DHS to implement 1st phase of land border vaccination requirement on November 8, 2021

The growth of influencer marketing has been nothing short of meteoric since social media carved a place in our daily lives in the early 2000’s[1]. Today, most brand marketing campaigns include an influencer component, capitalizing on the follower base of prolific content creators and the trust they’ve built with their supporters. Because of its effectiveness in shaping consumer opinion, influencer marketing has not escaped the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)[2]. Although its endorsement guidelines may not have the full force of law yet, the FTC has begun taking action against both influencers AND the brands who engage them for violations of its rules[3].

Lakshmi Sarma Ramani (a Member of our Washington D.C.-based team) and co-author Anita Drummond discuss joint ventures between tax-exempt organizations and for-profit entities in their new 2-part series featured in the ACC Docket's Nonprofit Knowledge column.

The use of legalese - highly specialized terminology in legal documents - can make something straightforward seem incredibly complex and abstruse. Lawyers insert this “jargon” in their legal documents, and some even pepper their advice with Latin phrases or other technical terms, much to the chagrin of their audience. Although it may seem like just another professional pretension (akin to those acronyms bankers love to use), the truth is there are important legal principles embedded in Latin phrases, which is why they have stood the test of time since their origins in ancient Rome’s legal system.

In a Proclamation effective November 8, 2021 at 12:01am, President Biden revoked U.S. bans against nonimmigrant travelers from several countries and created a new global vaccination requirement for all U.S. nonimmigrants arrivals by air. A synopsis of the Proclamation and related travel requirements follows:

The world of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) is still very much in a state of flux. Powered by the same blockchain technology that supports cryptocurrency, an NFT is a unique set of data stored on blockchain. Unlike dollar bills or grains of rice (which are interchangeable with one another), each NFT is different, as warranted by a digital certificate of authenticity which is traceable on blockchain and publicly available. NFTs are used to represent ownership of an original digital asset, such as a graphic art file, video clip, or music. Although an NFT does not prevent a digital asset from being copied, it does establish ownership of it, which is something that cannot be copied and therein lies the value of an NFT. It is important to note, however, that an NFT only gives the holder certain rights to the asset; the full ownership position still belongs to the artist.

Protecting confidential information can be paramount to the success of an organization; and knowing this, most businesses and institutions will devote valuable time and resources for developing and implementing strict policies and procedures designed to help manage the flow of their proprietary information. Unfortunately, these efforts frequently fail to address an equally important, yet separate, category of sensitive information – that is, any third party confidential information which may have been entrusted to the organization pursuant to a confidential disclosure agreement (CDA).

A final rule issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on October 5, 2021 will place new controls on the export of certain biotech software designed for nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers by establishing new Export Control Classification Numbers or “ECCN” to regulate the export. The BIS is the arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce responsible for the regulation and licensing of exports of commercial and so-called, “dual-use” technology.