Telecommunications Law Answer Book provides answers to key questions about the issues faced by the various participants in the U.S. telecom industry. Designed for every day, practical use, this valuable resource covers the recent Congressional and FCC initiatives on data privacy and security, as well as the restrictions on foreign ownership of U.S. communications companies regulated by the FCC.

In an easy-to-read Q&A format, Telecommunications Law Answer Book describes:

• The duties and obligations that apply to common carriers that provide telecommunications services
• The impact of and policy goals behind the Communications Act of 1934 and Telecommunications Act of 1996, as well as other federal statutes and regulations
• The FCC regulation of the radio and television spectrum, as well as ownership of broadcast stations and cable systems
• Why social media regulation is different from other media, and why the legal and practical analysis often differs from traditional advertising and broadcast outlets
• “Accessibility by design,” or the idea that from the moment of concept to realization, a communications product should be designed with accessibility in mind for those with cognitive or physical disabilities
• The rules regulating customer relationships, and how political advertising should be handled

Telecommunications Law Answer Book also provides a comprehensive overview of the recent Congressional and FCC initiatives on data privacy and security, as well as the restrictions on foreign ownership of U.S. communications companies regulated by the FCC.

The new edition is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

This Third Edition of Exempt and Hybrid Securities Offerings reflects significant updates in order to account for recent market trends, such as the increasing tendency on the part of privately held companies to stay private longer and defer their initial public offerings, or IPOs, as well as the increased reliance by public companies on exempt offerings and hybrid offerings.

The latest edition of Exempt and Hybrid Securities Offerings contains updates to the legal, regulatory, and procedural guidance regarding offerings exempt from or excluded from the registration requirements of section 5 of the Securities Act, including guidance provided in connection with or provided following the enactment of the JOBS Act.

Highlights include:

• Chapter 3, providing a more detailed discussion of Rule 506 under Regulation D, which is the most frequently used of the safe harbors under Regulation D. Given the changes brought about by the JOBS Act mandate to relax the prohibition against general solicitation in the context of certain Rule 506 offerings, this chapter provides background regarding the types of communications that constitute a “general solicitation,” as well as the conditions for reliance on Rule 506.
• Chapter 4, regarding the section 4(a)(1) exemption, the concept of section 4(a)(1½), and a new discussion of the limited resale exemption, section 4(a)(7).
• Chapter 9, discussing Rule 701, which provides an exemption from the registration requirements for securities issued by non-reporting companies as compensation and which has been recently updated to reflect SEC Staff guidance.
• Chapter 13, addressing the legal and regulatory issues arising for companies that choose to remain private longer and defer IPOs or other liquidity events, including the SEC rules regarding the Securities Exchange Act section 12(g) threshold.
• Chapter 18, discussing institutional and cross-border debt private placements, which have grown increasingly important as the availability of long-term bank loans has declined in many jurisdictions and for many industries.
• All of the chapters comprising Part II of the treatise have been updated to account for market developments affecting the conduct of exempt offerings, and Part III of the treatise has been supplemented with chapters on Regulation A and on Crowdfunding.

The new edition is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

The Fifth Edition of Sack on Defamation: Libel, Slander, and Related Problems is now available.

Written by Robert D. Sack, U.S. Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, and member of the adjunct faculty of Columbia Law School, Sack on Defamation provides in-depth coverage and analysis of the law of defamation, invasion of privacy and related torts. This seminal work covers the full range of issues, from the basic elements of a defamation claim and First Amendment protections to motion practice and appeals.

First published in 1980, Sack on Defamation remains an indispensable and authoritative resource in the field of defamation law and practice.

The new Fifth Edition features the latest cases on the standards of liability for private and for public figures, libel by implication, the single-publication rule, and pleading requirements in the federal courts. It offers expanded treatment of anti-SLAPP statutes, updates on privacy torts and “libel tourism,” and much more. And with a broader view, Judge Sack’s preface to the Fifth Edition assesses the state of defamation law and of the press in a changing political and social environment. It addresses the viability of the traditional concept of a marketplace of ideas in a time of “fake news,” talk of lowering the bar for libel plaintiffs, and the aggressive use of the privacy torts to seek recovery for statements not actionable as defamation because they are true.

As Judge Sack writes in the book,

“Information and what purports to be news are, instead, increasingly disseminated by a splintered array of digital, often home-made, media to cells of people who already agree with one another about what is being told them and its truth. Such media are fertile grounds for ‘confirmation bias.’ Subsequent discussion of what they report no doubt ensues, but it tends to be limited to those already persuaded. Their notions of what is true echo; they do not compete. If there is little serious interaction among people with different views on important issues, it is not literally or figuratively a “marketplace of ideas”; it is a Tower of Babel. A Tower of Babel seems to me to be virtually useless in the search for better ideas or a better society, government, or institutions.

If that is so, what effect has it on constitutional and other legal protection for the freedom of the press? If the marketplace metaphor is informed in part by the goal of enabling informed, vigorous debate, as the Sullivan Court suggested, what might or should the effect of its weakening be on its protection? If the New York Times no longer plays the role in public discourse and the dissemination of information and opinion that it did in 1960s, is the rule of Sullivan any the less wise or necessary?”

The update Treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.