Blog

If you’re a tax professional, business owner, or in a human resources department, the FTC and IRS can help you help clients, employees, or other people who discover they’re victims of tax-related identity theft. Tax-related identity theft happens when someone uses your stolen Social Security number (SSN) to file a tax return and claim your refund. You might find out about it when you try to e-file — only to find that someone else already has...

Here’s the thing about nectar. It can be sweet, but sticky. People who paid Palo Alto-based Nectar Brand LLC for mattresses labeled “Designed and Assembled in the USA” thought they were getting a sweet deal. In fact, buyers were stuck with mattresses imported from China, already completed. The company, which also uses the names Nectar Sleep and DreamCloud, performed no assembly operations in the United States. Thus, the FTC’s complaint alleges...

An FTC lawsuit alleges that money-making claims made by a related group of companies and individuals for their Amazing Wealth System are “amazing” all right – if by “amazing” you mean “not credible” or “unsupported by the facts.” The complaint charges the defendants with violating the FTC Act and the Business Opportunity Rule. One interesting factual twist is how elements of the “system” allegedly depend on subverting Amazon’s rules about online...

Most antitrust practitioners are attuned to advising clients about the antitrust risk that a proposed acquisition may violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act. But counsel and clients must also be conscious of the risks of sharing information with a competitor before and during merger negotiations—a concern that remains until the merger closes. Companies considering acquisitions, mergers, or joint ventures typically have a legitimate need to access...

Today, the FTC announced a lawsuit against four individuals alleging that they have promoted one or more fraudulent “chain referral schemes.” Such schemes are not new – in fact, the FTC has brought chain referral cases for years. What makes today’s announcement interesting is that the alleged schemes used bitcoin, a cryptocurrency. (The FTC brought its first cryptocurrency-related case in June 2015, another in February 2016, and held a public...

When the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection started the Business Blog in 2010, we promised readers “a minimum of ho-hum, a maximum of how-to, and as little yadda yadda yadda as a legal website can manage.” More than 1,000 Business Blog posts later and we’re still striving to keep things engaging and enlightening (although being a legal website and all, we’ve succeeded is cutting out only two of the yaddas). The FTC’s unique dual mission is to...

Medical professionals, consumer advocates, industry members, and law enforcers are gathering in Washington right now in anticipation of today’s workshop, The Contact Lens Rule and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace. Panelists will scrutinize issues related to competition in the marketplace, consumer access to contact lenses, prescription release and portability, and other topics. Even if you couldn’t make it to DC, you can be an eyewitness to...

Every business wants to forge an ongoing relationship with their customers. That principle takes on special significance for mobile device manufacturers when they need to issue security patches for the operating system software on their phones and tablets. Once devices are in consumers’ hands, are they getting the patches they need to protect against critical vulnerabilities? Are companies deploying those patches in a timely fashion and for a...

Once bitten, twice shy. That fundamental principle of human behavior is why reputable businesses that work hard to earn consumers’ confidence should support the FTC’s ongoing efforts to fight fraud. According to the FTC’s 2017 Consumer Sentinel Data Book, consumers reported losing a total of $905 million to fraud last year. That’s close to a billion bucks people won’t be able to spend on legitimate products and services from credible companies...

The FTC is eyeing its Contact Lens Rule and has announced the agenda for a March 7, 2018 workshop, The Contact Lens Rule and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace. The Contact Lens Rule, in place since 2004, requires prescribers to give patients their complete contact lens prescription after a fitting, whether the patient asks for it or not. The Rule also says that prescribers must verify the prescription – or provide a copy – in response to a...