CBRE General Counsel discusses with Law360 the influence that Lev Berlin & Sousa counsel and founder Bruce Lev had on his career. To review the ar ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa has recently counseled clients across industries in seeking federal trademark approval (including overcoming office actions for
Lev Berlin & Sousa negotiates and closes asset deal on behalf of its client, a real-time weather forecasting company, which sold its assets to a d
Connecticut has recently amended it's data breach notice law. Under the amended version of the statute (which takes effect on October 1, 2012), en
Attorney Jack H. Sousa was recognized by Super Lawyers® as a 2017 Connecticut Rising Star in the field of Business and Corporate law. For selectio
The FTC has approved Lev & Berlin client Imperium LLC's method for obtaining verified parental consent for COPPA compliance: http://www.ftc.go
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents client in the sale of commercial property at the top of Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut for $5.75 million ...
In the last year, Lev Berlin & Sousa has counseled clients assisting with all phases of corporate governance, from formation, to stucturing, to re
Jack Sousa represents founders and majority shareholders of web-based software design, development and consulting company in stock sale in excess of $
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents international survey research firm in preparation of form agreement for licensing of API for use with automated surv ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents international survey panel company on three-way joint project agreement with UK market research company and Brazilia ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents client in the sale of multiple historic properties at the top of Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, in comb
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents chapter of national survey research organization on incorporation and IRS approval of tax treatment as 501(c)(6) non ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents influential economic survey research company in services agreement with "big three" major television netwo ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major international provider of SaaS test/assessment application on agreement with third-party proctoring service.
Duane L. Berlin presented at a webinar sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group on the use of Social Media in healthcare market resear ...
Duane L. Berlin presents at the Counsel of American Survey Research Organization’s 2010 Research Panel Conference. Mr. Berlin spoke on the subje
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international market research firm in negotiation of master services agreement with major U.S. health care insurer, inc ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa closes real estate transactions for its clients in 2015 for purchases, sales, and refinancings of residential homes, commercial
Lev Berlin & Sousa issues memorandum discussing the recent ruling by the Securities Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets gran
In 2014, Lev Berlin & Sousa oversees residential and commercial real estate closings, both purchases and sales, as well as negotiates and enters i
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major survey research industry organization on issues related to consumer generated and controlled health care data.
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents local bank in several recent refinancings for various properties in Norwalk, Connecticut, including residential, com
Lev Berlin & Sousa counseled clients in closing over a dozen private securities financings in 2015, with representation ranging from the underlyin
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents major survey research company in successful opposition to claim asserting violations of Telephone Consumer Protectio ...
Duane Berlin is quoted in Jeff Henning’s article “ Dolphins in the Tuna Net: Protecting MR from Marketing Regulation ”, which discus
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents market research firm in preparation of call center indemnification agreement to address and manage risk under the Te ...
Duane L. Berlin served as co-presenter for CASRO Webinar on the negotiation of legal agreements related to the survey research business. A recording o
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international media analysis and monitoring firm in successful resolution of commercial contract dispute.
Martindale-Hubbell reaffirms Duane L. Berlin’s AV Preeminent Attorney Rating. Click Here for more information.
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major survey research industry organization in connection with quinquennial review of internal corporate governance doc ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises market research company on revisions to its standard terms and conditions for coverage of both custom and syndicated re ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa is pleased to announce that Jack H. Sousa, Esq. has been named a Principal of the firm. Having joined the firm in 2012, Jack&rs
Duane L. Berlin has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (www.ropercenter.uconn.edu). The Roper Cent
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents UK market research firm in preparation of form master services agreement.
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents international survey research company in three-party data-matching arrangement, including data processing agreement ...
Duane L. Berlin participates in the World Wide Web Consortium on Web Tracking and User Privacy at Princeton University. The W3C is an is an internatio
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents software development employee of shipping company with independent commercial arrangement for sale of software, incl
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents venerable US political survey organization in revisions to corporate governance documents.
Principal, Duane L. Berlin named in the 2010 edition of the New Canaan/Darien and Stamford Magazines Top Lawyers.
The use of so-called “flash cookies” and similar objects has become wide spread among various online businesses. Read Lev Berlin & Sou
Recent Wall Street Journal article highlighting the difficulties the public opinion industry is encountering in conducting telephone surveys quotes Du
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international media analysis and monitoring firm in revisions to its form of master services agreement to account for c ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises market research company on compliance with Telephone Consumer Protection Act and industry ethics codes with regard to &
Lev Berlin & Sousa forms and launches corporations and limited liability companies based in Connecticut, New York, and Delaware, and assist with g
Duane Berlin leads session at the CASRO Annual Conference in Scottsdale Arizona on Mergers, Acquisitions and Investment in the Marketing Research Indu
Lev Berlin & Sousa counseled clients in closing more than ten private securities financings in 2014, with representation ranging from the underlyi
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises emerging financial services SaaS firm regarding corporate governance matters and term/revolving loan facilities.
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents textile chemical application company on form of license agreement.
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents Langer Research Associates in its agreement with Bloomberg News for the production and publication of the Bloomberg
Lev Berlin & Sousa represented the purchasers of a regional specialty retailer in a stock purchase transaction and associated debt and equity fina ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents "shell" public company on private placement sale of controlling equity interest and related securities fil ...
Duane L. Berlin presents and moderates CASRO Webinar on legal issues for US companies doing business in the EU. Focus was on issues and compliance wit
Lev Berlin & Sousa counsels software provider entity in stock redemption and corporate restructuring transaction.
Thus far in 2016, Lev Berlin & Sousa has closed over a dozen real estate transactions for its clients, including sales, purchases, and refinancing
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major market research industry association on setting up US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor third-party dispute resolution
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major survey research industry organization on issues regarding state statute requiring reporting of fees paid to healt
Lev Berlin & Sousa continues to advise market research companies and industry organizations on compliance issues regarding the Telephone Consumer
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international company with testing/assessment "software-as-a-service" product on revisions to its US form of ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents leading conversation market research comapny client in triangular reverse merger with a Canadian publicly held compa
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises market research company regarding applicability of consumer consent obtained from retail partner for purposes of Teleph ...
Australian Market and Social Research Society's Research News interviews Duane Berlin regarding federal U.S. privacy regulation
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major market research industry association on pilot program to provide data privacy compliance certifications.
Thus far in 2016, Lev Berlin & Sousa has counseled clients in closing private securities financings, representing, underlying offering companies,
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents video advertising company in capital reorganization, including debt and equity restructuring.
Lev Berlin & Sousa negotiates and settles dispute on behalf of its client, a atmospheric pressure plasma technology company, with former director, ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international survey research firm on trademark issues regarding web-based use of brand name for SaaS offering.
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises international "software-as-a-service" media analysis company on revisions to its US and UK forms of standard ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa has recently assisted clients in leading internal investigations to review, analyze, and determine to what level certain of a c
Lev Berlin & Sousa represents international survey research company in licensing arrangement to provide proprietary SaaS survey offering on a &ldq
Lev Berlin & Sousa advises major international provider of SaaS test/assessment application in licensing and reseller arrangement with internation ...
Lev Berlin & Sousa counsels market research consulting company in sale of stock in acquisition transaction.
Duane L. Berlin is co-founding member of CASRO’s Social Media Research Task Force. CASRO announced the formation and purpose of the group as fol
The Federal Trade Commission's recent focus on companies such as American Apparel Inc. that allegedly failed to comply with a U.S.-EU data transfer framework is only likely to grow more intense in the coming months, making it imperative that companies pay attention to renewal deadlines, regularly review their compliance and carefully track upcoming proposals to tighten the program.
In May, American Apparel became the latest of more than a dozen companies that have agreed since January to settle FTC allegations that they falsely claimed in privacy policies and elsewhere that they were complying with the safe harbor framework governing data transfers between the U.S. and European Union even though they had failed to renew their self-certification. The recent flurry of enforcement activity by the FTC coincides with widespread criticism that has been lobbed at the more than decade-old data transfer arrangement since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden began leaking documents last June revealing the broad scope of the federal government's intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The European Commission sought to address the concerns in November, when it released a report that pushed for the tightening of transparency and oversight mechanisms in order to restore trust in the framework and similar data-sharing pacts. In its report, the commission specifically pushed the FTC and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which are responsible for enforcing the safe harbor, to ramp up their scrutiny of companies in the program, naming as one of their 13 recommendations that regulators single out a "certain percentage" of companies for targeted compliance reviews.
The safe harbor program dates back to 2000, when the Commerce Department worked with EU and Swiss authorities to create a mechanism that would allow U.S. companies to comply with EU and Swiss data protection law. Under the EU's 1995 data protection directive as well as under Swiss privacy law, personal data may only be transferred outside the EU to countries that have been formally recognized by the EU as ensuring an "adequate" level of data protection, a classification that has yet to be given to the U.S. The safe harbor framework bridges the gap by requiring U.S. companies to self-certify to the Commerce Department annually that they abide by seven privacy principles when transferring data outside the EU: notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access and enforcement.
The recent FTC enforcement actions implicate companies as varied as National Football League franchises, broadband provider Level 3 Communications LLC and children's online gaming company Fantage.com Inc., illustrating the widespread need for an effective mechanism to transfer data between the two regions.
The case against American Apparel highlights the importance of the arrangement for the retail sector, especially e-commerce sites and multinational retailers that rely on cross-border data transfers to sell products to their customers and manage their employees. The actions that have been brought by the FTC since the beginning of the year hinge on technical compliance issues, most commonly the allegation that they had allowed self-certifications to lapse while continuing to tout compliance in privacy policies and other materials.
In order to avoid becoming the FTC's next target, companies that participate in the safe harbor program should put precautions in place to ensure that their yearly reminder from the Commerce Department to renew their self-certification doesn't fall through the cracks.
While the FTC has started its enforcement push by going after what attorneys noted can be perceived as low-hanging fruit, the regulator isn't expected to stop there. For example, the safe harbor principles require companies to give data subjects a chance to opt-out of having their data transferred outside the EU by providing them with a notice that clearly informs them in a timely manner about what data is being collected and what will happen to it.This issue of opt-out could potentially be the next area of enforcement for the FTC.
Attorneys also predict that the FTC will look to insert safe harbor compliance violations into broader enforcement actions alleging lax data security or privacy misrepresentations. The FTC demonstrated its willingness to take this approach in its privacy complaint against Myspace LLC in 2012, which included allegations that the site falsely claimed that it complied with the safe harbor principles that require that consumers be given notice of how their information will be used and the choice to opt out.
Besides ensuring that their policies are in sync with the current safe harbor requirements, companies should also keep a careful eye on how the European Commission's suggestions to overhaul the program — which U.S. and EU leaders have vowed to hammer out by the summer — play out.
While U.S. officials are unlikely to cave to all of their EU counterparts' demands, pressure to ease data protection concerns that threaten to hamper business for multinational companies in the bloc will spur the adoption of at least the proposals that require companies to be more transparent about their privacy practices, attorneys say.
Given the increased responsibilities that self-certified companies will likely soon face, attorneys recommend that businesses take steps now to understand their data flows and ensure that their policies keep pace with the rapidly evolving data transfer landscape.