Melissa Landau Steinman practices primarily in the areas of advertising and marketing, antitrust, trade regulation, consumer protection and general commercial law, litigating cases and counseling clients on matters that arise from these business concerns.  She is uniquely familiar with the technology, retail and hospitality industries.

Ms. Steinman focuses her practice on assisting companies at every stage of distributing their products, reviewing advertising and marketing materials for all types of media, vetting pricing and "sales" claims, creating product warranties and advising clients on product safety issues, and addressing related intellectual property and privacy matters. She has represented clients in both private and government litigation relating to these matters, with experience handling both class action and Lanham Act matters, as well as Federal and State government investigations. Most recently, Ms. Steinman wrote and edited the "Guide to Federal and State Regulation of Advertising," a comprehensive two volume book/CD-ROM on the law of advertising and promotions.

Ms. Steinman has developed a unique specialty in consumer promotions law, with experience in the federal and state laws applicable to promotional tools such as gift cards, rebates, "free" gifts, and rewards programs. In particular, Ms. Steinman has an unusual depth of knowledge with prize promotions and Internet gaming, combining understanding of the law of promotional contests, electronic media, and federal and state regulatory law. In her gaming practice, Ms. Steinman has worked with a diverse clientele that includes some of the nation's largest consumer products and services companies, Internet gaming and gambling providers, game show producers and entertainment conglomerates, software companies, and a wide variety of charitable entities.  Ms. Steinman has written extensively on the subject of sweepstakes and contests, as well as charitable promotions and commercial co-ventures: she contributed chapters to the American Bar Association's new Consumer Protection Law Handbook; the Promotion Marketing Association's new edition of its treatise on Promotion Marketing Law; and Venable's e-book, So You Want to Be on the Internet. She has spoken frequently on promotions and other issues and her commentary has appeared nationally in publications as prominent as the Los Angeles Times.

Ms. Steinman also has extensive experience working with clients on distribution antitrust issues.  She represented the defendant in one of the first resale price maintenance cases filed after the Supreme Court's decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, Inc. In addition, she has worked with numerous association clients on their antitrust policies, standards and certification programs, codes of ethics and other programs and policies.  She has spoken widely on various topics relevant to associations, including antitrust, intellectual property and antitrust; associations and standard-setting; privacy and other issues.

Activities