MLMLEGAL.COM - Leading U.S. MLM Attorney and Network Marketing Industry Educator
In Loving Memory of Jeffrey A. Babener.
We are saddened to announce that Jeffrey Babener passed away March 2020. Thank you for all of your loyal support and years of faithful friendship. He touched so many lives. He'll be greatly missed by his family, countless families of friends and colleagues, and the Jewish community.
In his loving memory, we are doing what he would have done and offer you full access to his videos, articles, legal documents, and website materials on this website (mlmlegal.com) - his lifelong work, at no cost. Feel free to use the content as you choose for educational purposes only. We ask only three things of you:
1) Always credit "Jeffrey A. Babener" when you use content from this website and source mlmlegal.com.
2) Do not monetize his work or the work of this website. We are giving years of research, legal experience and hard work at no cost, we trust you to not profit off of it.
3) MLMLegal.com material is for educational purposes only and is not intended for legal advice, please treat it that way - by using this content, we take no legal responsibility in its use or reproduction.
Jeffrey made an impact on all of us. For that, we thank him. And we thank you. Thank you for being a part of his life. Thank you for being his friend. A member of his family. His community. A client and partner and teammate.
Please support his work and the industry. We ask that you make a donation to the Community Warehouse a nonprofit he helped create, which furnishes the homes of more than 60 families in need every week. Your donations make a difference.
You're welcome to use his work. Share it! Educate yourself and others! It would mean so much to him.
If you have questions, please contact us.
- The Babener Family and Team
WELCOME TO MLMLEGAL.COM
Welcome to MLMLegal.com
Let Us Be Your Guide.
We've started companies like Melaleuca, Usana, Nerium, Nikken, Excel, and Team National.
We've been an active MLM legal advisor to New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) companies like Avon, Herbalife, and NuSkin, as well as provided legal advisory to industry leader Amway.
Whether you are a direct selling startup or established MLM company, we are here and available to be your most trusted advisor and MLM attorney.
Consider us your "concierge," legal advisor, available to you 24/7.
We know this business.
We even teach direct selling at universities and at the Direct Selling Association (DSA), and we have chaired more than 80 national conferences on starting and running the MLM company.
Your success is imperative to us.
~ Call us at 503-226-6600.
~ Request a FREE MLM Startup Manual.
~ Attend the MLM Startup Conference. TO REGISTER CALL: 800-231-2162.
~ Check out our blog for the latest developments in the MLM legal field.
~ Subscribe to our new, informative e-newsletter, MLM News Global.
Hot Topics in the Network Marketing Industry
What's New at MLMLegal.com?
Free: Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Manual
FREE MLM Startup Manual
Request your FREE copy of the Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company manual. Some chapters include:
~ Legal Issues
~ MLM Law in 50 States
~ FDA Health Claims: The Final Rules
~ The Snail that got Mugged: FTC v. Direct Selling
~ Start-up Issues
~ Incorporating the Network Marketer
~ Five Dynamics that Drive a MLM Company
~ Product
~ Creating Your Next Million Dollar Product
~ Treasure Hunting for New Products
~ Compensation Plans
~ Compensation Plan Conversion: Direct Sales to MLM
~ Your Compensation Plan's Competitve Edge
~ Communications and Media
~ Focus on the Mission... Not the Commission!
~ When the Media Calls... Who Answers the Phone?
Request a FREE manual today!
Visit Legaline Publications for a full list of our books, brochures, DVDs, and more.
MLM Startup Conference
The Starting and Running the Successful
MLM Company Conference
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October 22 & 23, 2020
An ACTION CONFERENCE for startup and existing direct selling companies. Check out the expert speakers.
The Next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference - October 22 & 23, 2020 - Las Vegas, NV
Educational MLM Video Collection
Visit our videos page for over 140 videos covering common questions and concerns in the direct selling industry, including startup, software, technology, compensation plans, legalities, startup kits, products/services, trademarks, pyramid schemes, MLM startup conference, FAQ, merchant accounts, industry history, and so much more. Click the images below to view the video pages and sections.
Popular Articles
Timely Articles on the Network Marketing Industry
The new FTC Direct Selling Guidance arrived in January, 2018. It built on the goodwill dialogue between the FTC and the direct selling industry that was ushered in by a well-received DSA presentation of acting Chairperson Maureen Ohlhausen in November, 2017.
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Executive Summary: The legal environment and the accepted business model of leading direct selling companies has been relatively stable for 50 years. That equilibrium was upset by the regulatory proposals of a former FTC commissioner to upend that environment with new arbitrary rules that lack a basis in case authority or legislation...
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What a difference a year makes. In a well-received presentation to the November, 2017 DSA Regulatory Conference, FTC Acting Chairperson, Maureen Ohlhausen, struck a totally different tone in regard to forward looking FTC enforcement policy on direct selling, contrasted with the October, 2016 presentation of former FTC Chairperson, Edith Ramirez.
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FTC v. BurnLounge: 10 point mini-primer and action plan on the "personal use" issue. FTC stated policy has been to prosecute egregious pyramid schemes as opposed to mainstream direct selling. By and large, this has been the case since the famous 1979 FTC Amway unsuccessful prosecution.
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The 2012 billion dollar short seller attack on Herbalife, a 32 year old NYSE listed direct seller of nutritional products in 80 plus countries with annual sales in excess of $3 billion, is akin to a replay of seminal challenge to the MLM/Direct Selling model, won by Amway in 1979. In the Matter of Amway, 93 F.T.C. 618 (1979).
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On June 2, 2014, in the case of FTC v. BurnLounge, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a seminal decision, affirming a lower court finding that the BurnLounge MLM (multilevel marketing) program was an illegal pyramid scheme...
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OIn March 2018, Google followed Facebook in banning cryptocurrency ads. Why? It was too hard to identify the legitimate from the illegitimate advertiser and that out of control speculation and fraudulent financial schemes were creating confusion for the consumer experience. Given that more than 80 percent of Google revenue derives from ads, Google was rightfully concerned that rampant fraud buried in its signature product, online advertising, could dilute its "brand" and poison the receptive market of its readers and product consumers, its advertisers.
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The July, 2016 settlement between the FTC and Herbalife is likely to have a profound impact on the direct selling industry. But, what that impact will be is uncertain. Markets do not like uncertainty.
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On July 14, 2016, the FTC and Herbalife concluded a multiyear investigation with a Stipulated Settlement that both, brought the investigation to a close, and delineated a going forward set of rules by which Herbalife would conduct its direct selling business. Given the fact that Herbalife is one of the largest global direct selling companies, the direct selling industry is quite focused on the meaning of the settlement to the industry, both short-term and long-term. And given the immense power of the FTC, the direct selling industry will wonder how much regulation it can withstand before it suffers irreparable harm.
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MLM Law Library
MLM Law Library
The Law Library is a full library which includes 100s of federal and state cases, statutes, and business/tax articles. More reading is available on our articles page.
Library
MLM Resources
MLM Resources
Here you will find brief summaries of pertinent information about hundreds of MLM, direct selling, direct sales, network marketing and party plan companies. As a general matter, the summary information is derived from company-published information, generally posted at company websites, public information releases, or posts at industry trade sites.
Search the list of vendors and suppliers for MLM, direct selling, direct sales, network marketing, and party plan companies by product/service category.
MLM News Global
MLM News Global E-Newsletter
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Contact Babener & Associates
About Attorney Jeff Babener and MLMLegal.com
Jeffrey A. Babener, of Portland, Oregon, www.mlmlegal.com, is the principal attorney in the law firm of Babener & Associates. He represents leading U.S. and foreign companies in the direct selling industry. He has been a key advisor to such companies as Avon, Amway, Team National, Herbalife, Discovery Toys, Nikken, Shaklee NuSkin, Excel, Usana, Fuller Brush, Cell Tech, Enagic, Sunrider, Melaleuca, Nerium International, etc. He is a frequent lecturer and has been interviewed on the industry, and published, in such publications as Money, Inc., Atlantic Monthly, Success, Entrepreneur, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Home Office Computing, Business Start-Ups, Direct Selling News Magazine, and Money Maker's Monthly. He is editor of the industry publication, Direct Sales Legaline. Mr. Babener is also the author of the books; Tax Guide for MLM/Direct Selling Distributors, Network Marketer's Guide to Success, The MLM Corporate Handbook, Network Marketing: Window of Opportunity, and Network Marketing: What You Should Know (used as the college curriculum textbook at Utah Valley State course on network marketing). He is editor of one of most frequented network marketing educational web sites, www.mlmlegal.com . He has served as Chair of more than 70 national conferences on starting and running the direct selling company. He serves on the Lawyers Council and Government Relations Committees of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), and he has served as General Counsel and on the board of the MLMIA (Multilevel Marketing International Association). He has lectured at major industry trade meetings and at such educational institutions as the Univ. of Illinois, University of Texas, University of Houston, etc. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School where he served as an editor of the USC Law Review, followed by the appointment as a law clerk to Hon. David Williams, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
A number of Babener & Associates client companies have been success stories over the last several decades, including several billion dollar and NYSE companies such as Avon, Herbalife, NuSkin, Usana. Other successful companies, to which the law firm has provided varying level of advisory, have included Melaleuca, Nikken, Enagic, Discovery Toys, Amazon Herbs, TriVita, Nerium International, Shaklee, PrePaid Legal, Tupperware, Primerica, Arbonne, Longaberger, Excel Communications, ACN, etc.
Mr. Babener has served as lead trial counsel for multiple cases on direct selling throughout the U.S. Further background material on direct selling will be found at the website, www.mlmlegal.com, where he is editor.
Key Pages to Visit While You're Here
The Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference in Las Vegas. Sign up to attend today!
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Get your free copy of the Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Manual for executives of startup and emerging direct selling companies.
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You may contact us by telephone, mail or email by clicking this link.
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Key MLM Resources
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The site for legal information that impacts MLM companies.
www.mlmattorney.com
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The best from compensation plans to total mlm startup.
www.sheffieldnet.com
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Trinity Software offers Firestorm�, its flagship Direct Selling Software Platform.
www.trinitysoft.net
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Affordable MLM Software, eCommerce, replicated sites & more.
www.multisoft.com
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MLM News Global, an industry e-newsletter originating from one of the most trusted and respected direct selling websites, MLMLegal.com.
www.mlmnewsglobal.com
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A trusted partner for direct selling technology.
www.idstc.com
