At the heart of what is considered the first NFT trademark trial were two competing arguments: Were the artist Mason Rothschild’s creation of “MetaBirkin” NFTs — digital images of blurry faux fur-covered handbags inspired by...more
On February 7, 2023, Ishan Wahi (Ishan), a former Coinbase product manager, pled guilty to wire fraud charges in an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)....more
In the past year, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) Biden administration officials, and other U.S. banking regulators have repeatedly voiced growing concerns about certain cryptoasset...more
2/7/2023
/ Banking Regulators ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Biden Administration ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
OCC ,
Risk Assessment
Over the last few years, there has been increasing debate surrounding the appropriate trademark classification for digital assets. The most recent edition of the Nice Classification (the 12th Edition), which took effect on...more
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we analyze recent fines against Meta and their impact on the future of behavioral advertising, the timeline for the California Privacy Rights Act’s regulations to become...more
2/1/2023
/ Advertising ,
California ,
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Class Action ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
FCC ,
Fines ,
Investigations ,
Metaverse ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Privacy Laws ,
UK
On January 3, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a Joint Statement on...more
1/6/2023
/ Banks ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Joint Statements ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Factors
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine the European Commission’s draft adequacy decision on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, as well as guidance from the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office on...more
1/3/2023
/ Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employee Monitoring ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
International Data Transfers ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Risk Assessment ,
UK
On November 23, 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the U.S. Copyright Office issued a Federal Register Notice (Notice) announcing the offices’ joint study of intellectual property (IP) issues related to...more
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine the California Privacy Protection Agency’s revised draft regulations for the California Privacy Rights Act, the Federal Trade Commission’s settlement with a...more
12/6/2022
/ California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Direct Marketing ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Notice Requirements ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
UK
On November 7, 2022, Judge Paul Barbadoro of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire issued an order in SEC v. LBRY, Inc., granting the SEC’s motion for summary judgment against LBRY Inc. (LBRY). The court...more
State securities regulators in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey and Texas filed coordinated enforcement actions on October 20, 2022, against Slotie NFT d/b/a slotie.com requiring the company to stop selling various Slotie...more
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine President Biden’s executive order to implement an EU-U.S. data privacy framework, the European Commission’s draft Cyber Resilience Act, the U.S. Treasury’s request...more
Over the last few years, stakeholders in the digital asset space have questioned how digital assets should be treated for purposes of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a comprehensive body of laws relating to commercial...more
On September 22, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) (1) issued an order settling charges against protocol creator bZeroX, LLC and its founders, and (2) filed a federal civil enforcement action...more
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we review California’s settlement of the first-ever enforcement action under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as the state’s new child-focused privacy law and...more
On September 16, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of Justice released four much-anticipated reports on different aspects of cryptoasset regulation. They confirm the Biden administration’s broad but...more
9/29/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Blockchain ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
U.S. Treasury
Takeaways Many businesses are exploring NFTs as a way to capitalize on intellectual property and reinforce relationships with fans and customers. Those weighing whether to “mint” NFTs need to look closely at existing...more
On September 8, 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued its report on the impact of distributed ledger technology on climate change and U.S. environmental policy, as directed under President Biden’s...more
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we review the FTC’s proposed data privacy and cybersecurity rulemaking and the European Data Protection Board’s draft guidelines on the calculation of GDPR administrative fines....more
9/7/2022
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Popular ,
Public Comment ,
Rulemaking Process
A flurry of legal and enforcement activity has arisen over the last two weeks across a wide range of areas in the Web3 space, including actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Foreign Assets Control,...more
8/25/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
FDIC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smart Contracts ,
Virtual Currency
In this month’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine the FTC’s blog post suggesting an increased focus on protecting consumers’ sensitive data and Plaid’s settlement to resolve a class action arising from its data...more
On July 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother and a close friend for using...more
7/27/2022
/ CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Confidential Information ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Recent guidance from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and a proposed bill in the U.S. Senate portend more regulatory and legislative activity to clarify the status of and requirements for stablecoin...more
In this month's Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine California’s draft amended regulations for the California Privacy Rights Act, the introduction of comprehensive federal privacy legislation in Congress and the U.K.’s...more
On June 9, 2022, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sent a letter to the directors of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the U.S. Copyright Office requesting a study of intellectual property (IP)...more