Straight Talk on Direct Marketing Law

The marketing attorneys at The Lustigman Firm work with marketing agencies and business entrepreneurs in New York, New Jersey and throughout the United States, Canada and around the world engaged in:

• Direct marketing to consumer and business clients using direct mail, telemarketing and pre-recorded voice messages, broadcast faxing, Internet marketing such as email marketing, banner ads and pay-per-click ads, and package and magazine inserts
• Direct response marketing using media channels such as the Web and infomercials

As with other forms of advertising, regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission seek to ensure that direct marketers' advertising claims are substantiated and that direct marketers and direct response marketers are complying with all applicable laws.

Increasingly, the FTC has been seeking to hold the suppliers of direct marketing companies liable if they knew or should have known that their direct marketing clients were violating the law. Therefore, The Lustigman Firm also represents the interests of suppliers, such as list brokers and list managers, order fulfillment facilities, payment processors, and other industry suppliers in establishing best practice standards.

Direct marketing and direct response marketing is an increasingly complex environment with traps for the unwary. Contact The Lustigman Firm to speak directly to a marketing attorney about the following services:

• Review of direct response marketing programs and direct marketing campaigns for compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulations, including:
  • The Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act
  • The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act
  • The Mail Order Sales Rule
• Advise clients on advertising substantiation to support product claims
• Review of direct mail packages to help ensure compliance with U.S. Postal Service (USPS) statutes and regulations
• Advise clients on data collection and data usage policies to help ensure compliance with state and federal privacy laws
  • The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB)
  • The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
  • The California Online Privacy Protection Act
  • The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
  • The California Disclosure of Personal Information to Direct Marketers Act
• Advise clients on list usage, list sharing, and list sale policies

Legal Defense Involving Direct Marketing and Direct Response

We represent clients facing competitor challenges, both in civil litigation and in the self-regulatory context before the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (NAD). We frequently represent clients in regulatory investigations and litigation, and in litigation brought by the FTC, U.S. Postal Service, and state attorneys general and district attorneys.

We defend clients in complex multi-state attorney general actions and investigations (NAAG) involving direct marketing promotions and direct mail campaigns.

Experienced Marketing Attorneys

Attorney Andrew B. Lustigman serves on the law committees for the Promotion Marketing Association (PMA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), and on the Consumer Affairs Committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association. For a decade, he authored the legal column, "It's the Law," for DM News, a publication devoted to legal trends that affect direct marketers, and regularly writes and speaks on direct response advertising and marketing law topics across the country.

Contact the direct marketing attorneys of The Lustigman Firm.

To learn more about direct marketing law

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Marketing Law Basics