Jessica Markowitz

The California Attorney General has reached a significant settlement with the developer and publisher of a mobile game over children's privacy violations. Perkins Coie LLP partner Janis Kestenbaum discusses how the case underscores the importance of complying with COPPA and CCPA, and what businesses can do to enhance their privacy practices. #PrivacyLaw #ChildrensPrivacy #CCPA #COPPA

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Restaurant leaders, please see our article below on California's SB 478 and its applicability to restaurant pricing practices as set forth in the May 8 FAQ from the California Department of Justice. The FAQ signals big changes for restaurants and consequences for noncompliance may be significant. Don't fall asleep on this one! Special thanks to Alan Greenfield Alice Kessler Adil Khan Magaly Zagal and the Greenberg Traurig, LLP Restaurant Industry Group team for your contributions to this article. #GTRestaurants #GTlaw

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When Overreach Meets Accountability: 🗽SEC's Dealer Rule Vacated on the Day Gensler Announces Resignation🫡 🔄In a poetic twist of fate, Gary Gensler's SEC tenure ends as the courts deliver a decisive critique of his regulatory overreach. On November 21, 2024, Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas vacated the SEC's controversial Dealer Rule, a decision that reverberates across crypto and financial industries. On the same day, Gensler announced he would step down as SEC Chair effective January 2025. 🛡The Dealer Rule: A Step Too Far The SEC’s Dealer Rule attempted to redefine “dealer” under the Exchange Act, targeting digital asset markets and traders who provided liquidity. The rule’s broad language threatened to sweep DeFi participants—those using liquidity pools, decentralized exchanges, and smart contracts—into the same category as traditional market dealers. But Judge O'Connor’s ruling was a stark rebuke. The Court noted: 🧐The rule erased a century-old distinction between “traders” and “dealers,” violating the Exchange Act’s intent. The SEC overstepped its statutory authority, with Judge O’Connor emphasizing, “The Rule as it currently stands de facto removes the distinction between ‘trader’ and ‘dealer’ as they have commonly been defined for nearly 100 years.” The Impact on DeFi and Innovation DeFi protocols operate without traditional intermediaries, enabling peer-to-peer liquidity through open-source software and smart contracts. The SEC’s attempt to regulate such automated systems as “dealers” was seen as a direct assault on innovation. 😴A Reflection on Gensler’s Leadership Gary Gensler’s tenure at the SEC has been marked by aggressive enforcement, particularly targeting crypto markets. While his policies aimed to increase investor protections, many argue they stifled innovation and lacked clarity. 🫥👮The SEC’s repeated losses in courts—Ripple, Grayscale, and now the Dealer Rule—underscore the growing judicial pushback against regulatory overreach. Gensler’s resignation opens the door for a leadership shift, with potential candidates like Dan Gallagher and Paul Atkins signaling a more industry-friendly regulatory approach. 🧭What’s Next? This ruling is not just a legal victory; it’s a pivotal moment for how regulation adapts to innovation. With Gensler’s departure, the SEC faces a choice: continue on a path of contentious enforcement or work towards a balanced framework that supports both investor protections and technological growth. 🤞🗿For the blockchain industry, this is a reminder that vigilance and advocacy are essential. The Court’s decision reinforces the importance of adhering to legislative intent, especially as regulators grapple with the challenges of emerging technologies. 📢As one of the plaintiffs stated: "This is just the first domino. Innovation must prevail over overreach." #CryptoRegulation #DeFi #SEC #GaryGensler #Blockchain #Innovation

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Concerned about the new California ban on drip pricing? This timely webinar might be the answer. Date: July 18, 2024 Location: Live Video-Broadcast Time: 10 AM - 12:10 PM PST Join Jim Butler and Mark Adams on July 18th for a live video-broadcast hosted by myLawCLE as they delve into what recent legislative changes mean for the hospitality industry. On July 1, 2024, the first comprehensive Junk Fee Law in the United States took effect in California. It prohibits drip pricing, which involves advertising a price that fails to include all mandatory charges and fees a consumer will have to pay. It requires upfront disclosure of the full price of goods or services on first consumer contact. It applies to the sale of most goods and services, with only a few exceptions. One last-minute exemption for restaurants was rushed into law only two days before the effective date of the law. This program will present a current update on California and Federal regulation of Junk Fees. SB 478, SB 1524, AB 537 are all in the rear view mirror. The final impact of these bills on the law will be thoroughly complete. We will also analyze HR 6543 and S 2498 pending in the US Congress and the FTC's proposed rule on drip pricing and misleading business practices. The webinar will provide takeaways for and answer questions about the following: An introduction for beginners and details for "deep divers" Special insights for Hotels, Restaurants, Retailers, and other advertisers The Restaurant exception: relief, unintended consequences or trap for the unwary What are the penalties for violation? Who can sue me? How to spot and use the good things that the new law brings Link to register: https://lnkd.in/gruDt5zW

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Join our Foley team next week at Startup Boston Week as we hear from industry experts – including our own Paige Moscow and Alicia Dorner – on topics that will drive startups towards a journey to success. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gCqU_D_Z #SBW2024 #Boston #Entrepreneurs

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For a lean in-house legal team, keeping an eye on wage and hour issues may seem technical and out of reach. But this can be an area of major liability for the company. Here are some high-level questions a generalist can ask to mitigate pay-related risk • Have we sufficiently trained our employees on our policies? Policies are table stakes. Poorly written policies can create major headaches. But policies aren't worth the paper they're written on if no one knows how to use them. Legal can support Payroll and HR by being a second set of eyes for training materials and policies. • How do the time and pay records look, at a high level? Don't assume HR and your payroll provider have scrutinized the records. Spot-checking time and pay records at a high level can go a long way. While having a proper audit by employment counsel is ideal, you can show value by taking a critical eye and asking whether the records would make sense to a lay person. • Arbitration Agreements Even the most seasoned payroll teams sometimes make a mistake. Arbitration agreements can be a powerful strategic tool in defending against wage and hour claims. They're not airtight and the law changes frequently (especially in CA) so these need to be reviewed and revisited often. And review other employment agreements (like confidentiality agreements) to be sure they are aligned with the arbitration agreement (you'd be surprised at how often this gets botched) • Review offboarding materials to be sure they address sleeper wage and hour issues If you have employees in several states, HR and payroll need to keep on top of laws requiring timely pay upon termination. Make sure there's a process for HR to check this before jumping into terminating employment. This gets particularly tricky when there are outstanding bonus or commission payments. • Record retention By the time a company hires its first in-house counsel, many HR and payroll practices are already set. And a company that was primarily in-person in 2019 and now has hybrid or remote workers all over the country may have a new set of multi-state recordkeeping obligations that hasn't been accounted for. A high-level review of record retention policies can have outsized impact.

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The Ninth Circuit has held that the mass-arbitration protocol in Ticketmaster's consumer agreement is unconscionable and unenforceable under California law. Perkins Coie's lawyers review the decision and the broader implications for mass-arbitration terms in this Update. #Arbitration #Litigation #ClassActions #ClassActionLitigation

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Stay ahead of the changing California legal landscape with the Zaller Law Group newsletter. Get the latest employment law resources, trends, and action steps sent directly to your inbox to keep your business up to date.

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Check out my Law360 article about the impact of the California budget tax proposals on tech and life sciences companies! https://lnkd.in/gV7u7dMD #wilsonsonsini #wilsontax

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed California's updated automatic renewal law, which includes some important changes that you should know about. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2025. The updated requires businesses to obtain express affirmative consent to the subscription terms and requires retention of verification of consent for at least three years or one year after the contract is terminated, whichever is longer. It also now requires annual reminders for all active subscriptions as well as reminders before any fee changes go into effect (even fee changes customers agreed to at the time they subscribed). It tightens cancellation requirements by requiring businesses to allow consumers to cancel in the same way they signed up and requiring prompt answers to telephone calls and responses to voicemails requesting cancellation if telephone cancellation is permitted. The updated law also limits companies to a single save attempt, but only if they first inform the consumer that they can complete the cancellation process at any time or, if online, add a prominent direct cancellation button or link simultaneous to the save offer. Similar to the FTC's proposed updates to the Negative Option Rule, the updated law will now prohibit misrepresentations of any material fact (not just those related to the subscription), exposing businesses to additional civil penalty liability for false advertising. To learn more, visit https://lnkd.in/eVz59HJD

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Join Covington & Burling LLP for a three-part webinar series in May, "Navigating Common Traps for California Growth-Stage Employers: Employment, Benefits, and Tax Strategies for Success." The series is targeted toward a non-legal audience such as company founders, human resources, payroll, and finance professionals, as well as general counsel who are new to employment and benefits issues, or would like a refresher. Find out more and register below. https://okt.to/UmXZbC

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We answer a lot of questions about whether an LLC or a C-Corp is the optimal entity type for your startup. There are pros and cons to both, which Perkins Coie's Patrick Anding and Andy Shawber explore in this StartupPercolator post, along with a handy table comparing the two entity types. #Startups #StartupTips #LLCs #CCorp #StartupPercolator

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As promised, here is a thoughtful piece from our team on the latest changes to OHCA’s regulations in California and what questions remain for dealmakers if AB3129 is signed into law by Gov Newsom. We are here to answer any questions about what this all means and how it fits into the broader trend of recent federal and state scrutiny of PE investment in healthcare. Kenneth Yood, Morgan Ivey, Doug Wolford, Thomas Stephenson

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1. Generally not a big fan of ventures paying for services with equity. 2. A lot of venture firms offer a certain level of portfolio company support - my impression is that in many cases the services leave a lot to be desired. That said, if the services are defined in a detailed statement of work with defined deliverables, as The General Partnership evidently does, worth considering. However, no venture wants to be in a position of having to sue its investor for failure to deliver promised services. A venture would have to do significant due diligence on the general quality of the VC's services to get comfortable.

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California Attorneys, this is the critical software that’s transforming legal practices! Handle Estate Planning, Family Law, or Probate with legal forms generated in minutes, not hours. With Gavel’s no-setup automated forms, there’s no hassle—just precise, attorney-vetted documents ready when you need them. Make sure to check them out in the comment! #documentautomation #automatedforms #californiaattorneys

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California has amended its venture capital diversity reporting law through SB 164. Perkins Coie partner Arman Pahlavan highlights the main substantive changes, including extended deadlines and a focused scope, in this article. #VentureCapital #VentureCapitalCompanies #Diversity #SB164

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