U.S. Federal Trade Commission Rescinds Enforcement Policy Regarding Advertising of Books

On February 20, 2009 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that it is rescinding the book advertising policy sometimes known as the “mirror image doctrine”. Below is an excerpt from that announcement with links the complete FTC Announcement, the forthcoming notice in the Federal Register, an an article in the National Law Journal discussing this action:

“The Commission has approved the publication of a notice in the Federal Register rescinding the agency’s enforcement policy for advertising of books, also known as the Mirror Image Doctrine (MID). As detailed in the notice, which will be published soon and is available now on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release, the agency is rescinding its stated policy that it will not ordinarily challenge advertising claims that promote the sale of books and other publications when the advertising purports only to express the opinion of the author, or to quote, i.e., ‘mirror,’ the contents of the book or publication….”

As noted above the National Law Journal has also published a Web-only article, FTC Rescinds Decades-old Enforcement Policy on Book Advertising, ” by Marcia Coyle. (February 24, 2009)

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