Internet Advertising Law

  1. What is Internet Advertising?

    Internet advertising concerns anything related to the online promotion of goods and services using marketing messages in order to attract customers. Some common forms of digital advertising include:

    • Contextual ads
    • Search engine results pages ads
    • Banner, pop-up and pop-under ads
    • Blog ads
    • Rich media ads
    • Social network and media advertising
    • Interstitial ads
    • Online classified advertising
    • Advertising on networks
    • E-mail marketing, including unsolicited commercial email (or UCE)

  2. Related Areas of Representation

    The anonymity of the Internet has contributed to some questionable marketing and advertising practices. To address this, new laws have been enacted which online businesses should be aware of, in the areas of:

    1. General Internet advertising. Many of the same regulations used in traditional marketing apply to Internet advertising. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has devised guidelines to ensure that businesses substantiate all claims so that they are not misleading consumers.
    2. Telemarketing. Internet advertising is often coupled with telemarketing. The term “telemarketing” is used to refer to all outgoing calls to consumers, and all outgoing calls are subject to regulation, including calls made in response to a request by a consumer to receive a call.
    3. Online lead generation. Online lead generation typically involves an Internet advertising as well as a telemarketing component, and involves industry-specific conventions and practices. Lead generators (or lead aggregators as they are also known) may connect visitors with all manner of information, products and services, and an Internet attorney must anticipate potential legal concerns from a myriad of directions.
    4. Affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a method used by lead aggregators to utilize a network of third-party marketers to generate Internet traffic. Affiliates may have sub-affiliates whose identities are unknown to the advertiser, thus posing unique legal challenges that an Internet advertising attorney is well-situated to address.
    5. Deceptive advertising. The FTC Act prohibits deceptive or unfair advertising of any kind. All relevant information needs to be disclosed to consumers, including all fees and costs associated with any transaction.

  3. E-commerce (Electronic Commerce) Law FAQs cover a wide array of topics, including:

    • Documenting business transactions over digital networks
    • Buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet
    • Transferring funds electronically (also referred to as “electronic funds transfer”)
    • Prepaid card and vertical-specific legal compliance
    • Protection against liability due to the activities of third-party users

    Attorney Kavon Adli began as a Los Angeles-based business litigation attorney in 2000, focusing on commercial, contract, tort, partnership, advertising and collection-related disputes. Mr. Adli founded The Internet Law Group in 2008 to provide digital marketplace-related legal advice and representation to businesses. Representation includes all aspects of the e-commerce industry, including Internet advertising, telemarketing and online lead generation, as well as traditional commercial law issues.