Blog

FTC watchers and data security mavens, it’s the decision you’ve been waiting for. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has issued a ruling in the Commission’s favor in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation. The FTC sued the hospitality company and three subsidiaries, alleging that data security failures led to three data breaches at Wyndham hotels in less than two years. According to the complaint, those failures resulted in...

Today, the Commission (with the help of our friends at the Justice Department) filed a proposed settlement in federal court to settle charges that three funds managed by Third Point violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act by failing to make the necessary premerger notification filings when they acquired shares of Yahoo! Inc. The complaint alleges that Third Point improperly relied on the investment-only exemption to the HSR requirements, and contains...

It doesn’t take much to convince us we need something new for the shoe closet – and our vintage high-tops and periwinkle platforms stand as a silent testament to that. But an ultraviolet light contraption advertised to kill germs, fungus, and bacteria, including MRSA, inside shoes? An FTC settlement with the marketers of shUVee gives the boot to those misleading claims. A second settlement turns the lights out on representations by other...

The classic 40s movie An Email to Three Wives, the R&B hit Take an Email, Maria, and C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Emails. The titles would have been different if they had been written recently. Email is an essential part of most companies’ marketing strategy. If you send commercial email – or have others send it for you – are you complying with the CAN-SPAM Act and the FTC's CAN-SPAM Rule? FTC attorney Christopher Brown answers some of the CAN-SPAM...

Businesses are understandably concerned about the threat that hackers pose to the security of sensitive data on their networks. But a closing letter the FTC staff sent to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC warns of another danger lurking closer to home. The FTC staff investigated the allegation that a Morgan Stanley employee had misappropriated information about the company’s wealth management clients. How did the person do it? By allegedly...

One of the key functions of the Bureau of Competition is to analyze mergers. Obtaining information through Second Requests is an essential aspect of our review process for proposed acquisitions. Even though the FTC and DOJ on average issue a Second Request in less than 5 percent of filed transactions, for the few that do require more extensive review, we have long recognized the burden they impose. The challenge is to find a balance between our...

Every day, the PNO receives many inquiries for interpretations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino statute and rules. Recently, several questions have related to transactions involving rental property, which implicate 16 C.F.R. 802.5, the rule that exempts acquisitions of "investment rental property assets." In responding to these questions, we determined that prior informal interpretations regarding which acquisitions qualified for the § 802.5 exemption...

Record-breaking refund programs are usually cause for celebration. But the FTC’s largest-ever debt collection redress case offers sobering insights into the lengths some companies will go to illegally squeeze the last dime out of people already in financial distress. California-based Asset & Capital Management Group was a third-party debt collector that bought portfolios of past-due credit card debt. Using a labyrinth of intertwined companies...

The ability to appoint a monitor is an important tool in building a successful merger remedy. The boilerplate-style language FTC uses in merger orders when appointing a monitor belies the unique and varied roles that monitors play in assuring that the order maintains or restores competition. Here’s some background and insight into some of the ways the FTC uses monitors. Many FTC merger orders contain complex remedies – something other than a...

Baby boomers are running scared and marketers are in hot pursuit. What strikes such fear? The specter of memory loss and cognitive impairment severe enough to turn you into “a prisoner” in your own home who is “unable to recall who you are, where you live, or to whom you are related.” According to an FTC lawsuit, Brain Research Labs, KeyView Labs, MedHealth Direct, and others deceptively touted the dietary supplement Procera AVH as a solution to...