Code of Federal Regulations (Last Updated: November 8, 2024) |
Title 16 - Commercial Practices |
Chapter I - Federal Trade Commission |
SubChapter B - Guides and Trade Practice Rules |
Part 256 - GUIDES FOR THE LAW BOOK INDUSTRY |
§ 256.5 - Representations, express or implied, describing a work as “new”, “current” or “up-to-date”.
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No direct-mail promotional materials or oral representations soliciting the sale of specific industry products should:
(a) Expressly or impliedly represent that the industry product is new when said industry product was first distributed more than 18 months prior to the time of the offer or dissemination of the advertisement (some examples, but not all inclusive, of terms suggesting new publications are: “Announcing”, “newly revised”, “New 8th Edition”, “Up-to-date”, “New”);
(b) Represent an industry product as current or up-to-date unless the work itself, or the supplementation thereto, is current or up-to-date, considering the amount and nature of legal activity in the particular area of law covered on the date of issuance of the advertisement; but in no event should any representation be made that the industry product is current or up-to-date when either the copyright date, printing date or end of coverage date for supplementation of such industry product is more than 18 months from the date of issuance of the advertisement.
Note: Some areas of the law and thus some works may require monthly supplementation to be considered current while others may be kept sufficiently current by annual or, in exceptional cases, even less frequent supplementation. In some exceptional cases, for example, where legislatures only meet on a biannual basis, supplementation based thereon may be designated as current and up-to-date.
[Guide 5]