Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission

“FTC to Clarify Its Powers to Police Unfair Competition”

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Federal Trade Commission in its 100-year history has never agreed on formal principles for policing companies engaged in “unfair” competition. That looks set to change. Members of the FTC are close to a bipartisan agreement to lay out for the first time how the commission views its authority to […]

FTC acts against scheme to access seniors’ bank accounts

The Federal Trade Commission announced: Medicare Card Scheme Took Money from Seniors’ Bank Accounts A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under settlements with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlements […]

Dennis Hirsch Paper on Big Data and the FTC’s Unfairness Authority

Dennis D. Hirsch of Capital has written That's Unfair! Or Is It? Big Data, Discrimination and the FTC's Unfairness Authority, 103 Kentucky Law Journal (2015). Here is the abstract: Big data and data analytics (“big data”) can produce many social and economic benefits.  But they can also generate privacy injuries and harmful discrimination.  The governance of […]

Are Proposals for More Cost-Benefit Analysis a Stealth Attack on Dodd-Frank?

by Jeff Sovern The American Banker had an article this week, Could the Fight Over Cost-Benefit Analysis Kill Reg Relief? that made some interesting points.  After noting that Senate Banking Committee Chair Richard Shelby advocates more cost-benefit analysis, the author, Victoria Finkle, wrote: "The idea of rigorous cost-benefit analysis is like motherhood and apple pie […]

ABA Consumer Protection Conference Focuses on Big Data, Internet of Things and Ad Substantiation Standards

By Dee Pridgen The ABA Consumer Protection Conference held February 12 on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., focused on the work of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as the work of advertising self-regulatory bodies, especially in the areas of big data and the “Internet of Things.”  FTC Chair […]

FTC Announces Top Consumer Complaints for 2013; ID Theft Still Leads the List

Here.  The top 10 complaint categories include: Category Number of Complaints Percentages Identity Theft 290,056 14% Debt Collection 204,644 10% Banks and Lenders 152,707 7% Imposter Scams 121,720 6% Telephone and Mobile Services 116,261 6% Prizes, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries 89,944 4% Auto Related Complaints 82,701 4% Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales 66,024 3% Television and Electronic […]

Additive Free Cigarettes: Winstons and American Spirit

by Jeff Sovern Those who use our casebook may recall the note about R.J. Reynolds advertising that its Winston cigarettes don't have additives. In the new edition, it's at pages 92-93. The casebook reports that Winston's sales increased by 9% as a a result of the ads, and that the FTC brought a case against Reynolds […]

James Cooper on the Meaning of Unfairness in the FTC Act

James C. Cooper of George Mason has written The Perils of Excessive Discretion: The Elusive Meaning of Unfairness in Section 5 of the FTC Act.  Here's the abstract: Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act gives the FTC an undefined mandate to prosecute "unfair methods of competition." For nearly 100 years, the Commission […]

9th Circuit appeal on background-screening companies & fair credit reporting

by Deepak Gupta I thought readers might be interested in a new appeal that my firm is handling in the Ninth Circuit, Moran v. The Screening Pros, concerning the state and federal regulation of background-check companies. You can read our opening brief here. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission have weighed in with an amicus […]

More on Debt Collection: CFPB To Go After Banks’ Collection Practices

Suddenly, there's a lot going on the in the world of debt collection regulation. On the heels of yesterday's announcement by the FTC of a huge debt-collection settlement (discussed in the post below), the CFPB is announcing today that it will use its UDAAP authority to regulate the collection practices of banks. “It doesn’t matter […]