Category Archives: Uncategorized

Is the CFPB subject to Trump’s executive orders?

The Wall Street Journal contemplates whether the CFPB is subject to the slew of recent executive orders: A memo issued Jan. 20—Inauguration Day—ordered “executive departments and agencies” to temporarily suspend filing new regulations and delay the implementation of pending rules to give President Donald Trump’s appointees the chance to study them. …. Another executive order […]

Columbus Dispatch Report: Trump treasury pick Mnuchin misled Senate on foreclosures, Ohio cases show

Here.  Excerpt: "OneWest Bank did not 'robo-sign' documents," Mnuchin wrote in response to questions from individual senators, "and as the only bank to successfully complete the Independent Foreclosure Review required by federal banking regulators to investigate allegations of 'robo-signing,' I am proud of our institution's extremely low error rate." But a Dispatch analysis of nearly […]

i-Geniuses: Not Too Smart in Threatening Dissatisfied Customers

by Paul Alan Levy i-Geniuses is a Houston company that repairs Apple products; it especially touts its ability to repair computers suffering from liquid damage on a fast turnaround schedule.  A number of former customers have expressed concerns about the success of the repairs, about longer-than-advertised repair times, and especially about their believe that the […]

Can Charles Harder’s Litigation Threats Still Be Taken Seriously?

by Paul Alan Levy Shiva Ayyadurai is a computer scientist who insists that it was he who, as a child prodigy, invented email.  Although his claim has been widely derided by many of the major figures who were party to the technological advances that created the Internet as well as systems of direct communication such as […]

FTC and FL settle charges against companies engaged in illegal student-debt relief scheme

Under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Florida, the operators of an alleged student debt relief and credit repair scam will be banned from those lines of business. The stipulated final order resolves charges the FTC and the State of Florida brought in April 2016, against Chastity Valdes and her […]

FTC report on cross-device tracking

The Federal Trade Commission has released Cross-Device Tracking: An FTC Staff Report that describes the technology used to track consumers across multiple Internet-connected devices, the benefits and challenges associated with it, and industry efforts to address those challenges. The report concludes by making recommendations to industry about how to apply traditional principles like transparency, choice, […]

David Dayen: Mnuchin Lied About His Bank’s History of Robo-Signing Foreclosure Documents

Here, in The Intercept.  Excerpt: “Did OneWest ‘robo-sign’ documents relating to foreclosures and evictions?” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., asked [Treasury Secretary Nominee Steven] Mnuchin as a “question for the record”. Mnuchin replied that “OneWest Bank did not ‘robo-sign’ documents * * * [Dayan reports on] a 2011 consent order issued by the federal Office of […]

Will Political Appointees in the Department of Commerce Prevent the Trump Campaign from Registering a Trademark in Opponents’ Slogan?

by Paul Alan Levy During the 2016 election cycle, the slogan “Keep America Great” emerged as a counterweight to the Make America Great Again slogan on which candidate Donald Trump was campaigning.  A fellow named Andreas Mueller tried to capitalize on that development by reserving the slogan as his own trademark.  The Trademark Office, properly […]