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



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 The Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company manual
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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.



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Free: Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Manual


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The Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company manual

Request your FREE copy of the Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company manual. Some chapters include:

~ Legal Issues

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~ 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

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~ Focus on the Mission... Not the Commission!

~ When the Media Calls... Who Answers the Phone?

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Educational MLM Video Collection


Educational Videos for MLM Owners and Distributors



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

New!! The New FTC Direct Selling Guidance... Imperfect, But a Good Start

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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New!! Search for Certainty in Direct Selling... A Legal and Business Rationale for H.R. 3409

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...

read more »

New!! FTC and Direct Selling Come to the Table as Stakeholders: H.R. 3409

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.

read more »

FTC v. BurnLounge: Lessons Learned for MLM/Direct Selling

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.

read more »

Herbalife: What Short Sellers Missed on the Way to the Press Conference...

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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BurnLounge Appeal Decision: Guidance on Pyramid v Legitimate MLM and the Role of Personal Use in Pyramid Analysis

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...

read more »

MLM Cryptocurrency Scams: Stopping the Brand Killer and Protecting the Direct Selling Channel

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.

read more »

New!! FTC v. Herbalife: Post-Settlement Legal Guidance for the Direct Selling Industry

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.

read more »

New!! FTC v. Herbalife Settlement: First Take Article

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.

read more »

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Direct Selling Companies Search Engine

Here you will find links to hundreds of established and emerging direct selling, party plan, network marketing and MLM companies. Go right to the full company website and prepare for a robust and informative presentation. From a company perspective, compare and contrast the myriad of programs and state of art technologies of companies in the direct selling marketplace.

Over 700 MLM Company Profiles

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.

MLM Vendor and Supplier Directory

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


New! Announcing MLM Global News - An E-Newsletter

Announcing MLM News Global - An E-Newsletter

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MLM News Global is an e-newsletter presented by mlmlegal.com. This timely e-newsletter delivers top MLM headlines, recent scam reports, videos, articles, and a profiled network marketing company, and so much more delivered to your inbox on a bi-monthly basis.Join our newsletter today!


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Visit our newsletter archive to view past issues of this popular newsletter, brought to you by one of the most trusted and respected direct selling experts, Jeff Babener.


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About Attorney Jeff Babener and MLMLegal.com

Welcome to MLM Legal - a valuable resource to the multi-level marketing and direct sales industry. Use this site to review interesting articles about this high-growth industry. Keep current with the law and how it is affecting large and small companies throughout the United States. MLM Legal is sponsored by Jeffrey Babener of Babener and Associates. On any given day you can catch Jeffrey Babener lecturing on network marketing at the University of Texas or the University of Illinois, addressing thousands of consultants in Los Angeles, Bangkok, Tokyo and Russia, or writing a new book on network marketing, an article for Entrepreneur Magazine or a chapter for a University textbook. Over two decades he has served as marketing and legal advisor to some of the world's largest direct selling companies, the likes of Avon, Nikken, Melaleuca, Discovery Toys, NuSkin, and he has provided counsel to the most successful telecom network marketing companies...Excel, ACN, World Connect, ITI, AOL Select and Network 2000. An active spokesperson for the industry, he has assisted in new legislation and served on the Lawyer's Council, Government Relations Committee and Internet Task Force of the Direct Selling Association (DSA) as well as serving as General Counsel for the Multilevel Marketing International Association. He is an MLM attorney, supplier member of the DSA, and has served as legal counsel and MLM consultant on MLM law issues for many DSA companies.

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.


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Key MLM Resources

  1. MLMAttorney.com

    The site for legal information that impacts MLM companies.

    www.mlmattorney.com
  2. Sheffield Resource Network

    The best from compensation plans to total mlm startup.

    www.sheffieldnet.com
  3. Trinity Sofware

    Trinity Software offers Firestorm�, its flagship Direct Selling Software Platform.

    www.trinitysoft.net
  1. MultiSoft

    Affordable MLM Software, eCommerce, replicated sites & more.

    www.multisoft.com
  2. MLM News Global

    MLM News Global, an industry e-newsletter originating from one of the most trusted and respected direct selling websites, MLMLegal.com.

    www.mlmnewsglobal.com
  3. IDSTC

    A trusted partner for direct selling technology.

    www.idstc.com

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