The winners of the 2013 Chambers Awards will be named May 23 in New York City.

Click here to see the full list of firms named to the Chambers shortlist.

Analysis

Protect Your Brand Against New Top-Level Domain Names

Today, there are only a handful of top-level domains such as .com, .net, .org, .gov, .mil, .edu, .mobi, and .jobs, write Venable partners Janet F. Satterthwaite and Jacqueline Levasseur Patt in a recent client alert. However, later this year, the number of top-level domains will explode to more than 1,000 with the introduction of generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

In the past, there have been sunrise periods for certain top-level domains to give trademark owners the first opportunity to register their brands before the new domain is open to the public. Because the cost and effort of complying with more than 1,000 different sunrise and objection processes would...